Doctoral Dissertation Research: Roots of Complexity: Tubers, Cuisine, and Surplus Production in the Gulf of Alaska

人类学家长期以来一直认为，肉类——尤其是鲑鱼——主宰了北太平洋的烹饪世界。这种对动物性食物的关注掩盖了植物在沿海狩猎采集者的生存、储存和烹饪系统中所起的作用。生态学知识和历史记载表明，块茎、鳞茎、球茎、根茎和根等根茎类食物是该地区碳水化合物的重要来源。本文对阿拉斯加湾西部科迪亚克群岛的块茎在剩余生产、等级制度和宴会中所起的作用的假设进行了检验。研究结果对了解整个北太平洋人类适应的更广泛模式具有启示意义。该项目评估了来自科迪亚克群岛遗址和来源的多种证据，包括考古样本和关于根状食物生产和消费的民族历史记录。共同调查团将分析家庭和公共坑烤特征的烧焦植物遗骸；陶瓷器皿的大小和形状；保存在烹饪锅上的淀粉残留物，以及稳定的碳氮同位素比率来重建过去的膳食。选定材料的放射性碳定年法将提供时间上的控制。整合这些多个数据源将澄清根类食品在基于身份的食品生产和消费行为中的作用。共同项目负责人将撰写一篇论文和同行评议的期刊文章，并向阿拉斯加当地和学术观众展示研究成果。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Anthropologists have long suggested that meat—especially salmon—dominated the North Pacific culinary world. This focus on animal foods has obscured the roles plants played in the subsistence, storage, and culinary systems of coastal hunter-gatherers. Ecological knowledge and historic accounts demonstrate that root-foods, such as tubers, bulbs, corms, rhizomes, and roots, were critical sources of carbohydrates throughout this region. This dissertation research tests hypotheses about the roles tubers played in the emergence of surplus production, hierarchy, and feasting in the Kodiak Archipelago, western Gulf of Alaska. Research results have implications for understanding broader patterns of human adaptation across the North Pacific.This project evaluates multiple lines of evidence from sites and sources in the Kodiak Archipelago, including archaeological samples and ethnohistoric accounts of root-food production and consumption. The co-PI will analyze charred plant remains from household and communal pit-roasting features; the size and shape of ceramic vessels; starch residues preserved on cooking pots, and stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios to reconstruct past meals. Radiocarbon dating of selected materials will provide chronological control. Integration of these multiple data sources will clarify the roles of root foods in status-based food production and consumption behaviors. The co-PI will produce a dissertation and peer-reviewed journal articles and present results to local Alaska and academic audiences.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.