Petrographic, ICP-MS, and LA-ICP-MS Sourcing of Quartzite Sources, Gunnison Basin, Colorado

在国家科学基金会的支持下，Bonnie Pitblado博士和Carol Dehler博士将进行实验，以确定岩相学（显微镜）和地球化学方法在多大程度上可用于表征科罗拉多西南部甘尼森盆地石英岩来源的独特“指纹”。 考古学家和地质学家此前都没有开发出获取石英岩的方法，但这种岩石类型在世界上是最普遍的，许多史前人都喜欢用它来制造他们的射弹尖、刮刀和其他切割石器。这项研究将扩大皮特布拉多和德勒在2005 - 2006年进行的试点采购研究，这表明，与传统观念相反，石英岩的不同来源可以根据微观特征和化学成分彼此区分。 NSF支持的研究将（a）使用地质考古学模型，在甘尼森盆地中定位和采样十几种不同的石英岩地层和大量的石英岩次生砾石矿床;（B）确认区分来源的最佳方法;以及（c）在甘尼森盆地有8,000年历史的钱斯峡谷遗址的石英岩考古发现剖面，以确定它们最有可能的猎物来源 研究的“c”部分将使研究人员能够重建落基山脉一些最古老的狩猎采集者的景观使用。 这一点很重要，因为生态学理论和考古学数据都表明，落基山脉的早期狩猎采集者与大平原等知名地区形成鲜明对比，遵循地理限制的年度循环。 确认或拒绝这一建议将有助于考古学家了解北美大陆生态多样性中的人类生活。犹他州州立大学的联合PI古印第安人考古学家Bonnie Pitblado和地质学家Carol Dehler将与地球化学采购专家Hector Neff合作进行研究（加州大学，长滩），地球化学家斯蒂芬纳尔逊（杨百翰大学）和统计学家丹尼斯Eggett（也是杨百翰大学）。 高级人员带来了广泛的专业领域的工作，并将共同最大限度地成功完成三年项目的所有组成部分的机会。研究的最重要的智力贡献在于方法和理论领域。 从方法上讲，该项目将改进目前尚不存在的石英岩指纹技术，这一贡献将受到旨在解决一系列研究问题的地球科学家的重视。 从理论上讲，这项研究将有助于完善对落基山脉和北美殖民地的考古学理解。 就更广泛的影响而言，该研究计划将在实地和实验室对本科生进行培训。 大约20名学生将帮助收集石英岩样品，另外4至5名学生将接受培训，对样品进行岩相分析。 此外，联合PI将继续招募北方，南方和尤特山尤特高中学生参加实地考察的传统。 这将使学生了解他们的落基山脉狩猎采集前辈的生活方式;获得大学和高中学分;并获得接触到大学的气氛，理想情况下导致他们后来进入大学。

With National Science Foundation support, Drs. Bonnie Pitblado and Carol Dehler will conduct experiments to determine the extent to which petrographic (microscopic) and geochemical methods can be used to characterize the unique "fingerprints" of quartzite sources in the Gunnison Basin, southwest Colorado. Neither archaeologists nor geologists have previously developed methods for sourcing quartzite, yet this rock type is the most ubiquitous in the world, and many prehistoric people throughout time preferred to use it to manufacture their projectile points, scrapers, and other chipped stone tools.The research will expand pilot sourcing studies conducted by Pitblado and Dehler in 2005 - 2006, which suggested that contrary to conventional wisdom, distinct sources of quartzite can be discriminated from one another both on the basis of microscopic characteristics and chemical composition. The NSF-supported research will (a) use a geoarchaeological model to locate and sample a dozen different quartzite formations and numerous secondary gravel deposits of quartzites in the Gunnison Basin; (b) confirm the best method(s) for differntiating among the sources; and (c) profile archaeological occurrences of quartzite at the 8,000 year-old Chance Gulch site, also in the Gunnison Basin, to determine their likeliest quarry sources on the landscape. Component "c" of the research will allow the researchers to reconstruct the landscape use of some of the most ancient hunter-gatherers in the Rocky Mountains. This is important because both ecological theory and what little archaeologically derived data exist suggest that early hunter-gatherers in the Rockies, in stark contrast to better-known regions like the Great Plains, followed a geographically restricted annual round. Confirming or rejecting this suggestion will contribute to archaeologists' understanding of the peopling of North America, in all the continent's ecological variability.Utah State University co-PIs Bonnie Pitblado, a Paleoindian archaeologist, and Carol Dehler, a geologist, will collaborate in the research with geochemical sourcing specialist Hector Neff (University of California, Long Beach), geochemist Stephen Nelson (Brigham Young University), and statistician Dennis Eggett (also of Brigham Young University). Senior personnel bring to the undertaking a wide range of areas of expertise and together will maximize the chances for successfully completing all components of the three-year project.The most important intellectual contributions of the research lie in the realms of both method and theory. Methodologically, the project will refine currently non-existent techniques for fingerprinting quartzite"a contribution that will be valued by earth scientists aiming to solve a host of research problems. Theoretically, the research will help refine archaeological understanding of the colonization of the Rockies and North America in general. In terms of broader impacts, the research program will train undergraduate university students both in the field and in the laboratory. About twenty students will help collect the quartzite samples and another four or five will be trained to conduct petrographic analyses of the samples. As well, the co-PIs will continue a tradition of recruiting Northern, Southern and Ute Mountain Ute high school students to participate in the fieldwork. This will allow the students to learn about the life ways of their Rocky Mountain hunter-gatherer predecessors; to earn college and high school credits; and to gain exposure to a university atmosphere ideally resulting in their later matriculation to college.