Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Documenting Variability in Environmental Exploitation and Settlement Structure in the Central Scioto Valley

在威廉·s·丹西博士的指导下，凯文·c·诺兰将考察莱因哈特古堡遗址（公元1000-1650年）的环境开发模式和村庄结构。最近的调查揭示了Fort Ancient Tradition和其他俄亥俄河谷晚史前群体在当地变化的重要方面。然而，在中央西奥托山谷，调查过的晚史前遗址很少。这项调查将增加有关古堡时期人类状况变化的宝贵知识。首先，诺兰将检查莱因哈特居民的资源可用性和使用情况。村民的生存选择将通过从遥感识别的特征样本中恢复植物和动物遗骸来重建。将根据生境类型的分布和特定资源类型的可得性，将回收的材料与预期进行比较。这将有助于审查村庄居民为特定资源所产生的相对采购成本，并可能提供有关资源紧张的线索。其次，该项目将有助于了解堡古聚落组织的变异性范围。社区组织的知识对于评估社区内部的社会关系是很重要的。人们一直认为，古代遗址的聚落结构随着时间的推移而变化。然而，许多调查只暴露了站点的一小部分。具体来说，之前在中央西奥托山谷进行的研究要么暴露了村庄的一小部分，要么是在现代挖掘和记录方法之前进行的。因此，关于西奥托山谷中部古堡社区组织的数据很少，也没有可变性的概念。该项目提供了一个机会，通过地球物理调查、密集的地面收集、铲测试采样和特征挖掘相结合，记录了西奥托山谷中部早期堡垒遗址的遗址结构。该项目有助于当前记录当地文化差异的趋势。进行这种分析的适当起点是单个站点。该项目将建立一个捕捉空间和时间变化的古代堡垒生存和定居结构模型。这个模型是从站点向外构建的，结合了莱因哈特站点的结果和利用数字状态站点记录数据库的几个最近的项目。理解可变性和持久性对于建立关于文化变迁的有理论依据的叙述至关重要。除了帮助诺兰完成博士学位之外，这个项目还将为当地的教育推广工作提供信息。诺兰已经将当前的考古知识融入到公共宣传演讲中，并有资金支持制作宣传册，以配合这些宣传演讲。这些小册子和未来的演讲将对俄亥俄州晚期史前史进行细致入微的阐述，使公众能够理解，并实现公共教育的目标。此外，该项目将促进俄亥俄州哥伦布市的保护规划。美国国家科学基金会的支持，加上已经获得的资金，将有助于为俄亥俄州人民保存、教育和展示重要的文化遗迹。

Kevin C. Nolan, under the supervision of Dr. William S. Dancey, will examine the pattern of environmental exploitation and the village structure at the Fort Ancient (AD 1000-1650) Reinhardt site. Recent investigations shed light on important aspects of local variability for the Fort Ancient Tradition and other Ohio Valley Late Prehistoric groups. However, there is a paucity of investigated Late Prehistoric sites in the Central Scioto Valley. This investigation will add valuable knowledge about the variability of the human condition during the Fort Ancient period.First, Nolan will examine the availability and use of resources by the Reinhardt inhabitants. The subsistence choices of the villagers will be reconstructed by recovery of floral and faunal remains from a sample of remote-sensing identified features. The recovered material will be compared against expectations based on the distribution of habitat types and the availability of specific resource types. This will allow examination of relative procurement costs incurred by the village inhabitants for specific resources and may give clues as to resource stress.Second, this project will contribute to understanding the range of variability in Fort Ancient settlement organization. Knowledge of community organization is important for evaluating intra-community social relations. Fort Ancient sites have been argued to exhibit variability in settlement structure through time. However, many investigations expose only small portions of sites. Specifically, previous studies in the Central Scioto Valley have either exposed small portions of the village or were conducted prior to modern excavation and recording methods. As a result, there is little data on the organization of Fort Ancient communities in the Central Scioto Valley and no concept of variability. This project provides an opportunity to document the site structure of an Early Fort Ancient site in the Central Scioto Valley through a combination of geophysical survey, intensive surface collection, shovel test sampling, and feature excavation.This project contributes to current trends towards documenting local cultural variability. The appropriate starting point for such an analysis is the individual site. This project will build a model of Fort Ancient subsistence and settlement structure that captures spatial and temporal variability. This model is built from the site outwards, combining the Reinhardt site results and several recent projects utilizing the digital state site records database. Understanding of variability and persistence are crucial to building theoretically informed narratives of cultural change over time.In addition to helping Nolan to complete his doctoral degree, this project will inform local educational outreach efforts. Nolan already incorporates current archaeological knowledge into public outreach presentations and has funding to facilitate the production of pamphlets to accompany these outreach presentations. The pamphlets and the future presentations will present a nuanced illustration of Ohio Late Prehistory that is understandable by the general public and embraces the goals of public education. In addition, this project will facilitate preservation planning by and for the City of Columbus, Ohio. NSF support, coupled with funding already obtained, will aid in the preservation, education, and presentation of significant cultural remains for the people of Ohio.