SGER: Reconnaissance at Cape Espenberg

一个跨学科的小型研究小组将对埃斯彭贝格角(位于阿拉斯加西沃德半岛北部)的海滩山脊进行测绘和取样，这些山脊包含公元800至1400年间人类占领的痕迹。埃斯彭贝格角海滩脊还提供了该地区丰富的古气候数据。这项研究将于2007年8月进行，这将是在大白令海峡地区发生重大文化转变期间对埃斯彭贝格角的气候变化和人类住区进行重大调查的初始阶段。这种转变为阿拉斯加北部因纽特人或爱斯基摩人的出现奠定了基础，并在随后蔓延到环极地世界的大部分地区。这两起事件都发生在气候变化期间，这对该区域的生境和资源产生了深远的影响。研究人员将绘制考古地图，并将埃斯彭贝格角海滩山脊上的样本和核心气候数据作为替代数据，这些数据可以追溯到公元800-1400年。将使用便携式XRF分析仪对缺乏过去被占领的地表迹象(例如，以前的房屋凹陷)的山脊进行勘探，这可能会揭示埋藏特征和其他遗骸的位置。结果将代表初始阶段，并将用于规划已提出的2008-2010年更大研究计划的后续阶段。这项研究将有助于解决有关阿拉斯加北部伊努皮亚克人在人口流动、冲突和竞争以及重大气候变化期间的文化创新背景下出现的根本问题。埃斯彭贝格角的详细记录、环境和人类住区记录将有助于我们了解因纽特人的起源。这项研究还将为研究生提供教育和培训机会。

A small interdisciplinary team of researchers will map and sample beach ridges at Cape Espenberg (located on the northern Seward Peninsula, Alaska) that contain traces of human occupation between AD 800 and 1400. The Cape Espenberg beach ridges also offer a wealth of paleoclimate data for the region. The research will take place during August 2007 and will represent the initial phase of a major investigation of climate change and human settlement at Cape Espenberg during a period when a major cultural transition took place in the greater Bering Strait region. This transition underlay the emergence of the Inuit or Eskimo people of northern Alaska and their subsequent spread across much of the circumpolar world. Both events occurred during an interval of changing climates that had profound effects on habitats and resources in the region. The researchers will map archaeological features, and will sample and core for proxy climate data on the beach ridges at Cape Espenberg that date to AD 800-1400. One ridge that lacks surface indications of past occupation (e.g., former house depressions) will be prospected with the use of a portable XRF analyzer, which may reveal the location of buried features and other remains. The results will represent the initial phase and will be used to plan the subsequent phases of the larger research program, which has been proposed for 2008-2010. The research will help address fundamental questions about the emergence of the Inupiaq-speaking peoples of northern Alaska in the context of population movements, conflict & competition, and cultural innovation during an interval of significant climate change. The detailed record environmental and human settlement record for Cape Espenberg will contribute to our understanding of Inuit origins. The research also will provide education and training opportunities to graduate students.