Testing for Paleoindian Aggregations: Internal Site Structure at Bull Brook

古印第安聚集体测试：布尔布鲁克的内部遗址结构

• 批准号: 0352918
• 负责人: Brian Robinson
• 金额: $ 8.74万
• 依托单位: University of Maine
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2004
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2004-02-15 至 2008-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0352918&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Testing; Paleoindian; Aggregations; Internal; Site

Paleoindian research provides the earliest substantial evidence of how people coped with Late Pleistocene environmental fluctuations and low population density, while sharing aspects of culture across North America. From about 11,000 radiocarbon years ago, the well known fluted projectile points are highly visible but often scarce, which turns out to be a good combination for some research. The distribution of sites, artifact clusters and exotic raw materials provide unusually clear evidence of settlement pattern, in part because they are not blurred by abundance. The largest Paleoindian sites in the Northeast are often composed of separate clusters of artifacts (hut locations?) seemingly unobscured by repeated occupation. The large sites pose a problem, however, because they occur in areas that seem to have had low population densities. Do the large sites represent repeated occupations by a few families, or large groups coming together from great distances? These questions are important to understanding all mobile hunter-gatherers. The Bull Brook site in Ipswich, Massachusetts has over 40 loci that form a large ring-shaped pattern, the largest and most regular settlement plan known from the Late Pleistocene of North America. The site was excavated between 40 and 50 years ago in a cooperative effort between avocational archaeologists and professionals. The excavators insisted that the large ring-shaped pattern resembled a large camp circle, but anthropologists 40 years ago found this difficult to believe. Since then, the idea of large social gatherings among low density populations has become acceptable. Although the Bull Brook site is widely known, the evidence has not been published in sufficient detail to test some of the implications of the ring-shaped plan. With National Science Foundation support, Dr. Brian Robinson (Climate Change Institute, Alaska Project, and Anthropology Department at the University of Maine) will work with faculty, graduate students and colleagues from New England and Quebec, to test whether the settlement plan at Bull Brook reflects the organizational characteristics of ring-shaped settlements among recent hunter-gatherers. The Bull Brook site plan will be meticulously reconstructed from original records, with direct assistance from some of the original excavators. Aerial photography, field reconnaissance and subsurface coring of an adjacent marsh will be used to reconstruct the modern and ancient landscape. The entire Bull Brook collection (over 8000 artifacts) was donated to the Peabody Essex Museum by the excavators. It will be newly described with two lithic specialists among the senior personnel to identify stone sources. The structure of the Bull Brook settlement plan will be analyzed from the distribution of artifacts and materials in the 40 artifact concentrations.The history of research at Bull Brook reflects the interplay between discovery, changing theory and the quest for more precise evidence. Rare archaeological contexts that are particularly revealing must be "revisited" with new questions. The Bull Brook site has provided significant inspiration for theories on Paleoindian settlement and social organization. Although the site was destroyed long ago, it retains fundamental evidence of hunter-gatherer organization that is rarely preserved and excavated at a scale large enough to evaluate. The resulting monograph will be accompanied by a digital record of artifact catalogs and field records, allowing researchers to evaluate and address a wide variety of problems. A popular account of the remarkable salvage effort by the dedicated group of avocational archaeologists is also planned, for its broad appeal and educational value.

古印第安人的研究提供了最早的实质性证据，证明人们如何应对晚更新世的环境波动和低人口密度，同时在北美分享文化的各个方面。从大约11000年前的放射性碳开始，众所周知的凹槽抛射点是非常明显的，但往往是稀缺的，这对一些研究来说是一个很好的组合。遗址、人工制品集群和外来原材料的分布为人类定居模式提供了异常清晰的证据，部分原因是它们没有被丰富程度所模糊。东北部最大的古印第安遗址通常是由独立的人工制品群（小屋位置？）组成，似乎没有被重复占领所掩盖。然而，这些大型遗址造成了一个问题，因为它们发生在人口密度似乎很低的地区。这些大型遗址是代表了几个家庭的重复占领，还是代表了从很远的地方聚集在一起的大群体？这些问题对于了解所有流动的狩猎采集者都很重要。马萨诸塞州伊普斯维奇的布尔布鲁克遗址有40多个位点，形成了一个大的环形图案，这是北美晚更新世以来已知的最大、最规则的定居计划。在业余考古学家和专业人士的共同努力下，该遗址于40至50年前被挖掘出来。挖掘者坚持认为，这个巨大的环形图案类似于一个巨大的营地圈，但40年前的人类学家很难相信这一点。从那时起，在低密度人口中举行大型社交聚会的想法就变得可以接受了。尽管布尔布鲁克遗址广为人知，但还没有足够详细的证据被公布出来，以检验这个环形计划的一些含义。在美国国家科学基金会的支持下，布莱恩·罗宾逊博士（气候变化研究所、阿拉斯加项目和缅因大学人类学系）将与新英格兰和魁北克的教师、研究生和同事合作，测试布尔布鲁克的定居点计划是否反映了最近狩猎采集者的环形定居点的组织特征。布尔布鲁克遗址平面图将在一些原始挖掘者的直接协助下，根据原始记录进行精心重建。航空摄影、野外侦察和邻近沼泽的地下取芯将用于重建现代和古代景观。整个布尔布鲁克收藏品（超过8000件文物）由挖掘者捐赠给皮博迪埃塞克斯博物馆。将由高级人员中的两名石器专家对其进行新的描述，以确定石头的来源。将从40个人工制品集中地的人工制品和材料分布来分析布尔布鲁克聚落计划的结构。布尔布鲁克的研究历史反映了发现、不断变化的理论和对更精确证据的追求之间的相互作用。特别具有启示意义的罕见考古背景必须带着新的问题“重新审视”。布尔布鲁克遗址为古印第安人定居和社会组织的理论提供了重要的灵感。虽然这个遗址在很久以前就被摧毁了，但它保留了狩猎采集组织的基本证据，这些证据很少被保存下来，也很少被挖掘到足够大的规模来评估。由此产生的专著将伴随着人工制品目录和现场记录的数字记录，使研究人员能够评估和解决各种各样的问题。由于其广泛的吸引力和教育价值，还计划对一群业余考古学家的非凡打捞工作进行通俗的叙述。