Uivvaq: Archaeology and Paleoclimatology of an Arctic Coastal Midden

Hoffecker9906653将开始对阿拉斯加北部的一个史前和历史悠久的中型遗址进行跨学科调查。乌夫瓦克位于楚科奇海滨，靠近利斯伯恩角，是北部海岸最深的蚊子之一，在特殊情况下受到保护，不受掠夺和侵蚀。该遗址在20世纪初被因努皮亚特人占领，似乎包含了跨越数百年或数千年的占领的考古记录。预计Uivvaq将提供关于其过去居住者的文化、社会、技术和经济以及他们的环境背景的大量信息。本研究项目的目的是在关于该遗址的占领和古气候历史的具体研究问题的框架内，以及在全新世晚期北极海洋适应的发展和因纽特文化起源的更广泛的背景下，收集这方面的信息。后者似乎代表了过去几千年来对气候和自然资源变化的社会和技术反应。特别重要的是捕鲸的出现和公元第一个千年末图勒人在北极的传播。该项目需要在乌伊瓦克进行探索性挖掘，然后对实地阶段收集的材料进行实验室分析。这项研究将由来自科罗拉多大学(INSTAAR)、北坡自治市和美国国防部的科学家和学生组成的跨学科团队进行，并将包括对文物和特征、沉积物样本、脊椎动物遗骸和昆虫化石的分析。该遗址的绝对年代学将通过对昆虫遗骸和其他材料的放射性碳测年来建立。出土的文物、特征和脊椎动物遗骸将用于重建乌伊瓦克的文化历史序列，以及居住者的经济和技术历史，而沉积物和昆虫化石遗骸将用于重建过去的气候变化及其对当地环境的影响。对人工制品、特征、地层和沉积物的分析也将被用来理解中层沉积物的形成，这可能涉及到在当地气候变化的背景下，地质、古生物和人类活动的复杂相互作用。Uivvaq的挖掘工作将在2000年7月至8月期间由8至10人进行，其中包括来自Barrow的学生。据估计，大约有15平方米的矿藏将被挖掘和取样。将在2000年9月至12月期间对人工制品、沉积物、脊椎动物遗骸、昆虫化石和放射性碳样本进行实验室分析。预计将需要一个或多个额外的挖掘阶段来扩大人工制品、记录的特征和脊椎动物遗骸的样本，以便充分解决研究问题。

Hoffecker9906653The interdisciplinary investigation of a prehistoric and historic midden site in northern Alaska will be initiated. Uivvaq, which is located on the Chukchi Sea shore near Cape Lisburne, represents one of the deepest middens on the northern coast, and has been protected from looting and erosion by unusual circumstances. The site was occupied by Inupiat people during the early twentieth century, and appears likely to contain an archaeological record of occupation spanning many hundreds or several thousands of years. Uivvaq may be expected to yield considerable information on the culture, society, technology, and economy of its past occupants and their environmental setting. This research project is designed to collect this information within the framework of specific research questions concerning the occupation and paleoclimatic history of the site, and within the broader context of the development of arctic maritime adaptations in the late Holocene and the origins of Inuit culture. The latter seem to represent social and technological responses to changing climates and natural resources during the past several thousand years. Of particular significance are the emergence of whaling and the spread of Thule people across the Arctic at the end of the first millennium A.D.The project entails exploratory excavations at Uivvaq, followed by laboratory analysis of materials collected during the field phase. The research will be undertaken by an interdisciplinary team of scientists and students from the University of Colorado (INSTAAR), North Slope Borough, and the U.S. Department of Defense, and will include analysis of artifacts and features, sediment samples, vertebrate remains, and fossil insects. An absolute chronology for the site will be established by radiocarbon dating of insect remains and other materials. While excavated artifacts, features, and vertebrate remains would be used to reconstruct the culture-historical sequence at Uivvaq, as well as the economic and technological history of its occupants, samples of sediments and fossil insect remains would be used to reconstruct past climate change and its effects on the local environmental setting. The analysis of the artifacts, features, stratigraphy, and sediments would also be used to understand the formation of the midden deposits, which probably involved a complex interplay of geologic, paleobiotic, and anthropogenic processes within the context of local climatic change. Excavations at Uivvaq will be conducted during July-August 2000 by 8-10 persons, including students from Barrow. It is estimated that approximately 15 square meters of midden deposits would be excavated and sampled. Laboratory analyses of artifacts, sediments, vertebrate remains, fossil insects, and radiocarbon samples would be conducted during September-December 2000. It is anticipated that one or more additional phases of excavation would be needed to expand the samples of artifacts, recorded features, and vertebrate remains in order to fully address the research questions.