Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Gathering in the Late Paleoindian and Early Archaic Periods in the Middle Tennessee River Valley, Northwest Alabama

植物性食物构成了生活在非北极环境中的现代狩猎和采集群体饮食的重要部分。 因此，与采集和利用植物有关的决定和活动是他们生存追求的重要方面。 然而，人们对植物性食物对生活在美国东南部的早期狩猎采集者的生存策略和运动的影响知之甚少。 在C博士的指导下。玛格丽特·斯凯瑞，坎迪斯·德维勒将通过分析从位于亚拉巴马西北部的五个岩石庇护所中恢复的植物的残骸来解决这个问题。 这些岩石掩体含有8000至10,500年前的考古沉积物。 这些沉积物是值得注意的，因为它们对动物和植物遗骸的保存非常好，而这些遗骸通常不会在东南部的露天遗址中被发现。 通过对植物遗骸的分析，Detwiler将确定这些早期狩猎和采集群体的目标是哪些植物物种。 然后，她将研究与使用这些植物物种相关的调度和劳动力需求。 这些信息将从有关这些物种的首选生态和结果习性的植物学数据中获得，以及对当代狩猎和采集群体的采集努力和决定的民族志描述和历史记录。 然后，Detwiler将研究这些关于在每个地点使用植物进行其他生计活动的信息，这些信息是由在这些地点发现的动物遗骸、石器和火灾残留物提出的。 在更广泛的区域层面上，她将探索岩石庇护所和其他营地的位置与植物，动物和石头资源在景观上的分布的关系。 这项工作将借助地理信息系统进行。 利用这些信息，Detwiler将构建一个模型的生存战略和运动在这个地区的早期狩猎和采集组，根据他们的决定，如何最有效地利用资源，可能会有所不同，在他们的可用性在时间和空间。 这项研究意义重大，有几个原因。 首先，它将提供目前缺乏的关于占领东南部早期使用的植物范围的基线数据。 第二，它可以用来建议如何收集可以纳入早期狩猎和采集群体的模型，往往强调狩猎对流动性和生存策略的影响。 第三，它将把主要是妇女、儿童和老年人的采集者的活动和决定带到这些模型的前台。 最后，这项研究将允许几个本科生助理，以及作者的机会，获得上述分析方法的培训。 研究结果将以论文以及在权威期刊和专业通讯上发表的形式向科学界提供。

Plant foods comprise a significant portion of the diet of modern hunting-and-gathering groups living in non-arctic environments. Accordingly, the decisions and activities associated with the gathering and use of plants are important aspects of their subsistence pursuits. Little is known, however, about the impact of plant foods on the subsistence strategies and movements of early hunter-gatherers living in the southeastern United States. Under the guidance of Dr. C. Margaret Scarry, Kandace Detwiler will address this issue by analyzing the carbonized remains of plants recovered from five rockshelter sites located in northwest Alabama. The rockshelters contain archaeological deposits dating between 8000 and 10,500 years ago. These deposits are noteworthy for their excellent preservation of animal and plant remains, which are not commonly recovered from open-air sites in the Southeast. Through the analysis of the plant remains, Detwiler will determine which plant species these early hunting-and-gathering groups were targeting. She will then examine the scheduling and labor demands associated with the use of these plant species. This information will be obtained from botanical data regarding the preferred ecology and the fruiting habits of these species, as well as ethnographic descriptions and historic accounts of the gathering efforts and decisions of contemporary hunting-and-gathering groups. Detwiler will then examine this information about the use of plants with respect to other subsistence activities at each site, suggested by the animal remains, stone tools, and residues of fires recovered at the sites. At a broader regional level, she will explore the relationship of the location of the rockshelters and other campsites to the distribution of plant, animal, and stone resources on the landscape. This will be done with the aid of a geographic information system (GIS). Using this information, Detwiler will construct a model of subsistence strategies and movements within this region for early hunting-and-gathering groups, based on their decisions of how to most effectively utilize resources that may differ in their availability in both time and space. This research is significant for several reasons. First, it will provide baseline data, which is currently lacking, regarding the range of plants used during these early periods of occupation of the Southeast. Second, it can be used to suggest ways in which gathering can be incorporated into models for early hunting-and-gathering groups that tend to emphasize the influence of hunting on mobility and subsistence strategies. Third, it will bring the activities and decisions of gatherers, who are predominantly women, children, and the elderly, to the foreground of such models. Finally, this research will allow the opportunity for several undergraduate assistants, as well as the author, to gain training in the analytical methods mentioned above. The results of the research will be accessible to the scientific community both in the form of a dissertation as well as publications in refereed journals and professional newsletters.