Dissertation Research: Explaining Changes in Projectile Point Morphology: A Case Study from Ventura Cave, Arizona

在罗伯特·伦纳德博士的指导下，托德·范普尔先生将为他的博士论文收集数据。他将前往亚利桑那州立博物馆，分析在文塔纳洞穴挖掘过程中发现的一系列石弹射点。文塔纳洞穴是一处考古遗址，位于亚利桑那州西南部，于20世纪40年代初挖掘出来。该遗址很重要，因为发现了大量材料--挖掘机埃米尔·豪里总共发现了2062个抛射点/刀--以及它延长的时间跨度。除了距今600-300年之间的时间间隔外，它显示了过去10,000年来持续占领的证据。漫长的职业史可能是洞穴中存在小渗漏的结果，渗漏是由流经地质接触处的水产生的。它是方圆数英里内唯一已知的永久水源，可能是该地区史前和历史上居民的重要水源。在金属出现之前，世界各地的史前人民依靠石器来满足切割、刮削、狩猎和各种其他需求，而且由于石头几乎是坚不可摧的，这些物品及其制造的副产品构成了许多考古遗址发现的最常见的物品类别。因此，科学家对他们的分析投入了极大的关注。因为不同的文化群体通常会制造出不同类型的工具，所以设计差异经常被用作定义此类实体的标志，而‘Cloviss’和‘Plainsview’投射点被用来表示‘Cloviss’或‘Plainsview’人的存在。虽然这种方法是有效的，但它忽略了这样一个事实，即这种点类型服务于功能目的，并且它们的形式的细节可能可以用功能术语来解释。范普尔先生将从这个角度研究漫长而丰富的文塔纳洞穴点序列。他认为，他已经开发出了将功能与风格分开的技术，他希望既测试他的方法，又了解点函数如何随着时间的推移而变化。他的方法如果成功，可以推广，并将对世界许多地区的石材分析有用。文塔纳洞穴的遗址本身就很重要，这项研究将增加对美国史前的了解。它还将帮助培养一位有前途的年轻科学家。

Under the direction of Dr. Robert Leonard, Mr. Todd VanPool will collect data for his doctoral dissertation. He will travel to the Arizona State Museum and analyze a series of lithic projectile points which were recovered during the excavation of Ventana Cave, an archaeological site which is located in southwestern Arizona and excavated in the early 1940s. The site is important because of the large amount of material recovered - the excavator, Emil Haury, identified a total of 2,062 projectile points/knives - as well as its extended time span. With the exception of a gap between 600 -300 years before the present, it shows evidence of continuous occupation over the last ca 10,000 years. The long occupational history is probably a result of the presence of a small seep in the cave, produced by water flowing through a geological contact. It is the only known permanent water source for miles and was probably an important resource for both prehistoric and historic residents of this area. Before the advent of metal, prehistoric peoples worldwide depended on stone tools to meet cutting, scraping, hunting and a variety of other needs and because stone is nearly indestructible, such objects and the byproducts of their manufacture constitute the most common class of object recovered at many archaeological sites. Therefore scientists devote a great deal of attention to their analysis. Because different cultural groups often made distinctive types of tools, design variation is often used as a marker to define such entities and `Clovis` and `Plainsview` projectile points are used to indicate the presence of `Clovis` or `Plainsview` peoples. While such an approach is valid, it ignores the fact that such point types served functional purposes and that the details of their form likely can be explained in functional terms. Mr. VanPool will examine the long and rich Ventana Cave point sequence from this perspective. He has developed, he believes, techniques which will allow him to separate function from style and he wishes both to test his approach and to learn how point function changes over time. His methodology, if successful, can be generalized and will be useful for lithic analyses in many parts of the world. The site of Ventana Cave is itself important and this research will increase understanding of US prehistory. It will also assist in training a promising young scientist.