Dissertation Research: The Rocky Mountains as Part of a Regional Model of Paleoindian Adaptations in the Western United States.

在C.Vance Haynes博士的指导下，Bonnie Pitblado女士将为她的博士论文收集数据。她将利用已经出土的考古材料研究来自美国平原、落基山脉和大盆地的石器文物。她将把重点放在古印度时期--大约从10,000到7,500年前。-并对科罗拉多州和犹他州的投射点进行详细分析，因为这两个州一起跨越了三个地理区域。她还将对九个地点的所有石材进行广泛的分析，每个地区三个。她希望通过对原材料来源、制造工艺和成品形式的审查，确定这三个领域之间的关系。在大盆地和平原都进行了大量的发掘，对这些地区在古印度时期的考古有了相当好的了解。然而，人们对落基山脉的了解要少得多。一些考古学家认为，这个环境困难的地区常年有人居住，不同的人群体对这个地区产生了独特的适应。其他人认为，古印度技术水平的文化无法应对这样的挑战。皮特布拉多将通过她的分析来解决这个问题。这项研究具有重要意义，原因有很多。首先，它将提供考古学家非常感兴趣的信息，并有助于阐明鲜为人知的美国史前时期。其次，它将为人类与环境的相互作用和人口在简单技术水平上适应的基本能力提供新的线索。第三，这项工作有可能对考古方法论做出重大贡献，因为它将进一步开发和应用分析石质材料的技术。最后，这笔赠款将帮助培训一位有前途的年轻考古学家。

Under the direction of Dr. C. Vance Haynes MS Bonnie Pitblado will collect data for her doctoral dissertation. Working with already excavated archaeological materials she will study lithic artifacts from the U.S. Plains, Rocky Mountains and Great Basin. She will focus on the Paleoindian period - from approximately 10,000 to 7,500 BP. - and conduct a detailed analysis of projectile points from Colorado and Utah since these two states together span the three geographic zones. She will also conduct a broad scale analysis of all lithic materials from nine sites, three from each of the areas. Through examination of raw material origin, manufacturing process and form of completed objects she hopes to determine the relationships between these three areas. A great deal of excavation has been conducted in both the Great Basin and the Plains and the archaeology of these areas during the Paleoindian period is fairly well understood. Much less however is known about the Rocky Mountains. Some archaeologists believe that this environmentally difficult area was inhabited year round and that separate groups of people developed a distinctive adaptation to this region. Others believe that cultures at a Paleoindian level of technology were unable to meet such a challenge. MS Pitblado will address this question through her analysis. This research is significant for a number of reasons. First it will provide information of great interest to archaeologists and help to illuminate a little understood period of U.S. prehistory. Secondly, it will shed new light on human-environment interactions and the basic ability of populations to adapt at simple levels of technology. Third, the work has the potential to make a significant contribution to archaeological methodology since it will further the development and application of techniques for the analysis of lithic materials. Finally this grant will assist in the training of a promising young archaeologist.