Doctoral Dissertation: Bison Hunting on the Late Prehistoric Great Plains: Seeking an Explanation for Variability in the Kill Record

博士论文：史前晚期大平原上的野牛狩猎：寻求猎杀记录变异性的解释

• 批准号: 0553390
• 负责人: David Meltzer
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Southern Methodist University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2006
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2006-02-01 至 2008-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0553390&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Bison; Hunting; Late

Under the supervision of Dr. David J. Meltzer, Judith Cooper will analyze data gathered on Late Prehistoric bison kill sites on the Great Plains. During the last two millennia, mass bison kills were common on the Northern Plains. Hunters drove herds over cliff edges, or trapped them in pounds or corrals. Hunting events mostly occurred in the fall, when groups gathered provisions for the harsh Northern Plains winter. Conversely, at the same time on the Southern/Central Plains, large bison kills were rare. Instead, hunters targeted small numbers of bison, often resulting in the death of a single animal. And yet, during earlier time periods, hunters executed mass kills in both regions. Why did Late Prehistoric hunters on the Southern/Central Plains abandon mass bison kills, even though their Northern Plains contemporaries continued to execute them? Oddly, bison bone is often found at Late Prehistoric residential sites across the Southern/Central Plains, suggesting that, despite the absence of large kills, bison played an equally important dietary role. How is bison bone so widespread at residential sites when kill sites are so rare? At present, an adequate explanation for the paucity of large bison kill sites on the Southern/Central Plains has yet to be offered. This research will define and seek to explain the differences in Late Prehistoric bison hunting across the Great Plains. Specifically, the author will test if the differences resulted from variation in archaeological preservation (e.g., large kills occurred on the Southern/Central Plains, but their signature was destroyed over time), environment (e.g., the mild climate of the Southern/Central Plains rendered large bison kills during the fall unnecessary), technology (e.g., hunters on the Southern/Central Plains did not have weapons necessary for mass kills), or social organization (e.g., Southern/Central Plains groups were more sedentary and relied heavily on horticulture). To test these hypotheses, existing data on bison kill sites and Great Plains environment will be gathered from government records and published sources and compiled to produce a unified database. These data will be analyzed using Geographic Information Systems (GIS), a computer system designed specifically for geographic data. The overall goals of the research are threefold: (a) to identify changes in bison procurement over time and space, (b) to explain differences in bison hunting strategies in terms of the environment; and (c) to define the relationship between climate, bison, and humans on the Great Plains.The project will generate an up-to-date synthesis of archaeological and environmental data, which will be made available to other researchers through digital media. In fact, the project results will be useful to researchers in other sciences, and thus encourage interdisciplinary data sharing and collaboration. Broader impacts of the research include the incorporation of underused government site records. Also, the proposed research will integrate innovative applications of GIS and these may be used to address similar problems in the future. Finally, this research will greatly benefit Native American populations indigenous to the Great Plains. By calling attention to the diversity amongst prehistoric aboriginal groups, this research will provide a more complex and nuanced perception of their culture history.

在大卫·J·梅尔策 (David J. Meltzer) 博士的监督下，朱迪思·库珀 (Judith Cooper) 将分析在大平原史前晚期野牛捕杀地点收集的数据。在过去的两千年里，大规模猎杀野牛在北部平原很常见。猎人将牛群驱赶到悬崖边缘，或者将它们困在围栏或畜栏里。狩猎活动大多发生在秋季，当时人们正在为北方平原严酷的冬季收集食物。相反，在同一时期的南部/中部平原，大规模猎杀野牛的情况却很少见。相反，猎人的目标是少量的野牛，常常导致单一动物的死亡。然而，在早期，猎人在这两个地区进行了大规模杀戮。为什么南部/中部平原的史前晚期猎人放弃大规模猎杀野牛，尽管他们的北部平原同时代人继续处决它们？奇怪的是，在南部/中部平原的史前晚期居住地经常发现野牛骨头，这表明尽管没有大规模猎杀，野牛也发挥着同样重要的饮食作用。为什么野牛骨头在住宅区如此普遍，而杀戮地点却如此罕见？目前，对于南部/中部平原缺乏大型野牛屠宰场的现象，尚无充分的解释。这项研究将定义并试图解释大平原史前晚期野牛狩猎的差异。具体来说，作者将测试这些差异是否是由于考古保存的变化（例如，南部/中原地区发生了大规模猎杀，但随着时间的推移，其特征被破坏）、环境（例如，南部/中原地区温和的气候使得秋季期间没有必要猎杀大量野牛）、技术（例如，南部/中原地区的猎人没有大规模猎杀所需的武器）或社会组织造成的。 （例如，南部/中部平原群体更加久坐，并且严重依赖园艺）。为了检验这些假设，将从政府记录和公开来源中收集有关野牛捕杀地点和大平原环境的现有数据，并进行编译以生成统一的数据库。这些数据将使用地理信息系统（GIS）进行分析，地理信息系统是专门为地理数据设计的计算机系统。该研究的总体目标有三个：（a）确定野牛采购随时间和空间的变化，（b）解释环境方面野牛狩猎策略的差异； (c) 定义大平原气候、野牛和人类之间的关系。该项目将生成考古和环境数据的最新综合数据，这些数据将通过数字媒体提供给其他研究人员。事实上，该项目的结果将对其他学科的研究人员有用，从而鼓励跨学科的数据共享和协作。该研究的更广泛影响包括纳入未充分利用的政府站点记录。此外，拟议的研究将整合 GIS 的创新应用，这些可用于解决未来的类似问题。最后，这项研究将极大地造福于大平原地区的美洲原住民。通过引起人们对史前原住民群体多样性的关注，这项研究将为他们的文化历史提供更加复杂和细致的认识。