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--尤其是三文鱼--主导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扮演的角色。生态知识和历史记载表明，块茎、鳞茎、球茎、根茎和根等根状食物是整个地区碳水化合物的重要来源。这篇论文检验了关于块茎在阿拉斯加湾西部科迪亚克群岛剩余生产、等级制度和宴会的出现中所扮演的角色的假设。该项目评估了科迪亚克群岛遗址和来源的多种证据，包括考古样本和对根类食物生产和消费的民族史学描述。Co-PI将分析家庭和公共坑烘焙特征的烧焦植物残留物；陶瓷器皿的大小和形状；烹饪锅上保存的淀粉残留物，以及稳定的碳和氮同位素比率，以重建过去的食物。选定材料的放射性碳测年将提供年代学控制。这些多个数据来源的整合将阐明根茎食品在基于状态的食品生产和消费行为中的作用。联合PI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受众展示结果。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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.