SGER: Test Excavations at Little Delta Dune Site, Central Alaska

SGER：阿拉斯加中部小三角洲沙丘遗址的试掘

• 批准号: 0813819
• 负责人: Ben Potter
• 金额: $ 9.1万
• 依托单位: University of Alaska Fairbanks Campus
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-09-01 至 2011-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0813819&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SGER; Test; Excavations; Little; Delta

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).This project consists of test excavations at the Little Delta Dune Site, a Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene site in central Alaska. The cultural remains consist of stone tools and animal remains associated with hearth features. At least four prehistoric occupations are deeply buried in well-stratified contexts, the oldest dating to over 13,300 years ago. The geological context (inactive loess-mantled sand dune) is unique for a site of this age in Alaska. Preliminary testing indicates well preserved remains of waterfowl, small mammals, and large mammals.The proposed project is designed to evaluate site formation and post-occupation disturbance, as well as prehistoric technology and subsistence strategies. Considerable ambiguity exists in our understanding of this time period in the Western Hemisphere. These test excavations have the potential to contribute valuable data to inform current debates about Late Pleistocene technological variability, subsistence economies, and land use strategies in Northwest North America.This research will provide empirical data on early components within well-stratified and securely dated contexts. The well-preserved faunal remains and apparent lack of post-occupation disturbance indicates good potential for evaluating spatial organization. The PIs anticipate that the site may predate the Clovis Complex sites in lower North America, considered by many to represent the earliest colonizers of the Americas. These test excavations will build on initial results by the PI and a geoarchaeology PhD student in anticipation of a more comprehensive multi-disciplinary research program for this site and the region. The results of this test excavation will be of great interest to many researchers across local, regional, and international scales, and to the general public interested in the first peoples of Alaska and the Americas.

该奖项是根据2009年美国恢复和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。该项目包括在阿拉斯加中部的晚更新世-早全新世遗址小三角洲沙丘遗址的测试挖掘。文化遗迹包括与壁炉特征相关的石器和动物遗骸。至少有四种史前职业被深埋在分层的环境中，最古老的可以追溯到13，300多年前。 地质背景（不活跃的黄土覆盖的沙丘）是阿拉斯加这个时代的独特遗址。初步测试显示，水禽、小型哺乳动物和大型哺乳动物的遗骸保存完好。拟议的项目旨在评估遗址的形成和占领后的干扰，以及史前技术和生存策略。我们对西半球这一时期的理解存在相当大的模糊性。这些测试挖掘有可能贡献有价值的数据，以告知目前的辩论晚更新世的技术变化，生计经济，土地利用战略在西北北美。这项研究将提供经验数据，在分层和安全的背景下，早期组件。保存完好的动物遗骸和明显缺乏占领后的干扰表明，很好的潜力，评估空间组织。PI预计，该网站可能早于克洛维斯复杂的网站在北美，许多人认为代表了美洲最早的殖民者。这些测试挖掘将建立在PI和地质考古学博士生的初步结果的基础上，以期待对该遗址和该地区进行更全面的多学科研究计划。这次试掘的结果将引起当地、区域和国际范围内许多研究人员的极大兴趣，也会引起对阿拉斯加和美洲原住民感兴趣的公众的极大兴趣。