Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Gender, Small Game, and Resource Depression on the Northwest Coast of North America

博士论文改进补助金：北美西北海岸的性别、小型游戏和资源匮乏

• 批准号: 0729762
• 负责人: Donald Grayson
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Washington
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2007-07-01 至 2009-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0729762&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Improvement; Grant; Gender

Under the supervision of Dr. Donald K. Grayson, Ms. Phoebe Anderson will analyze data from the archaeological sites of English Camp and Watmough Bay, San Juan Islands, WA. These sites were used as seasonal villages by hunter-gatherers from approximately 150-1450 BP and have provided rich, stratified samples of shell, animal bones, and artifacts. Ms. Anderson's analysis is focused on determining how and why hunter-gatherer exploitation of shellfish changed over time and what those changes indicate about the availability of shellfish and other animals during this period.Research focused on long-term subsistence strategies provides insight into the impacts that people have on their prey populations and into how people adjust those strategies to meet environmental challenges. Archaeologists have documented many instances in which prehistoric hunter-gatherers caused the decline of prey populations and then responded to such declines by including greater numbers of smaller animals in their diet. This project examines an alternative explanation for increases in the relative abundance of small animals to large ones in archaeological assemblages. It is well-known that there is a general sexual division of labor among small scale societies in which men pursue large prey while women hunt small game and gather other resources. As a result, it is possible that increases in the relative abundance of small animals in archaeological sites indicate an increase in women's subsistence efforts rather than a decrease in large animal availability. This project develops hypotheses to distinguish between male and female small game foraging strategies, using shellfish exploitation as a case study. These hypotheses are to be tested by identifying archaeological shell species represented in the archaeological assemblages, quantifying the relative abundances of those species, analyzing those abundances through time, and examining changes in shellfish size through time. Since environmental change can also affect both the availability of shellfish species and their growth, this research controls for changes in past sea surface temperatures and upwelling of deep ocean water through oxygen isotope analysis, Mg/Ca ratios, and paired charcoal-shell radiocarbon dating. The results of this research will contribute to an understanding of how human hunting effects animal populations and how men and women in hunter-gatherer societies respond to fluctuations in the availability of different animal resources. Beyond research questions of interest to social scientists, this research will have a broader impact by developing a long-term shellfish history for the Northwest Coast. Ecological studies have shown that human activities have dramatically reduced the abundances of several shellfish species. It is commonly believed that these declines are a result of modern practices, such as commercial harvesting, habitat destruction, and the introduction of exotic species. However before it can be assumed that these declines are the result of modern practices it must be shown that these declines are not rooted in the deeper past. The shellfish and environmental data derived for this project will determine how shellfish abundances fluctuated in the past due to human predation and/or environmental change, thus providing a background for understanding modern abundances.

在Donald K.博士的监督下。格雷森，菲比安德森女士将分析从英语营和瓦特莫湾，圣胡安群岛，华盛顿州考古遗址的数据。 这些遗址在大约150-1450 BP被狩猎采集者用作季节性村庄，并提供了丰富的贝壳，动物骨骼和文物的分层样本。 安德森女士的分析侧重于确定狩猎采集者对贝类的开发如何以及为什么随着时间的推移而发生变化，以及这些变化对这一时期贝类和其他动物的可用性有何影响。研究侧重于长期生存策略，可以深入了解人们对其猎物种群的影响，以及人们如何调整这些策略以应对环境挑战。 考古学家已经记录了许多史前狩猎采集者导致猎物数量下降的例子，然后通过在他们的饮食中包括更多的小型动物来应对这种下降。 这个项目研究了另一种解释，即在考古组合中，小型动物相对于大型动物的相对丰度增加。 众所周知，在小规模的社会中存在着普遍的性别分工，男性追求大型猎物，而女性则狩猎小型猎物并收集其他资源。 因此，考古遗址中小动物相对丰富程度的增加可能表明妇女的生计努力增加，而不是大型动物供应减少。 本计画以贝类为例，提出区分雄性与雌性小型猎物觅食策略的假设。 这些假设是通过确定考古贝壳物种的考古组合，量化这些物种的相对丰度，通过时间分析这些丰度，并检查贝类大小随时间的变化进行测试。 由于环境变化也会影响贝类物种的可用性及其生长，因此本研究通过氧同位素分析，Mg/Ca比值和成对的碳-壳放射性碳测年来控制过去海面温度和深海水上升流的变化。 这项研究的结果将有助于了解人类狩猎如何影响动物种群，以及狩猎采集社会中的男性和女性如何应对不同动物资源可用性的波动。 除了社会科学家感兴趣的研究问题，这项研究将通过为西北海岸开发长期的贝类历史产生更广泛的影响。 生态研究表明，人类活动已大大减少了几种贝类的丰度。 人们普遍认为，这些下降是现代做法的结果，如商业捕捞，栖息地破坏和引进外来物种。 然而，在可以假定这些下降是现代做法的结果之前，必须表明这些下降并不是植根于更深的过去。 本项目所获得的贝类和环境数据将确定过去由于人类捕食和/或环境变化，贝类丰度如何波动，从而为了解现代丰度提供背景。