Dissertation Research: Differential Resource Access in a Thule Eskimo Whaling Community

在Dr. Katherine Spielmann的指导下，Peter Whitridge先生将为他的博士论文收集数据。他已经开始并将继续对paj -2遗址进行考古发掘，该遗址位于加拿大中部的北极地区，大约在公元1100年至1450年期间居住着图勒爱斯基摩人。初步数据表明，该遗址每年有6到8个月被一个100到200人的群体反复占据，他们的经济以密集捕捞露脊鲸为中心。在挖掘过程中，惠特里奇将展示七处住宅、一处仪式用房以及周围的活动区和墓穴。由于永久冻土的条件，人工材料保存得很好，并提供了这些史前人民生活的详细信息。Whitridge先生将专注于地位差异，并将检查材料以深入了解获得经济资源的差异程度。因此，有价值的食物（体现在动物骨头上）和外来的和稀缺的商品将成为人们关注的焦点。考古学家对社会不平等的起源和原因很感兴趣，从这个角度来看，图勒爱斯基摩人特别感兴趣。人们普遍认为，狩猎采集社会本质上基本上是平等的，由于这种生活方式的严酷，性别之间和家庭之间的地位差异很少发生。然而，由于像图勒这样的群体专门从事捕鲸，食物通常很丰富，根据民族志的类比，成功的猎人通常受到极大的尊重。惠特里奇先生希望研究这些因素是否实际上导致了不平等。这项研究之所以重要，有几个原因。它将为许多考古学家提供感兴趣的数据。它将增加我们对导致复杂社会出现的过程的理解，并有助于培养有前途的年轻科学家。＊＊＊

9313627 Spielmann Under the direction of Dr. Katherine Spielmann, Mr. Peter Whitridge will collect data for his doctoral dissertation. He has begun and will continue archaeological excavations at the site of PaJs-2 which is located in the Central Canadian arctic and was inhabited by Thule Eskimo peoples between ca. 1100 - 1450 A.D. Preliminary data indicate that the site was occupied recurrently for six to eight months a year by a group of 100 to 200 people whose economy centered in intensive harvesting of bowhead whales. Over the course of excavation, Mr. Whitridge will expose seven domestic dwellings, a ceremonial house and surrounding activity areas and middens. Because of permafrost conditions, artifactual material is well preserved and provide detailed insight into the lives of these prehistoric peoples. Mr. Whitridge will focus on status differentiation and will examine materials to gain insight into the degree of differential access to economic resources. Thus valued foods - as reflected in animal bone - and exotic and scarce commodities will provide a focus for attention. Archaeologists are interested in the origin and causes of social inequality and Thule Eskimo from this perspective are of particular interest. It is widely believed that hunter gatherer societies are basically egalitarian in nature and because of the rigors of this way of life, status distinctions between sexes and between families rarely if ever occur. However because groups such as the Thule specialized in whale hunting, food was often abundant and based on ethnographic analogy successful hunters often were accorded great respect. Mr. Whitridge wishes to examine whether such factors in fact resulted in inequalities. This research is important for several reasons. It will provide data of interest to many archaeologists. It will increase our understanding of the processes which led to the emergence of complex society and assist in the training of a promising young scientist. ***