EAGER: Upward Sun River (Xaasaa Na') Exploratory Excavation

该项目包括挖掘与埋葬/火葬坑特征相关的住宅结构，其年代可追溯到10,000 RCYBP（约11,500日历年前），是我们的团队去年夏天在向上太阳河（Xaasaa Na?）（49XBD-298），位于阿拉斯加中部塔纳纳盆地的一个多组分站点。该特征位于地表以下1米以上的埋藏环境中，处于相对未受低温扰动干扰的沉积物中。在与联邦、州和当地官员协商后（在MOA第106条中规定），各方同意对该特征进行挖掘。迄今为止，已经观察到（埋葬/火葬坑）的四个附加特征，并且似乎都是室外无衬里的火坑。这次提议的挖掘旨在挖掘住宅结构，并收集额外的地质考古样本，以增加我们对遗址形成、沉积后扰动、技术和生存的了解，并特别评估儿童火葬对其余结构的影响。目前，在东白令陆桥地区还没有发现晚更新世/全新世早期的墓葬，因此我们对整个殡葬相关行为的了解基本上是未知的。这次挖掘有可能为我们对西半球这一时期的理解提供变革性的数据。

This project consists of excavation of a residential structure associated with a burial/cremation pit feature, well-dated to 10,000 RCYBP (~11,500 calendar years ago) found by our team last summer at Upward Sun River (Xaasaa Na?) (49XBD-298), a multi-component site in the Tanana Basin, central Alaska. The feature is in buried contexts, over 1 meter below surface, in deposits relatively undisturbed by cryoturbation. After consultation with federal, state, and Native officials (stipulated in the Section 106 MOA), all parties agreed to excavation of the feature. Four additional features (to the burial/cremation pit) have been observed to date, and all appear to be outdoor unlined firepits. This proposed excavation is designed to excavate the residential structure, and collect additional geoarchaeological samples to increase our knowledge of site formation, post-depositional disturbance, technology, and subsistence, as well as to specifically evaluate the child cremation to the rest of the structure. At present, no burials have been found in Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene contexts in Eastern Beringia, so our knowledge of an entire suite of mortuary-related behaviors is essentially unknown. This excavation has the potential to contribute transformative data to our understanding of this time period in the Western Hemisphere.