Dissertation Research: An Archaeological Investigation of the Kansyore, at a Middle Holocene (7000-4000 bp) Hunter-Gatherer Group in Western Kenya

在菲奥娜·马歇尔博士的指导下，达拉·戴尔女士将为她的博士论文收集数据。她将在位于肯尼亚西部的乌贡贾遗址进行考古挖掘。根据她自己最近的勘察，以及对包括陶器、烧焦和未烧焦的鱼、鸟类和哺乳动物骨骼和石器在内的文物的检查，这些化石似乎与一个名为“Kansore”的文化团体有关，该文化团体是以最初定义它的地点命名的。Kansyore的特征很差，因为它往往发生在深度分层的环境中，由于覆盖层的原因，考古学家很难清理大片的裸露。在良好的空间背景下，如果没有足够的材料，就不可能尝试社会重建。Kansyore的历史可以追溯到距今7000-4000年之间，具有极大的人类学意义，因为虽然动物遗骸表明这些群体遵循着狩猎和采集的生活方式，但他们也生产了丰富的具有复杂装饰的陶器，这种组合是独特的。大多数狩猎和采集团体缺乏陶器，而拥有陶器的人最常使用数量稀少的实用器皿。康绍尔陶器的使用暗示了一种高度社区化、经济专业化和群体规模大的社会组织模式。这种适应在热带猎人和采集者中极其罕见，而且不容易被当前的理论模型所包含。由于乌古贾遗址埋得不太深，戴尔女士将能够进行广泛的挖掘，并收集必要的材料和样本量，以获得有关生存、定居点模式以及社会组织的详细信息。她还将为坎舍文化提供第一个可靠的日期。这项研究之所以重要，有几个原因。它将提供关于一个鲜为人知的考古文化的数据，这将引起许多考古学家的兴趣。它将在一个简单的社会组织层面上增加我们对人类适应的理解，并将有助于培养一位有前途的年轻科学家。

Under the direction of Dr. Fiona Marshall MS Darla Dale will collect data for her doctoral dissertation. She will conduct archaeological excavation at the site of Ugunja which is located in western Kenya. Based on her own recent reconnaissance, as well as examination of the artifacts which include pottery, burnt and unburned fish, bird and mammal bone and stone tools, the assemblage appears to relate to a cultural group termed "Kansore", named after the site where it was first defined. Kansyore is poorly characterized because it tends to occur in deeply stratified contexts which, because of overburden, make it difficult for archaeologists to clear large exposures. Without sufficient material in good spatial context it is impossible to attempt social reconstructions. Kansyore, which dates to between 7,000 - 4,000 years before the present is of great anthropological interest because while faunal remains indicate that these groups followed a hunting and gathering way of life, they also produced abundant pottery with complex decoration and this combination is unique. Most hunting and gathering groups lacked pottery and those which possessed it most frequently used utilitarian ware which occurs in sparse amounts. Use of Kansyore pottery suggests a mode of social organization which includes a high degree of sedentization, economic specialization and large group size. Such adaptations are extremely rare among tropical hunters and gathers and are not easily encompassed within current theoretical models. Because the Ugunja site is not too deeply buried, MS Dale will be able to conduct extensive excavation and collect the necessary materials and sample sizes to gain detailed information on subsistence, settlement pattern and, hopefully social organization. She will also provide the first solid dates for the Kansyore culture.This research is important for several reasons. It will provide data on a poorly known archaeological culture which will be of interest to many archaeologists. It will increase our understanding of human adaptation at a simple level of social organization and it will assist in training a promising young scientist.