Gateway to the Americas II

该项目将继续Pi James E.Dixon的研究，继续在阿拉斯加东南部进行水下古环境建模和考古调查，作为多年努力的一部分，以确定大陆架上可追溯到晚更新世(约12,000-16,000年)的古代考古遗迹。这是海平面较低的时期，因为冰盖覆盖了北美的大部分地区。在此期间，海岸线具有支持人类占领的潜力，长期以来一直被假设这是早期人类从亚洲迁移到北美的路线之一。随着后更新世海平面上升而发生的洪水，这些早期迁徙的证据，以考古遗址的形式，本应被覆盖，现在占据了当代海底。之前的项目《通往美国的门户I》通过北极社会科学计划的探索性研究小额赠款得到了支持。在该试点项目期间，在海底区域发现了两个异常；一个类似于石质捕鱼堰，另一个类似于可能具有文化渊源的长方形和圆形凹陷。该项目将通过1)记录和测试2010年观察到的异常情况，以及2)在地理信息系统建模和现场观测的指导下进行更多的水下调查和测试，继续开展在试点项目中开始的调查。该项目有可能为北美考古界长达数十年的争论带来经验证据：人们是何时以何种途径从亚洲迁徙到北美的？

This project will continue the research by PI James E. Dixon to continue underwater paleoenvironmental modeling and archaeological survey in Southeast Alaska as part of a multi-year effort to identify ancient archaeological remains on the continental shelf dating to the late Pleistocene, ca 12,000-16,000 y.a. This is the time period when sea level was lower, due to the ice sheets covering large parts of North America. During this time period, the coastline had the potential for supporting human occupation and it has long been hypothesized that this was one of the routes of early human migration from Asia to North America. Following the flooding that occurred with the post-Pleistocene sea level rise, evidence of these early migrations,in the form of archeological sites, would have been covered and now occupying the contemporary sea floor. The previous project, Gateway to America I, was supported though a Small Grant for Exploratory Research through the Arctic Social Sciences Program. During that pilot project, two anomalies in the undersea area were discovered; one resembling a stone fishing weir, the other a rectangular and circular shaped depresses that could be of cultural origin. This project would continue the investigation started in the pilot project by 1) documenting and testing the anomalies observed in 2010, and 2) conducting additional underwater survey and testing guided by GIS modeling and field observations. The project has the potential to bring empirical evidence to a decades old debate in North American archaeology: when and by what route did people migrate into North America from Asia?