REU: Assessing the relationship of natural resource exploitation strategies with the rise of social complexity in the Hawaiian Islands through stone tool geochemistry

REU：通过石器地球化学评估自然资源开发策略与夏威夷群岛社会复杂性上升的关系

• 批准号: 0949058
• 负责人: Steven Lundblad
• 金额: $ 13.98万
• 依托单位: University of Hawaii at Hilo
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-07-01 至 2013-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0949058&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: REU; Assessing; relationship; natural; resource

With National Science Foundation support, Drs. Steven Lundblad and Peter Mills, in collaboration with staff of the Bishop Museum, will conduct an extensive provenance study of stone from previously excavated, pre-contact habitation sites in Hawai`i. It is the first large evaluation of these materials using non-destructive Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence (EDXRF). This program will build upon pioneering geochemical work done over the past 20 years as well as on recent work in the UHH geoarchaeology laboratory on Hawaiian lithic (stone) artifacts.The settlers of the Hawaiian Islands appear to have rapidly developed from a small initial colonizing population to the most complex chiefdom in all of Polynesia between circa AD 800-1000 and 1778. This study will address relationships between natural resources and culture which combined to result in this rapid intensification. Due to the lack of other mineral resources on these island chains, much of the work of deciphering ancient Oceanic economic and cultural history is based on the types and abundances of durable artifacts. These are mainly stone tools and debris from tool manufacture found at domestic sites. Studying the nature of quarrying activity and the distribution of products from quarry sites provides a framework for interpreting the role of natural resources in Hawaiian economies and social evolution. Economic exchange studies based upon microscopic and geochemical analyses of lithics, however, have only just begun to address issues of geochemical variability within larger quarry sites and to identify the geochemistry of smaller source areas. This project will result in the first significant and systematic geochemical analysis of artifacts from domestic archaeological contexts spanning the Hawaiian archipelago. EDXRF provides a means for this large-scale, sustained, and non-destructive effort which will lead to more robust models of Hawaiian exchange and consequent sociopolitical development in relationship to valued natural resources across time. Specific components supported by this project, which will span a two-year period, include the following phases. Quarry site sampling in the Hawaiian Islands will allow mapping of the geochemical signatures of the stone tool sources. Comparing these to the geochemical and technological analyses of the existing, well-documented collections of finished stone tools from the Bishop Museum will show the provenance of those tools. Researchers will develop models of natural resource exploitation patterns through time, and relate them to the evolution of Hawai`i's complex chiefdoms. These three phases all include the primary goal of education of Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islander students. Students will participate through an integrated education program, with undergraduate research internships for anthropology and geology majors at UH-Hilo in collaboration with the Bishop Museum (Honolulu). The use of non-destructive EDXRF analyses is not new, but its use to build an expansive geochemical database on Hawaiian stone acquisition is. This novel use in a large-scale, focused effort will apply new research to existing archived archaeological collections. The non-destructive nature of the new analysis will set the new standard for culturally appropriate methodologies for understanding the Hawaiian past. The study will provide exciting opportunities for Pacific Islander students to explore how their ancestors interacted with their environment and each other. Interpretation of exchange patterns based on this information will engender further insights into culturally significant activities of the past, which is of great interest to modern Hawaiians. The study will provide the framework to develop robust socio-economic models of the underpinnings, development, and social complexity of Polynesian chiefdoms.

在美国国家科学基金会的支持下，Steven Lundblad和Peter Mills将与Bishop博物馆的工作人员合作，对夏威夷先前挖掘的、未接触人类居住地的石头进行广泛的来源研究。这是首次使用非破坏性能量色散x射线荧光（EDXRF）对这些材料进行大规模评估。该计划将建立在过去20年开创性的地球化学工作的基础上，以及最近在UHH地质考古实验室对夏威夷石器（石头）文物的研究。大约在公元800-1000年到1778年之间，夏威夷群岛的定居者似乎从最初的一个小殖民地迅速发展成为整个波利尼西亚最复杂的酋长。这项研究将探讨自然资源和文化之间的关系，它们共同导致了这种迅速强化。由于这些岛链上缺乏其他矿产资源，破译古代海洋经济和文化历史的大部分工作都是基于耐用文物的类型和丰富程度。这些主要是在国内遗址发现的石器和工具制造的碎片。研究采石活动的性质和采石场产品的分布，为解释自然资源在夏威夷经济和社会演变中的作用提供了一个框架。然而，以岩石的微观和地球化学分析为基础的经济交流研究才刚刚开始处理较大采石场内的地球化学变化问题，并确定较小的矿源地区的地球化学。该项目将对夏威夷群岛国内考古背景下的文物进行首次重要而系统的地球化学分析。EDXRF为这种大规模、持续和非破坏性的努力提供了一种手段，这将导致夏威夷交流的更强大模式，以及随之而来的社会政治发展与宝贵的自然资源之间的关系。该项目将持续两年，所支持的具体组成部分包括以下阶段。在夏威夷群岛的采石场取样将允许绘制石器来源的地球化学特征。将这些与毕晓普博物馆现存的完整的成品石器的地球化学和技术分析相比较，将显示这些工具的来源。研究人员将开发自然资源开发模式的模型，并将其与夏威夷复杂的酋长管辖地的演变联系起来。这三个阶段都包括教育夏威夷原住民和其他太平洋岛民学生的主要目标。学生们将参加一个综合教育项目，在UH-Hilo与毕晓普博物馆（檀香山）合作，为人类学和地质学专业的本科生提供研究实习机会。使用非破坏性EDXRF分析并不新鲜，但将其用于建立夏威夷石材采集的广泛地球化学数据库是一项新技术。这种大规模、集中的新用途将为现有的考古收藏档案提供新的研究。新分析的非破坏性性质将为理解夏威夷过去的文化适当方法设定新的标准。这项研究将为太平洋岛民学生提供令人兴奋的机会，探索他们的祖先是如何与环境以及彼此之间相互作用的。基于这些信息的交流模式的解释将产生对过去的文化重要活动的进一步见解，这是现代夏威夷人非常感兴趣的。该研究将为发展波利尼西亚酋邦的基础、发展和社会复杂性的健全社会经济模型提供框架。