Dr. Jade d’Alpoim Guedes, one of the Center’s Affiliated Joint Appointments, has received approval to carry out her archaeological research in one of her study sites in China’s Sichuan Province. She describes the details of this projects below:
“I recently received an International Collaborative Archaeology Permit from the Chinese Cultural Relics Bureau to carry out archaeological fieldwork in the Jiuzhaigou National Park in Sichuan Province. Located in the Hengduan Mountain chain of the high altitude eastern Himalayas, this area is warming at roughly double the global and hemispheric averages. Understanding how humans have managed to maintain food security while dealing over the long duree is crucial in a rapidly changing world. However, human adaptive responses to periodic fluctuations in local environment over the long term are poorly understood. Even more crucial is understanding how humans responded to climatic change, not in the few optimal areas of the world, but rather in marginal loci where the livelihoods of millions of smallholder farmers and pastoralists are at stake.
“Archaeology is uniquely poised to answer questions such as: Why are certain types of system resilient to climate change while others fall apart? What types of strategy are adaptive not just over the short term but for millennia? Funded by the National Science Foundation, this project will carry out archaeological excavations at the Ashaonao site to understand how Tibetans modified their agricultural and pastoral strategies in the context of a series of major climatic reversals over the past two millennia. By examining the potential for different adaptive strategies at the local level and providing a long-term perspective on the consequences of human decision making, this research has the potential to further the production of more diverse, and more locally-adapted food sources that are resilient in the face of climate change.”
To learn more about Dr. Guedes and other Center Research Affiliates, visit here.
Photos of the study site are taken by Dr. Guedes.