Investigation of Punuk/Birnirk/Thule Relationships--Preliminary Evaluation of North Alaskan Site Potentials

首席调查员已经提交了一份SGER提案，以调查和评估阿拉斯加北坡因侵蚀和其他地质过程而面临损失风险的考古遗址。调查将集中于寻找“完整的文化沉积物，特别是中间沉积物，最好是冷冻的；与史前捕鲸发展有关的文化沉淀；暴露地层和附近潜在的古环境资料来源。由于过去十年来北极地区剧烈的气候变化和过程，以前关于考古资源位置和状况的记录信息已经过时。在拟议的调查中收集的信息对于确定未来研究的地点至关重要，特别是对北极的普努克、伯尼克和图勒考古文化。这三个群体之间的界面是一个重要而及时的研究课题，因为图勒很可能代表了对新的和不断变化的环境条件的高度成功的适应，这与当代居住在北坡的土著居民所面临的情况没有什么不同。

The Principal Investigator has submitted a SGER proposal to survey and evaluate archaeological sites on the North Slope of Alaska that are at risk of loss due to erosion and other geologic processes. The survey will concentrate on locating "intact cultural deposits, especially midden deposit and preferably frozen; cultural deposits associated with the development of prehistoric whaling; exposed strata and nearby potential sources of paleoenvironmental data." Due to the dramatic climactic changes and processes in the Arctic over the last decade, previously recorded information on the location and condition of archaeological resources have become obsolete. The information gathered in the proposed survey is crucial to identifying sites for future research, particularly on the Punuk, Birnirk, and Thule archaeological cultures of the Arctic. The interface between these three groups is an important and timely research topic due to the fact that Thule most likely represents a highly successful adaptation to new and changing environmental conditions, not unlike those facing contemporary indigenous people occupying on the North Slope.