Early Holocene Prehistory in the Intermontane West: Reinvestigation of the Pine Spring Site, Southwest Wyoming

在美国国家科学基金会的支持下，罗伯特·凯利博士将在怀俄明州西南部黑山北侧的松泉遗址进行一个考古季节的实地研究。该遗址最初是由犹他大学的弗洛伊德·沙罗克于1964年发掘的，它为人类使用这片山间地区提供了许多最早的证据。尽管相对较浅，但根据沙罗克的数据，松泉包含了至少从距今1万年到最近的一个很长的序列。因此，它有可能阐明人类对变化的环境条件的适应，这些环境条件是最后一个冰河时代之后时期的特征。沙罗克的笔记表明，该遗址似乎有三个独立的文化视野，其中最早的一个可能与高热期（Altithermal）相吻合，这是一个温暖的间歇期，在大约9000到6000年前对北美西部产生了最大的影响。然而，问题是，三方划分的证据并不确定，在花费大量精力分析高温材料之前，重要的是要核实它们的完整性。凯利博士和同事们在现场进行了初步研究，并与一个野外学校合作，他们将在选定的地区进行挖掘，以获得必要的地层数据。他们将绘制单个文物的位置，以确定其在空间中的三维分布，并收集大量样本进行放射性碳定年。这项研究的长期目标是测试从最佳觅食理论推导出的模型，以确定技术简单的史前社会如何通过饮食和社会手段适应在不同时间尺度和不同数量级上不可预测波动的半沙漠环境。美国西部为这类研究提供了一个极好的地点，因为它有大约12000年的考古记录，而且它的空间变化范围从大平原到山区和山间地区。凯利博士的研究将为一个重要的领域和时期提供必要的信息。由于这项工作将在暑期实地学校的背景下进行，其教育影响将是显著的。

With National Science Foundation support Dr. Robert Kelly will conduct one field season of archaeological research at the site of Pine Spring located on the North face of Black Mountain in southwestern Wyoming. The site was originally excavated in 1964 by Floyd Sharrock from the University of Utah and it provides much of the earliest evidence for human use of this intermountain region. Although it is relatively shallow, based on Sharrock's data Pine Spring contains a long sequence from at least 10,000 year before the present to recent times. Thus it has the potential to shed light on human adaptation to the changing environmental conditions which characterize the period following the last ice age. Sharrock's notes indicate that the site appears to have three separate cultural horizons, the earliest of which may coincide with the Altithermal, a warm interval which had its greatest impact in Western North America from ca. 9,000 to 6,000 years ago. The problem however is that the evidence for the tripartite division is not definitive and before significant effort is expended on analysis of the Altithermal materials it is important to verify their integrity. Dr. Kelly and colleagues have conducted preliminary research at the site and working with a field school they will excavate in selected areas to obtain the necessary stratigraphic data. They will plot the location of individual artifacts to determine three dimensional distribution in space and collect large numbers of samples for radiocarbon dating.The long term goal of the research is to test models derived from optimum foraging theory to determine how technologically simple prehistoric societies adapted through dietary and social means to a semi-desertic environment which fluctuated unpredictably over different time scales and at differing orders of magnitude. The Western United States provides an excellent venue for such research both because of its ca. 12,000 year archaeological record and its spatial variation ranging from the Great Plains through mountain and intermountain regions. Dr. Kelly's research will provide essential information for one important area and time period. Because the work will be conducted in the context of a summer field school, the educational impact will be significant.