Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene Archaeology at North Creek Shelter, Escalante Valley, Southern Utah

在犹他州南部的北溪避难所进行的考古研究发现了北美西部科罗拉多高原上人类存在的最早证据。美国国家科学基金会正在提供支持，将来自杨百翰大学、犹他大学、华盛顿大学和内华达大学拉斯维加斯分校四家机构的研究人员聚集在一起，调查一万多年前在这里找到住所的猎人和采集者留下的遗骸。沉积学、古环境学、植物学和动物骨骼鉴定等方面的专家们正在结合各自的才能，尽可能多地从这个遗址中学习。北溪避难所独特的地质位置导致了粉砂的快速沉积，这些砂已经密封了包含古代文物的多个职业水平。这些罕见的情况使考古学家能够梳理出从更新世末期到更近的过去人类策略的变化。杨百翰大学的Joel C. Janetski博士将在2008年继续指导这个项目。这项工作开始于2004年，当时是考古学生实地学校的一部分，他每年都会回来，在杨百翰大学和拉斯维加斯内华达大学的研究生和本科生的得力协助下继续这项研究。美国国家科学基金会的支持将使2008年成为迄今为止最长的野外季节，并将使实现项目目标成为可能。该研究的知识价值来自于几个研究主题的现场数据：1)人类到达干旱西部的时间，2)古生代（9000年前）和早期古生代（8000至9000年前）生活方式的对比，3)重建这些早期时期的气候/环境。重要的是，考古将帮助我们了解人们如何应对气候变化的挑战。如上所述，该遗址是科罗拉多高原上最古老的，但有可能发现更早的水平。这些最低水平与科罗拉多高原上的人类生活方式没有可比性，但收集到的数据将用于测试附近大盆地的旧古和早期古策略的现有模型。对犹他州东南部的鼠窝的研究表明，道格拉斯冷杉和白杨等树木生长的海拔比现在低1000多英尺，这表明1万年前的气候更凉爽、更潮湿。北溪避难所项目将通过鉴定烹饪火留下的木炭以及植物和动物遗骸来验证这些发现。此外，从多个层面对鹿和/或山羊牙釉质进行氧同位素分析，将通过比较温度随时间的波动，有助于了解古代气候。除了打开一扇窗户，深入了解该地区的人类历史，北溪避难所的研究提供了更广泛的影响，因为该项目已经并将继续提供独特的教学机会。所有现场工作人员都是考古学专业的本科生或研究生。他们的培训将通过与来自不同学科的专家合作而丰富，更不用说了解如何接近分层很深的考古遗址了。至少有三篇硕士论文将写在这个项目上，学生将有助于期刊文章报告研究的各个方面。

Archaeological research at North Creek Shelter in southern Utah has uncovered the earliest known evidences of human presence on the Colorado Plateau in western North America. The National Science Foundation is providing support to bring together researchers from four institutions - Brigham Young University, University of Utah, University of Washington, and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas - to investigate remains left by hunters and gatherers who found shelter here over 10,000 years ago. Specialists in sedimentology, ancient environments, botany, and animal bone identification are combining talents to learn as much as possible from this site. North Creek Shelter's unique geological position has resulted in rapid deposition of silty sands that have sealed in multiple occupation levels containing ancient artifacts. These rare circumstances are enabling archaeologists to tease out changes in human strategies from the close of the Pleistocene into the more recent past. Dr. Joel C. Janetski (Brigham Young University) will continue to direct the project in 2008. The work began in 2004 as part of a field school for archaeology students, and he has returned each year to continue the research with able assistance from graduate and undergraduate students from BYU and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The NSF support will make 2008 the longest field season to date and will make meeting the project objectives possible. The intellectual merit of the research derives from site data that bear on several research topics: 1) the timing of human arrival in the arid west, 2) contrast between Paleoarchaic (prior to 9000 years ago) and Early Archaic (between 8000 and 9000 years ago) lifeways, 3) and reconstructing climatic/environments for these early periods. Importantly the archaeology will help us understand how people confronted the challenges of changing climates. As noted, the site is the oldest on the Colorado Plateau, but a possibility exists that earlier levels will be found. These lowest levels have no parallels for human lifeway on the Colorado Plateau, but the data gathered will be used to test existing models of Paleoarchaic and Early Archaic strategies for the nearby Great Basin. Studies of pack rat nests in southeast Utah suggest trees such as Douglas fir and quaking aspen grew in places well over a thousand feet lower in elevation than today suggesting a cooler and wetter climate 10,000 years ago. The North Creek Shelter project will test those findings by the identification of charcoal left from cooking fires as well as plant and animal remains. In addition, oxygen isotope analysis of deer and/or mountain sheep tooth enamel from multiple levels will contribute to understanding ancient climates by comparing temperature fluctuations through time. In addition to opening a window into the deep human history of this region, North Creek Shelter research provides broader impacts as the project has already provided and will continue to provide unique teaching opportunities. All field crew members are undergraduate or graduate students in archaeology. Their training will be enriched by working with specialists from several disciplines, not to mention seeing how to approach deeply stratified archaeological sites. A minimum of three masters theses will be written on the project, and students will contribute to journal articles reporting aspects of the research.