Emergence of Status Inequality at the Keatley Creek Site, British Columbia

在美国国家科学基金会的支持下，威廉·C.普伦蒂斯和他的同事们将在基特利溪遗址进行考古研究，基特利溪遗址是一个位于不列颠哥伦比亚省中南部弗雷泽峡谷中部的大型房屋坑村。 Keatley Creek遗址包含大量保存完好的考古沉积物，代表了至少5000年来狩猎采集文化和社区组织变化的全球重要记录。 在其占领历史的早期，该遗址是一个经常被普遍（社会经济平等主义）狩猎采集民族占领的营地。 然而，在大约1100年前，一个永久性的冬季村庄已经发展起来，可能具有等级社会，大约1000-1500人居住在直径达22米的坑中。 这个复杂的狩猎采集社区的居民参与了一个大规模的交换网络，并维持了以密集的鲑鱼捕捞和储存为中心的自给经济。 有些家庭甚至可能拥有或至少控制了周围部分景观的使用权，包括捕鱼场和采石场。 因此，Keatley Creek遗址为研究北美狩猎采集环境中与社会不平等出现相关的过程和事件提供了最佳机会。 这项研究将集中在Keatley Creek村的演变，重点是产生复杂的社会组织的过程。 Prentiss将指导多学科研究，包括考古发掘，遗址地层评估，放射性碳测年，以及生存行为，技术和房屋活动组织变化的研究。 更具体地说，挖掘将集中在考古沉积物上，记录从广义狩猎采集者到复杂狩猎采集者的转变。 放射性碳分析将确定该村庄社会复杂性出现的日期。 对植物遗骸、动物骨骼和石器工具的研究将有助于评估在这一重要转变期间，食物采购、准备和消费的组织变化。 研究小组将重点研究几个问题：1。 社会复杂性的转变是什么时候发生的？ 2.这种文化转变是突然的还是渐进的？ 3.这种转变是否伴随着生计的重大变化？4.这种转变是否伴随着技术重组？ 5.在这段时间里，劳动组织发生了怎样的变化？该项目的成果将促进人类学对复杂社会演变的理解。 它还将提供洞察复杂的狩猎采集社区的组织在北方高原晚期。 最后，它将在太平洋西北地区的印度人民和考古学家之间建立积极的工作关系。

With National Science Foundation support, Dr. William C. Prentiss and his colleagues will conduct archaeological research at the Keatley Creek site, a large housepit village located in the Middle Fraser Canyon of south-central British Columbia. The Keatley Creek site contains extensive and well-preserved archaeological deposits, representing a globally significant record of change in hunter-gatherer culture and community organization spanning at least 5000 years. Early in its occupational history, the site was a frequently occupied camp for generalized (socio-economically egalitarian) hunter-gatherer peoples. However, by the height of its occupation, around 1100 years ago, a permanent winter village had evolved, likely featuring a hierarchically ranked society of approximately 1000-1500 persons residing in housepits as large as 22 meters in diameter. Residents of this complex hunter-gatherer community participated in a large-scale exchange network and maintained a subsistence economy centered on intensive salmon fishing and storage. Some households may have even owned or at least controlled access to portions of the surrounding landscape including fishing sites and stone quarries. The Keatley Creek site thus provides an optimal opportunity for studying the processes and events associated with the emergence of social inequality in a North American hunter-gatherer context. This research will focus on the evolution of the Keatley Creek village with an emphasis on the processes which give rise to complex social organization. To accomplish this, Dr. Prentiss will direct multidisciplinary research that will include archaeological excavation, assessment of site stratigraphy, radiocarbon dating, and studies of change in subsistence behavior, technology, and organization of activities on house floors. More specifically, excavation will focus on archaeological deposits chronicling the shift from generalized to complex hunter-gatherers. Radiocarbon analysis will establish the date at which social complexity emerged in the village. Studies of plant remains, animal bones, and stone tools will permit an assessment of changes in the organization of food procurement, preparation, and consumption during this important transition. The research team will focus on several questions: 1. When did the transition to social complexity occur? 2. Was this cultural transition abrupt or gradual? 3. Was the transition accompanied by a major change in subsistence? 4. Did the transition follow a reorganization of technology? 5. How did labor organization change during this time? Results of the project will advance the anthropological understanding of the evolution of complex societies. It will also provide insight into the organization of complex hunter-gatherer communities during the late period of the Northern Plateau. Finally, it will build positive working relationships between Indian people and archaeologists in the Pacific Northwest region.