Dissertation Research: An Archaeological Investigation of the Kansyore, at a Middle Holocene (7000-4000 bp) Hunter-Gatherer Group in Western Kenya

在菲奥娜马歇尔博士的指导下，达拉戴尔女士将为她的博士论文收集数据。她将在位于肯尼亚西部的乌贡贾遗址进行考古挖掘。根据她自己最近的侦察，以及对包括陶器，燃烧和未燃烧的鱼，鸟类和哺乳动物骨头和石器在内的文物的检查，这些组合似乎与一个名为“Kansore”的文化群体有关，该文化群体以其首次被定义的地点命名。Kansyore的特征很差，因为它往往发生在深度分层的环境中，由于覆盖层，考古学家很难清除大的暴露。没有足够的材料在良好的空间背景下，是不可能尝试社会重建。Kansyore的历史可以追溯到距今7，000 - 4，000年之间，具有很大的人类学意义，因为虽然动物群遗迹表明这些群体遵循狩猎和采集的生活方式，但他们也生产了大量具有复杂装饰的陶器，这种组合是独一无二的。大多数狩猎和采集群体缺乏陶器，而那些拥有陶器的人最常使用的是数量稀少的实用器皿。Kansyore陶器的使用表明了一种社会组织模式，其中包括高度的sedentiation，经济专业化和大群体规模。这种适应在热带猎人和采集者中极为罕见，并且不容易包含在当前的理论模型中。由于Ugunja遗址埋得不太深，Dale女士将能够进行广泛的挖掘，收集必要的材料和样本，以获得有关生存、定居模式和社会组织的详细信息。她还将提供第一个坚实的日期为Kansyore文化。这项研究是重要的原因有几个。它将提供一个鲜为人知的考古文化的数据，这将是许多考古学家感兴趣的。它将增加我们在简单的社会组织层面上对人类适应的理解，并将有助于培养一名有前途的年轻科学家。

Under the direction of Dr. Fiona Marshall MS Darla Dale will collect data for her doctoral dissertation. She will conduct archaeological excavation at the site of Ugunja which is located in western Kenya. Based on her own recent reconnaissance, as well as examination of the artifacts which include pottery, burnt and unburned fish, bird and mammal bone and stone tools, the assemblage appears to relate to a cultural group termed "Kansore", named after the site where it was first defined. Kansyore is poorly characterized because it tends to occur in deeply stratified contexts which, because of overburden, make it difficult for archaeologists to clear large exposures. Without sufficient material in good spatial context it is impossible to attempt social reconstructions. Kansyore, which dates to between 7,000 - 4,000 years before the present is of great anthropological interest because while faunal remains indicate that these groups followed a hunting and gathering way of life, they also produced abundant pottery with complex decoration and this combination is unique. Most hunting and gathering groups lacked pottery and those which possessed it most frequently used utilitarian ware which occurs in sparse amounts. Use of Kansyore pottery suggests a mode of social organization which includes a high degree of sedentization, economic specialization and large group size. Such adaptations are extremely rare among tropical hunters and gathers and are not easily encompassed within current theoretical models. Because the Ugunja site is not too deeply buried, MS Dale will be able to conduct extensive excavation and collect the necessary materials and sample sizes to gain detailed information on subsistence, settlement pattern and, hopefully social organization. She will also provide the first solid dates for the Kansyore culture.This research is important for several reasons. It will provide data on a poorly known archaeological culture which will be of interest to many archaeologists. It will increase our understanding of human adaptation at a simple level of social organization and it will assist in training a promising young scientist.