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

9310137 Dunnell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400-1650年之间的俄亥俄河谷中部和上游，她将分析一系列相关地点的骨骼材料。在此期间，随着明确界定的村庄的建立，该地区的聚落从分散变为成核。Greenlee女士希望了解其中的原因，并假定转向种植玉米和依赖这一主食导致了生存适应，从而使人口聚集成为可能。她将通过利用骨化学来检验这一假说。食物的成分各不相同，有些会在消费者的骨骼中留下化学特征。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的植物食品不同。因此，通过分析跨越公元400-1650年时间间隔的一系列骨骼遗骸中的这一比例，将有可能确定对这种栽培基因的依赖是否增加，何时增加，以及增加到什么程度。通过对锶等元素的分析，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，中西部和世界其他地区都出现了成核定居点的模式。这一变化与社会复杂性和广泛的中央组织的政治制度的发展有关。然而，造成这一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所在，格林利将直接关注这个问题。这项研究之所以重要，有几个原因。它将为了解美国和美洲原住民的史前历史提供新的线索。它将增加我们对社会复杂性如何发展的理解，并将有助于培养一位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. ***