Collaborative Research: Maritime Origins on California's Channel Islands

在美国国家科学基金会的支持下，约翰·埃兰森和马克·拉布将合作进行考古研究项目。在过去工作的基础上，他们将继续在位于加利福尼亚海峡群岛的两个地点进行挖掘。Eel Point遗址位于圣克莱门特岛（San Clemente Island），是一个巨大的、分层很深的贝壳堆积场，大约8200年至500年前，这里有多种职业。该遗址包含了大量保存完好的文化特征、贝壳和骨头制品以及动物遗骸。第二个地点，黛西洞是海峡群岛上最重要的考古和古生物学地点之一。位于圣米格尔岛的洞穴和岩洞建筑群包含了大约10,400到700年前的分层人工制品和化石矿床。这是目前北美洲有记载的最早的海岸贝壳堆。已经确定了五个主要的考古组成部分，它们包含了考古遗址中很少保存的精致材料，如篮子和绳索残留物。还有各种各样的碎石制工具和由骨头和贝壳制成的人工制品。调查人员将以他们先前在这些地点的工作为基础，进行实地调查和实验室分析。当前的目标是获得更完整的地点使用情况，增加人工制品和生态事实样本，并获得一套放射性碳测定方法，以进行更精确的定年。将对动物和人工材料进行分析。把这两个地点的数据结合起来，考古学家就可以追溯从最后一个冰河时代结束到全新世早期和中期，北美海洋适应的发展。直到最近，科学家们还认为，拥有相对简单技术的猎人和采集者很难有效地利用海洋环境；有人认为，这些地区是最后的栖息地。在加州大陆，海岸线上的定居点是相对较近的。然而，早期海峡岛遗址的发现改变了这种看法，考古学家希望了解这种早期的海洋适应，以及它是如何随着时间的推移而发展和修改的。岛屿上和附近的沉积物包含了良好的环境记录，可以追踪海洋温度的变化和生物群落的伴随变化。因此Drs。Erlandson和Raab可以深入了解人类基本的生存策略，以及这些策略如何适应食物类型和可获得性的显著变化。这项研究将揭示一个极其早期和知之甚少的北美史前史方面。它将为许多考古学家提供感兴趣的数据，并为人类适应的一个重要方面提供见解。

With National Science Foundation support, Drs. John Erlandson and Mark Rabb will conduct a collaborative archaeological research project. Building on past work, they will continue their excavations at two sites located on California's Channel Islands. The Eel Point site located on San Clemente Island is a large and deeply stratified shell midden which results from multiple occupations from approximately 8,200 to 500 years ago. The site contains a wealth of excellently preserved of cultural features, shell and bone artifacts and faunal remains. The second site, Daisy Cave is among the most important archaeological and paleontological locality on the Channel Islands. Located on San Miguel Island the cave and rockshelter complex contains stratified artifact and fossil bearing deposits dating from ca. 10,400 to 700 years ago. At present it is the earliest documented coastal shell midden in North America. Five major archaeological components have been identified and they contain delicate materials as basketry and cordage remnants rarely preserved in archaeological sites. A variety of chipped stone tools and artifacts made from bone and marine shell are also present. The investigators will build on their prior work at these sites and conduct both fieldwork and laboratory analyses. The immediate goals are to obtain a more complete picture of site use over time, to increase artifact and ecofact samples, and to obtain a suite of radiocarbon determinations for more precise dating. The faunal and artifactual materials will be analyzed. Taken together, data from the two sites will permit archaeologists to trace the development of marine adaptations in North America from the end of the last ice age through early and mid Holocene times. Until recently scientists believed that it was difficult for hunters and gatherers with relatively simple technology to utilize marine environments effectively; such areas, it was argued, were habitats of last resort. On mainland California, shoreline settlements are relatively recent in time. However the discovery of early Channel Island sites has changed that picture and archaeologists wish to understand this early marine adaptation and how it developed and was modified over time. The sediments on and near the islands contain an excellent environmental record and it is possible to trace variation in ocean temperature and concomitant changes in biotic communities. Thus Drs. Erlandson and Raab can gain insight into basic human subsistence strategies and how these accommodated significant variations in food type and availability. This research will shed light on an extremely early and poorly understood aspect of North American prehistory. It will provide data of interest to many archaeologists and provide insight into an important facet of human adaptation.