The Basketmaker Communities Project: Early Pueblo Society in the Mesa Verde Region

在国家科学基金会的支持下，斯科特·奥特曼博士和他的同事们将在美国科罗拉多州西南部进行两个季节的考古研究。Basketaker社区项目(BCP)是Crow Canyon考古中心(CCAC)、科罗拉多大学博尔德分校和私人住宅社区印第安营牧场的土地所有者之间的公私合作伙伴关系。这项研究将考察在公元7世纪保存完好的早期农业聚落中采用驯化粮食生产对人口、社会和环境的影响。驯化粮食生产的采用被广泛认为是人类进化的关键时刻，引发了人类人口结构、社会组织和环境关系的一系列变化。这一过程的结果在全世界新石器时代社会的考古记录中是显而易见的，但在许多地区，考古记录要么太参差不齐，要么年代太不准确，无法观察到正在进行的这些变化。然而，美国西南部北部的考古记录可以进行这样的研究，BCP将利用这一机会，对梅萨维德地区的Basketaker III(公元500-750)时期进行调查、挖掘和收藏品研究。具体的项目目标是：确定移徙和内在增长对梅萨维德普韦布洛社会形成的相对贡献；将BMIII社区的组织置于晚期古代采食者和普韦布洛早期村庄之间的连续体中；评估第一批在该地区定居的农民的人为遗产。这将通过重新分析年代完好的收藏品、对保存完好的BMIII聚落群进行地面调查以及对BMIII聚落群内的居住地和公共建筑进行挖掘来实现。BCP将利用现有保存最完好的考古记录之一，开发一项关于采用新石器时代经济对人口、社会和环境影响的案例研究。它将开发BMIII居住年代测定的改进方法，并将应用这些方法来衡量移徙和固有人口增长对梅萨维德省普韦布洛社会形成的相对作用。它还将通过重点研究新石器时代经济实际正在进行的时期来审查由采用新石器时代经济所引发的社会自然变革。这将扩大对美国西南部土著觅食者和移民农民混合而成的村庄社区的了解。BCP还将在未来两年为18名实习生和2名研究生助理提供挖掘、实验室和测量方法方面的培训和经验。数千名12岁及以上的学习者还将通过CCAC的非正式科学教育项目直接参与研究，这些项目强调考古学中固有的STEM概念、历史保护的重要性以及美国文化多样性的程度。美国印第安人将通过CCAC的美洲原住民咨询小组的服务为这项研究做出贡献。最后，项目成果将通过CCAC网站上的出版物向研究人员和公众传播，所有项目集合将在乌鸦峡谷或其他适当的设施进行策划。

With National Science Foundation support, Dr. Scott Ortman and colleagues will conduct two seasons of archaeological research in southwest Colorado, USA. The Basketmaker Communities Project (BCP) is a collaborative, public-private partnership between Crow Canyon Archaeological Center (CCAC), the University of Colorado-Boulder, and landowners in Indian Camp Ranch, a private residential community. The research will examine the demographic, social and environmental impacts of the adoption of domesticated food production in a well-preserved early agricultural settlement dating from the 7th century A.D.The adoption of domesticated food production is widely acknowledged as a pivotal moment in human evolution that set in motion a number of transformations in human demography, social organization, and environmental relationships. The results of this process are apparent in the archaeological record of Neolithic societies worldwide, but in many regions the archaeological record is either too spotty or too imprecisely-dated to observe these transformations in progress. However, the archaeological record of the northern U.S. Southwest is amenable to such study, and the BCP will take advantage of this opportunity through survey, excavation, and collections research on the Basketmaker III (A.D. 500-750) period in the Mesa Verde region. Specific project goals are: to determine the relative contribution of migration and intrinsic growth to the formation of Mesa Verde Pueblo society; to place the organization of BMIII communities within the continuum bracketed by Late Archaic foragers and Early Pueblo villages; and to evaluate the anthropogenic legacy of the first farmers to colonize the region. This will be accomplished through re-analysis of well-dated collections, surface survey of a well-preserved BMIII settlement cluster, and excavations at BMIII habitations and public architecture within this cluster. The BCP will develop a case study of the demographic, social and environmental impacts of the adoption of a Neolithic economy using one of the best-preserved archaeological records available. It will develop refined methods for dating BMIII habitations and will apply these methods to gauge the relative roles of migration and intrinsic population growth to the formation of Mesa Verde Pueblo society. It will also examine the socionatural transformations initiated by the adoption of a Neolithic economy by focusing on the period when they were actually underway. This will extend knowledge of how village communities emerged from the blending of indigenous foragers and immigrant farmers in the U.S. Southwest. The BCP will also support training and experience in excavation, laboratory and survey methods for 18 student interns and two graduate assistants over the next two years. Several thousand learners aged 12 and up will also participate directly in the research through informal science education programs at CCAC that emphasize the STEM concepts inherent in archaeology, the importance of historic preservation, and the extent of cultural diversity in the United States. American Indians will contribute to the research through service on CCAC's Native American Advisory Group. Finally, project results will be disseminated to researchers and the public through publication on CCAC's web site, and all project collections will be curated at Crow Canyon or another appropriate facility.