Archaeology and Ethnohistory in the Aleutian Islands, Alaska

艾格纳博士和她的同事们将把考古发掘与历史文献分析结合起来，重建阿留申人的史前和史前社会组织，并确定这种组织是如何随着时间的推移而变化的。他们将挖掘位于阿留申群岛乌纳拉斯卡岛上的两个遗址。其中较老的McLees湖遗址包含了许多独立的家庭住宅。最近的里斯湾遗址保留了两座多户长屋。两个场地的大片区域将被剥离，房屋边界和内部分区将被绘制出来。文化和动物遗骸将被收集、分析并确定年代。这项研究的目标是追踪阿留申群岛上阿留申猎人和采集者社会复杂性的发展。考古和民族历史资料都表明，在史前时期，阿留申社会从一个相对平等的组织形式转变为一个以社会和政治等级为特征的更复杂的形式。艾格纳博士假设麦克利斯湖和里斯湾遗址代表了这一过程的早期和后期阶段。通过对房屋形式、埋葬和材料遗迹的空间分析，人们可以确定等级组织的程度。生活空间的不平等分布以及贵重物品与特定墓葬或生活区域的关联表明了社会的不平等。这项研究之所以重要，有几个原因。许多人类学家认为，社会复杂性的增长是新石器时代革命的副产品，正是植物和动物的驯化开始了形成我们今天所知道的社会的过程。另一些人认为，复杂性可以在以狩猎和采集为生的群体中发展，而这项研究将直接解决这个问题。其次，通过《北极研究法案》，美国国会已经认识到一个广泛的北极研究项目的重要性。艾格纳博士的项目将有助于进一步实现这一目标。

Dr. Aigner and her colleagues will combine archaeological excavation with analysis of historical documents to reconstruct pre- and protohistoric Aleut social organization and determine how this changed over time. They will excavate two sites located on Unalaska Island in the Aleutian archipelago. The older of the two, the McLees Lake site, contains a number of individual household dwellings. The more recent Reese Bay site preserves two multihousehold longhouses. Large areas of both sites will be stripped and house boundaries and inner partitions mapped. Cultural and faunal remains will be collected, analyzed, and dated. The goal of the research is to trace the development of social complexity among Aleut hunters and gatherers in the Aleutian Islands. Both archaeological and ethnohistoric information suggest that in prehistoric times Aleut society changed from a relatively egalitarian form of organization to a more complex form characterized by a social and political hierarchy. Dr. Aigner postulates that the McLees Lake and Reese Bay sites represent earlier and later phases of this process. Through spatial analysis of house forms and burial and material remains, one can determine the extent of hierarchical organization. Unequal distribution of living space and an association of high prestige items with specific burials or living areas indicate social inequality. This research is important for several reasons. Many anthropologists believe that growth of social complexity is a byproduct to the Neolithic revolution and that it was the domestication of plants and animals which began the process which resulted societies as we know them today. Others argue that complexity can develop in groups which subsist by hunting and gathering, and this research will directly address this issue. Secondly, in the passage of the Arctic Research Act, the U.S. Congress has recognized the importance of a broad program of Arctic research. Dr. Aigner's project will help to further this goal.