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

该奖项由2009年美国复苏和再投资法案(公法111-5)资助。该项目包括在阿拉斯加中部的小三角洲沙丘遗址进行试掘，这是一个晚更新世-早全新世遗址。文化遗迹由石器和与壁炉特征相关的动物遗骸组成。至少有四个史前职业被深埋在层次分明的背景中，最古老的可以追溯到13300多年前。地质背景(不活跃的黄土覆盖的沙丘)对于阿拉斯加这个时代的遗址来说是独一无二的。初步测试表明，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平整和占领后的干扰，以及史前技术和生存策略。我们对西半球这一时期的理解有相当大的含糊之处。这些测试发掘有可能提供有价值的数据，为当前关于北美西北部晚更新世技术可变性、自给自足经济和土地利用战略的辩论提供有价值的数据。这项研究将提供关于良好分层和安全年代背景下早期组成部分的经验数据。保存完好的动物遗迹和明显缺乏占领后的干扰表明了评估空间组织的良好潜力。PI预计，该遗址可能早于北美下部的克洛维斯综合体遗址，许多人认为该遗址代表了美洲最早的殖民者。这些测试挖掘将建立在PI和一名地质考古学博士生的初步结果基础上，以期为该遗址和该地区制定更全面的多学科研究计划。这次测试挖掘的结果将引起当地、地区和国际范围内的许多研究人员以及对阿拉斯加和美洲原住民感兴趣的普通公众的极大兴趣。

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.