Pre-contact adaptations to the Little Ice Age in Southwest Alaska: New evidence from the Nunalleq site
Pre-contact adaptations to the Little Ice Age in Southwest Alaska: New evidence from the Nunalleq site
复制标题
DOI：
10.1016/j.quaint.2019.05.003
复制
发表时间：
2020-05
影响因子：
2.2
通讯作者：
Edouard Masson-MacLean;Claire Houmard;R. Knecht;Isabelle Sidéra;K. Dobney;K. Britton
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Edouard Masson-MacLean;Claire Houmard;R. Knecht;Isabelle Sidéra;K. Dobney;K. Britton
饮食、生存策略和人与动物关系的重建对于理解过去的人类社会、适应性和恢复力是不可或缺的--特别是在环北极地区。即使在相对较近的时期，气候变化也可能对生活在纬度和气候极端的狩猎采集群体构成具体挑战，北美北极地区的考古研究越来越多地寻求更好地了解过去气候变化对人类群体的影响。在这里，通过一个独特的多代理方法（动物考古学，骨骼技术和稳定同位素分析），我们探索人类的生存策略，适应和恢复力在努纳莱克，最近挖掘的接触前Yup'ik在阿拉斯加西南沿海网站。该遗址的主要占领阶段（公元16 - 17世纪）与小冰期最冷的时期之一相对应-从世纪早期到19世纪中期的气候间隔，与全球和更局部的冷却事件有关。这些分析揭示了一种以开发鲑鱼、海洋哺乳动物和驯鹿等三大资源为中心，以鸟类和中型哺乳动物等次要资源为补充的生存战略。这种三方资源基础（鲑鱼，海洋哺乳动物，驯鹿）类似于在阿拉斯加的其他图勒时代的网站，并可能允许在小冰河时期的资源可用性（和资源竞争）的变化，在面对资源使用的灵活性。然而，对不同数据集的比较揭示了在利用动物满足饮食和更广泛的生存需求方面的差异和细微差别。虽然驯鹿代表了努纳莱克的一种重要和大量开发的资源（从动物考古学和骨骼技术中可以看出），但它们并不代表一种关键的饮食资源（由稳定同位素数据表明）。相反，驯鹿作为原材料的主要来源，特别是鹿角，发挥了不可或缺的关键作用，以制造必要的采集技术来开发主要的沿海资源。
The reconstruction of diet, subsistence strategies and human-animal relationships are integral to understanding past human societies, adaptations and resilience - especially in the circumpolar Arctic. Even in relatively recent periods, climatic excursions may have posed specific challenges for hunter-gatherer groups living at latitudinal and climatic extremes, and archaeological research in Arctic North America is increasingly looking to better understand the impact of past climate change on human groups. Here, through a unique multi-proxy approach (zooarchaeology, bone technology and stable isotope analysis), we explore human subsistence strategies, adaptation and resilience at Nunalleq, a recently excavated pre-contact Yup'ik coastal site in southwest Alaska. The main phase of occupation of the site (16th-17th centuries AD) corresponds with one of the coolest periods of the Little Ice Age – a climatic interval from the early 14th century through the mid-19th associated with global and more localised cooling events. The analyses reveal a subsistence strategy centred around the exploitation of three major resources, including salmon, marine mammals and caribou, supplemented by secondary resources such as birds and medium-sized mammals. This tripartite resource base (salmon, marine mammals, caribou) is similar to that seen at other Thule-era sites in Alaska and likely permitted a flexibility in resource use in the face of changes in resource availability (and competition over resources) during the Little Ice Age. Comparison of the different datasets, however, reveals variability and nuance in the use of animals for both dietary and broader subsistence needs. While caribou represent a vital and heavily-exploited resource at Nunalleq (evident from both the zooarchaeology and the bone technology), they did not represent a key dietary resource (indicated by stable isotope data). Instead, caribou played an integral and key part as a major source of raw material, especially antler, in order to manufacture the necessary acquisition technology to exploit primary coastal resources.