Emergence of Status Inequality at the Keatley Creek Site, British Columbia

在国家科学基金会的支持下，威廉·C·普伦蒂斯博士和他的同事们将在基特利溪遗址进行考古研究，这是一个位于不列颠哥伦比亚省中南部弗雷泽峡谷的大型房屋坑村庄。基特利溪遗址包含大量保存完好的考古沉积物，代表着至少5000年来狩猎采集文化和社区组织变化的全球重大记录。在其职业历史的早期，该遗址是一个经常被占领的营地，居住着普遍的(社会经济平等主义的)狩猎-采集民族。然而，在大约1100年前占领的鼎盛时期，一个永久的冬季村庄已经发展起来，很可能是一个等级森严的社会，大约有1000-1500人居住在直径22米的房子里。这个复杂的狩猎采集社区的居民参与了一个大规模的交换网络，并维持着以集约捕捞和储存鲑鱼为中心的自给自足的经济。一些家庭甚至可能拥有或至少控制着进入周围景观的部分，包括渔场和采石场。因此，Keatley Creek遗址为研究与北美狩猎-采集背景下的社会不平等的出现有关的进程和事件提供了最佳机会。这项研究将集中在基特利克里克村的演变，重点是产生复杂社会组织的过程。为了实现这一目标，普伦蒂斯博士将领导多学科研究，包括考古挖掘、遗址地层学评估、放射性碳测年，以及关于生存行为、技术和房屋地板活动组织变化的研究。更具体地说，发掘将侧重于考古沉积物，记录了从泛化的狩猎-采集者到复杂的狩猎-采集者的转变。放射性碳分析将确定该村出现社会复杂性的日期。对植物遗骸、动物骨骼和石器的研究将使我们能够评估在这一重要过渡期间食品采购、准备和消费组织的变化。研究小组将专注于几个问题：1.向社会复杂性的转变发生在什么时候？2.这种文化转变是突然的还是渐进的？3.这种转变伴随着生存方式的重大变化？4.这种转变是在技术重组之后发生的吗？5.在这段时间里，劳工组织发生了怎样的变化？该项目的成果将促进人类学对复杂社会进化的理解。它还将提供对北部高原后期复杂的狩猎-采集社区组织的洞察。最后，它将在印度人民和太平洋西北地区的考古学家之间建立积极的工作关系。

With National Science Foundation support, Dr. William C. Prentiss and his colleagues will conduct archaeological research at the Keatley Creek site, a large housepit village located in the Middle Fraser Canyon of south-central British Columbia. The Keatley Creek site contains extensive and well-preserved archaeological deposits, representing a globally significant record of change in hunter-gatherer culture and community organization spanning at least 5000 years. Early in its occupational history, the site was a frequently occupied camp for generalized (socio-economically egalitarian) hunter-gatherer peoples. However, by the height of its occupation, around 1100 years ago, a permanent winter village had evolved, likely featuring a hierarchically ranked society of approximately 1000-1500 persons residing in housepits as large as 22 meters in diameter. Residents of this complex hunter-gatherer community participated in a large-scale exchange network and maintained a subsistence economy centered on intensive salmon fishing and storage. Some households may have even owned or at least controlled access to portions of the surrounding landscape including fishing sites and stone quarries. The Keatley Creek site thus provides an optimal opportunity for studying the processes and events associated with the emergence of social inequality in a North American hunter-gatherer context. This research will focus on the evolution of the Keatley Creek village with an emphasis on the processes which give rise to complex social organization. To accomplish this, Dr. Prentiss will direct multidisciplinary research that will include archaeological excavation, assessment of site stratigraphy, radiocarbon dating, and studies of change in subsistence behavior, technology, and organization of activities on house floors. More specifically, excavation will focus on archaeological deposits chronicling the shift from generalized to complex hunter-gatherers. Radiocarbon analysis will establish the date at which social complexity emerged in the village. Studies of plant remains, animal bones, and stone tools will permit an assessment of changes in the organization of food procurement, preparation, and consumption during this important transition. The research team will focus on several questions: 1. When did the transition to social complexity occur? 2. Was this cultural transition abrupt or gradual? 3. Was the transition accompanied by a major change in subsistence? 4. Did the transition follow a reorganization of technology? 5. How did labor organization change during this time? Results of the project will advance the anthropological understanding of the evolution of complex societies. It will also provide insight into the organization of complex hunter-gatherer communities during the late period of the Northern Plateau. Finally, it will build positive working relationships between Indian people and archaeologists in the Pacific Northwest region.