Doctoral Dissertation Research: Technological Choice and Human-Animal Relationships: A Bird's Eye View from the Rat Islands, Alaska

在过去的几十年里，关于人类对环境影响的问题一直处于科学研究的前沿。考古学是很好的位置来回答这些问题，由于其深刻的时间观，使研究人员能够跟踪人类社会和环境的长期变化。该项目将通过研究阿留申群岛史前民族对鸟类的各种用途，探索人类与环境互动的方式。纵观历史，人类以各种方式利用鸟类，从食物，到工具的原材料，再到衣服。除了更实用的用途外，鸟类在土著文化体系中也发挥着重要作用，使它们成为人类社会由其生活环境塑造的宝贵指标。然而，由于保存不善和挖掘偏颇，鸟类遗骸直到最近才开始深入研究。阿留申群岛的考古遗址有非常大的鸟类骨骼组合，由于良好的埋藏条件。这些组合规模庞大，保存完好，因此可以进行严格的研究，从中我们不仅可以研究当地与鸟类的关系，还可以为其他时间和地点建立模型。本项目将把在老鼠群岛考古遗址发现的鸟类骨骼遗骸的模式与口述历史和民族志进行比较，以揭示鸟类与人类之间关系的象征性和“物质”方面的相互作用。阿留申群岛的居民。鼠岛（Rat Islands）的史前居民乌南干人（Unangan）与鸟类之间的关系，是通过一系列持续的、经常是日常的活动来维持的，从狩猎到讲故事，再到生存。这些日常活动所产生的人工制品，在这种情况下是鸟类骨骼组合，在社会和文化价值的再现中发挥着重要作用。通过研究乌南甘人对鸟类所做的技术选择，我们可以开始研究乌南甘人与鸟类关系中更具社会性和象征性的方面。模式将被检查超过4000年的时间跨度，允许检查的影响，气候事件对鸟类开发的乌南甘。本项目将研究物质实践是如何被它们发展的文化所塑造的，反过来，又是如何被创造它们的环境所塑造的。项目小组将制定新的方法，研究人类如何在考古遗址内沉积鸟类遗骸，这不仅可以更好地了解阿留申群岛人类与环境之间的相互作用，但该奖项将适用于全球考古遗址。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过利用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的评估被认为值得支持影响审查标准。

In the past few decades, questions regarding human impacts on the environment have been at the forefront of scientific research. Archaeology is well-placed to answer these questions due to its deep temporal view, allowing researchers to trace long-term changes in both human society and the environment. This project will explore the ways in which humans interact with their environments by examining the varied usages of birds by prehistoric peoples in the Aleutian Islands. Throughout history, humans have used birds in a variety of ways, from food, to raw materials for tools, to clothing. In addition to their more practical usages, birds often play a significant role in Indigenous cultural systems, making them valuable indicators of the ways in which human society is shaped by the environment in which they live. However, due to poor preservation and excavation bias bird remains have only recently begun to be studied in depth. The archaeological sites of the Aleutian Islands have very large avian bone assemblages due to excellent taphonomic conditions. The large size and excellent preservation of these assemblages allows rigorous study from which we can study not only local relationships with birds but also develop models for other times and places.This project will compare the patterns of skeletal bird remains found at archaeological sites in the Rat Islands to oral histories and ethnographies to reveal the interplay of the symbolic and 'material' aspects of the relationship between birds and the residents of the Aleutian Islands. The relationship between the prehistoric inhabitants of the Rat Islands, the Unangan, and birds was maintained by a suite of continual and often daily practices, from hunting, to storytelling, to subsistence. The resulting artifacts of these day-to-day activities, in this case the avian bone assemblage, play a significant role in the reproduction of social and cultural values. By studying the technological choices that the Unangan made regarding birds we can begin to examine the more social and symbolic aspects of the Unangan-bird relationship. Patterns will be examined over a 4000-year time span allowing for an examination of the impact of climatic events on bird exploitation by the Unangan. This project will examine how material practices are shaped by the culture in which they developed and, in turn, by the environment in which they were created. The project team will generate new methodologies for examining how bird remains are deposited by humans within archaeological sites which will allow for not only a better understanding of the interplay between humans and environment in the Aleutians, but which will be applicable to archaeological sites globally.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.