Project Grant 2140928

This three-year project grant from the National Science Foundation's Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences, under the Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences program (CFDA 47.075), provides $105,569 to the University of Connecticut to conduct research on human behavior within the context of long-term environmental change during the last glacial period from approximately 71,000 to 21,000 years ago. The research will combine high-resolution paleoclimate and zooarchaeological data from cave deposits spanning the Middle Paleolithic through Epipaleolithic eras to provide insight into human-environmental interactions during a key period of human development. Specifically, the project will analyze isotopic signatures from prey species and plant waxes in archaeological sediments to reconstruct paleoclimatic conditions at high resolution, along with documenting shifts in human subsistence behavior and landscape use throughout the last glacial period. This will facilitate evaluation of hypotheses about behavioral differences between Neanderthals and modern humans, as well as insights into human responses to the last glacial maximum climate change event. Undergraduate research opportunities will also be provided at the lead institution.