Dissertation Research: Prehistoric Subsistence and Settlement Change in the Ohio Valley

小行星9310137 在Robert Dunnell博士的指导下，Diana Greenlee女士将为她的博士论文收集数据。她的研究集中在公元400年至1650年期间在中部和上游俄亥俄州河谷，她将分析从一系列相关网站的骨骼材料。在此期间，该地区的定居点从分散变为核心，并建立了明确的村庄。Greenlee女士希望了解这一情况的原因，并假设转向玉米种植和对这种主食的依赖导致了生计适应，从而允许人口聚集。她将通过利用骨化学来检验这一假设。食物的成分各不相同，有些会在消费者的骨头里留下化学标记。广泛的研究表明，玉米的碳同位素比例与中西部地区几乎所有天然存在的植物性食物不同。因此，通过分析一系列跨越公元400 - 1650年时间间隔的骨骼遗骸中的这一比例，将有可能确定对这种文化的依赖是否、何时以及在多大程度上增加。 通过分析锶等元素，也可以估计饮食中的肉类含量。 许多考古学家注意到，随着时间的推移，在中西部和世界其他地区，都出现了有核定居的模式。这种变化与社会复杂性和广泛的中央组织政治制度的发展有关。然而，导致这种变化的过程仍然没有得到很好的理解。考古学家认为，饮食和生存策略的变化可能在很大程度上是原因，格林利女士将直接关注这个问题。 这项研究之所以重要，有几个原因。它将为美国和美洲原住民的史前史提供新的线索。 它将增加我们对社会复杂性如何发展的理解，并将有助于培养一个有前途的年轻科学家。 ***

9310137 Dunnell Under the direction of Dr. Robert Dunnell, Ms. Diana Greenlee will collect data for her doctoral dissertation. Her research focusses on the period between AD 400 - 1650 in the central and upper Ohio River Valley and she will analyze skeletal material from a series of relevant sites. During this interval settlement in the region changed from dispersed to nucleated with the establishment of clearly defined villages. Ms. Greenlee wishes to understand the reasons for this and postulates that a shift to maize cultivation and a reliance on this staple resulted in a subsistence adaptation which permitted population aggregation. She will examine this hypothesis through utilization of bone chemistry. Foods vary in composition and some leave chemical signatures in the bones of consumers. Extensive research has shown that maize has a ratio of carbon isotopes which is different from almost all naturally occurring plant foods in the Midwest region. Through analysis therefore of this ratio in a series of skeletal remains which span the AD 400 - 1650 time interval it will be possible to determine if, when, and to what degree reliance on this cultigen increased. Through analysis of elements such as strongium it is also possible to estimate the amount of meat in the diet. Many archaeologists have noted the pattern towards nucleated settlement which developed over time both in the Midwest as well as in other parts of the world. This change is associated with the development of social complexity and extensive and centrally organized political systems. However the processes responsible for this change are still not well understood. Archaeologists believe that changes in diet and subsistence strategy may, in large part be responsible and Ms. Greenlee will focus directly on this question. This research is important for several reasons. It will shed new light on the prehistory of the United States and Native Americans. It will increase our understanding of how soci al complexity developed and will assist in the training of a promising young scientist. ***