Archaeology of the Cascadia Subduction Zone: Cultural Responses to Coseismic Subsidence, Tsunamis, and Earthquakes on the Southern Northwest Coast

在麦当娜·莫斯博士的指导下，罗伯特·洛西先生将为他的博士论文收集数据。他的研究目标是利用考古数据来检验构造事件对文化的反应，以及这些事件对北美西北海岸景观的影响。越来越多的地质证据证明，在过去的几千年里，该地区发生了多次大地震，这些地震导致了相对于海平面的陆地下降，并产生了大型海啸（潮汐波）。这些可能破坏了低洼的定居点，摧毁了房屋和粮食储备，而景观的长期变化影响了人们的生活方式和生活地点。史前居民严重依赖鱼类和贝类，这些资源的分布可能已经迅速改变。洛西将调查俄勒冈州北部海岸Netarts和Nehalem海湾的几个考古遗址。他将重新检查先前挖掘的藏品，并对几个考古遗址进行小规模挖掘、采样和定年。他还将研究有关海啸和地震的美洲原住民口述历史，并利用这些数据研究公元1700年事件前后的考古定居模式。根据以前的数据，洛西先生认为，选定的地点在公元1700年之前和之后都有人居住，这将通过对精心挑选的样本进行放射性碳定年来证实。对从现场采集的材料以及从非现场采集的岩心和螺旋钻采集的材料进行沉积物分析，将提供地震前后当地景观变化的数据。对动物遗骸的详细分析将有助于了解当地环境如何受到地震的影响，以及人们如何适应这些变化。以前的调查人员从这些地点收集的大量人工制品样本也将与新生成的数据相关联。这项研究很重要，因为它将增加人们对一次特定地震对美国西北海岸鲜为人知的南部地区的人民、景观、环境和考古记录的影响的了解。它还将帮助培训一名有前途的年轻科学家。

Under the direction of Dr. Madonna Moss, Mr. Robert Losey will collect data for his doctoral dissertation. The goal of his research is to use archaeological data to examine cultural responses to tectonic events and the effects of such events upon the landscape in the Northwest Coast of North America. A growing body of geological evidence has documented the occurrence of large earthquakes in this region over the last several thousand years and these resulted in down-dropping of land in relation to lea level and the generation of large tsunamis (tidal waves). It is likely that these may have damaged low-lying settlements destroying houses and food stores and that longer term changes in the landscape affected how and where people could live. Prehistoric residents depended heavily on fish and shell fish and the distribution of these resources may have been rapidly altered. Mr. Losey will investigate several archaeological sites in Netarts and Nehalem bays on the northern Oregon coast. He will re-examine previously excavated collections and supplement this with small scale excavation, sampling and dating of several archaeological sites. He will also study Native American oral history concerning tsunamis and earthquakes and use these data to examine archaeological settlement patterns before and after the 1700 AD event.Based on previous data Mr. Losey believes that the sites selected were occupied both before and after 1700 AD and this will be confirmed through radiocarbon dating of carefully selected samples. Sediment analyses performed on materials taken from the sites and from cores and augers at off-site locations will provide data on local landscape changes before and after the earthquake. Detailed analysis of faunal remains will provide insight into how local environments were affected by the earthquake and how people adjusted to these changes. The large artifact samples collected from the sites by previous investigators will also be correlated with the newly generated data.The research is important because it will increase understanding of the effects of one specific earthquake upon the people, landscape, environments and archaeological record of the poorly known southern United States Northwest Coast. It will also assist in training a promising young scientist.