LATE PLEISTOCENE HUMAN OCCUPATION OF THE BIGHORN MOUNTAINS

在国家科学基金会的资助下，罗伯特·凯利博士将在怀俄明州大角山的岩石掩蔽处调查晚更新世的沉积物。北美最早的一些人工制品是有凹槽的尖；这些都与许多考古学家认为的北美最初的殖民有关，可以追溯到大约12000到13500年前，晚更新世时期。与后来的北美人不同，凹槽尖的制造者似乎很少使用洞穴和岩石掩体。在他们的殖民模型中，Robert Kelly和Lawrence Todd（1988）认为，这一事实表明笛尖制造者没有使用“稀有”景观元素，因为他们是北美快速殖民的一部分。然而，在避难所中很少出现凹槽点可能是采样问题（例如，未能挖掘足够深），或者是避难所分类的结果（例如，目前可观察到的避难所在晚更新世是不适合居住的）。来自美国的数据分析表明，洞穴和岩洞中的凹槽点职业确实很罕见，只有10%的遗址具有适当年龄的沉积物。但是，了解这类职业在特定地区的罕见程度，对于理解它们罕见的原因至关重要。该项目旨在回答大角山的两个问题：我们是否在洞穴和岩洞中充分取样了12,000-13,500 BP的沉积物？(b)如果有的话，地点埋藏学，即避难所或洞穴本身及其被困沉积物的地质形成过程，在调节洞穴和岩石避难所目前缺乏凹槽点年龄职业方面发挥了什么作用？该项目将从怀俄明州大角山的150个数据库中调查一系列避难所；目前，其中只有3-4个可以证明考古渗透到12,000年前的沉积物中，只有两个含有凹槽点。目标是通过对至少30个具有12,000至13,500年历史的沉积物的避难所进行充分测试，来测试从国家数据中产生的10%的频率。人们必须能够证明这30个庇护所的隐蔽性不是一个问题，也就是说，庇护所是可居住的，可居住的。因此，调查人员正在重新调查以前挖掘的避难所，通过AMS和OSL测年程序重新编制地层剖面。在两位地质考古学家的协助下，该小组还将收集与评估每个避难所的史前历史有关的数据。研究人员还将在新的避难所进行测试挖掘，以确保在不同类型的基岩和不同的地质环境（例如高海拔与低海拔）中有足够的避难所样本。智力优势一旦完成，该项目将(a)首次确定特定地区庇护所中有凹槽点职业的频率；(b)评估样本偏差和庇护所分类是造成庇护所缺乏凹槽点的原因的可能性；(c)提供数据来评估支持Kelly/Todd晚更新世殖民模型的证据。更广泛的影响2003年，怀俄明大学启动了一个新的古印第安考古学博士项目；该项目将为该项目的学生提供培训；此外，国际学生也将参加（2005年，来自俄罗斯）。收集到的数据将对其他有关大角山考古的研究项目有用。该项目将引起广泛的考古学家在美洲研究早期“古印第安人”考古，因此，加强怀俄明大学与俄罗斯和阿根廷机构的现有合作协议。

With National Science Foundation funding, Dr. Robert Kelly will investigate late Pleistocene deposits in rockshelters in Wyoming's Bighorn Mountains. Some of the earliest artifacts in North America are fluted points; these are associated with what many archaeologists believe to the initial colonization of North American, and date from about 12,000 to 13,500 years ago, the late Pleistocene period. Unlike later peoples of North America, makers of fluted points seem to have rarely used cave and rockshelters. In their colonization model, Robert Kelly and Lawrence Todd (1988) argued that this fact indicated that flute point makers did not use "rare" landscape elements because they were part of a rapid colonization of North America. However, infrequent occurrence of fluted points in shelters could be a sampling problem (e.g, failure to excavate deep enough), or a result of shelter taphonomy (e.g, shelters that are currently observable were uninhabitable in the late Pleistocene). Analysis of data from the U.S. suggests that fluted point occupations in caves and rockshelters are indeed rare, = 10% of sites with appropriately-aged deposits. But understanding how rare such occupations are in a given region is essential to understanding why they are rare. This projects aims to answer two questions for the Bighorn Mountains: have we adequately sampled 12,000-13,500 BP deposits in caves and rockshelters? and (b) what role, if any, does site taphonomy, processes involved in the geologic formation of the shelter or cave itself and its trapped sediments, play in conditioning the current lack of fluted point-aged occupations in caves and rockshelters? This project will investigate a series of shelters from a database of 150 in Wyoming's Bighorn Mountains; currently, only 3-4 of these can demonstrate archaeological penetration into pre-12,000 year old sediments, and only two contain fluted points. The goal is to test the 10% frequency generated from national data by adequately testing at least 30 shelters for 12,000 to 13,500 year old deposits. One must be able to demonstrate for these 30 shelters that shelter taphonomy is not an issue, that is, that the shelter was available for habitation and habitable. The investigators therefore are re-investigating previously excavated shelters, redating stratigraphic profiles through AMS and OSL dating procedures. With the assistance of two geoarchaeologists the team will also collect data relevant to evaluating each shelter's taphomic history. The researchers will also conduct test excavations in new shelters to ensure that an adequate sample of shelters in different types of bedrock and in different geologic settings (e.g. high vs. low elevation) are available. Intellectual MeritsOnce completed, this project will (a) establish for the first time, the frequency of fluted point occupations in shelters in a specific region; (b) evaluate the probability that sample bias and shelter taphonomy are responsible for the lack of fluted points in shelters; and (c) provide data to evaluate one piece of evidence used to support the Kelly/Todd late Pleistocene colonization model. Broader ImpactsIn 2003, the University of Wyoming initiated a new doctoral program in paleoindian archaeology; this project will provide training for students in that program; in addition, international students will participate (in 2005, from Russia). The data gathered will be useful to other research projects on the archaeology of the Bighorn Mountains. The project will interest a broad range of archaeologists researching early "paleoindian" archaeology throughout the Americas and, as such, strengthen the University of Wyoming's existing cooperative agreements with Russian and Argentine institutions.