Aleutian Archaeology: Identifying Cultural and Environmental Relationships c. 6000 BP to 250 BP

卡罗琳·芬克博士和一个由六个联邦机构和来自美国各地的学术同事组成的多学科合作小组将在阿拉斯加西阿留申群岛的基斯卡岛进行为期一年的实地研究和实验室分析。他们将通过研究史前阿留申考古记录和基斯卡岛的环境历史来研究人类对资源和环境/生态历史的影响。该小组将致力于开发该地区的环境/生态历史和基斯卡岛的人类利用历史，以确定人类对环境的潜在影响领域，并为关于人类与海岸/岛屿环境长期交叉的全球辩论做出贡献。这些广泛的目标是通过人类科学、地理科学和生物科学的合作研究来实现的，以回答一系列问题：史前阿留申鼠岛人是如何在他们的景观中生活和构想的？环境是如何塑造阿留申鼠岛文化的？鼠岛阿留申、环境和本地动植物物种经历了什么样的自然和气候条件和事件？人类在塑造景观、海景和非人类物种的形式和特征方面发挥了什么作用？为了了解阿留申人和环境之间的相互作用，将考古遗址中存在的植物和动物物种的变化与已知的或我们新定义的气候趋势、地震记录、火山事件以及基斯卡岛阿留申史前的事件和过程进行比较。野外工作包括旨在定位新的考古遗址的考古调查，测试已知和新发现的遗址，以及绘制地貌和地质特征的地质调查。现场和非现场取心提供花粉和植物大化石资料，湖泊取心提供高分辨率的孢体资料。岛屿潮间带调查为建立区域食物网模型设定了基线数据。对现场工作中收集的所有材料进行实验室分析，创建必要的多学科比较数据集，以测试我们关于递归人类/环境影响的假设。石器和有机人工制品分析以及动物分析提供了关于阿留申人身份和资源利用的数据。石器人工制品来源（XRF）可以让我们深入了解鼠岛群之外的阿留申人。花粉和植物大化石提供了关于阿留申植物利用和古气候的信息。通过对考古标本进行的同位素和微量元素分析测量的海洋哺乳动物种群特征，与新的食物网模型相结合，提供了有关史前生存收成和海洋生态系统动态的信息。地质地层学发展和地貌学研究提供了可能影响人类及其资源的大规模环境事件的信息。该研究为北极研究提供了有关人类活动和大规模环境事件影响的宝贵数据。我们将人类学/考古学、生物科学和地球科学与区域和全球数据集相结合，扩展了对岛屿生态系统的形式和功能以及人类与它们之间关系的理解，从而开发了阿留申群岛基斯卡岛和鼠岛的全新环境和人类历史。这项工作有助于恢复生态学和土地管理决策，同时推进关于小规模社会对其景观影响的社会自然和认同理论。项目网站、公开讲座、学术文章和报告确保了这项工作在阿留申人、公众、土地管理和科学界广泛传播。

Dr. Caroline Funk and a collaborative, multidisciplinary team of six federal agency and academic colleagues from across the United States will conduct one year of field research and laboratory analyses centered on Kiska Island, Western Aleutians, Alaska. They will research human impacts on resources and environmental/ecological histories by studying the prehistoric Aleut archaeological record and the environmental history of Kiska Island. The team will work to develop an environmental/ecological history of the area and a history of human use of Kiska Island, to identify potential areas of human impact on the environment, and to contribute to global debates about long-term human intersections with coast/island environments. These broad objectives are accomplished by cooperative research in the anthro-, geo-, and biosciences to answer a series of questions: how did prehistoric Rat Islands Aleut live within and conceive of their landscape and how did the environment shape Rat Islands Aleut culture? What physical and climatic conditions and events did Rat Islands Aleut, the environment, and indigenous plant and animal species endure? What role did humans have in shaping the form and characteristics of landscapes, seascapes, and non-human species? To understand the interactions between Aleuts and their environment, variations in plant and animal species present in archaeological sites are compared to known or our newly defined climate trends, seismic records, volcanic events, and events and processes in Kiska Island Aleut prehistory. Field work includes archaeological survey aimed toward locating new archaeological sites, testing known and newly discovered sites, and geo-survey to map geomorphological and geological features. On and off site coring provides pollen and plant macrofossil data and lake coring provides high resolution tephra data. Island intertidal survey sets baseline data for modeling the regional food web. Laboratory analyses are performed on all materials collected during fieldwork, creating the multidisciplinary, comparative data sets necessary to test our hypotheses about recursive human/environment impacts. Lithic and organic artifact analyses and faunal analyses provide data about Aleut identity and resource use. Lithic artifact sourcing (XRF) may grant insight into Aleut contacts outside of the Rat Islands group. Pollen and plant macrofossils provide information about Aleut plant use and paloeclimate. Sea mammal population characteristics as measured by isotope and trace element analyses performed on archaeological specimens provide information about prehistoric subsistence harvests and marine ecosystem dynamics when combined with the new food web models. Geological tephrastratigraphy development and geomorphological studies provide information about large-scale environmental events that may have impacted humans and their resources. The research contributes valuable data regarding human and large-scale environmental event impacts to studies of the North. Entirely new environmental and human histories of Kiska Island and Rat Islands Aleuts developed from our synergy of anthropology/archaeology, bioscience, and geoscience link to regional and global data sets to expand understanding of the form and function of island ecosystems and human relationships with them. The work aids in restoration ecology and land management decisions, while advancing socionatural and identity theories about small-scale society impacts on their landscapes. A project website, public talks, and scholarly articles and presentations ensure that the work is broadly disseminated in Aleut, public, land management, and scientific communities.