The Creation of Mounded Landscapes by Hunter-Gatherers: An Integrated Approach to the Prehistoric Shell Mounds of the San Francisco Bay Area

美国国家科学基金会将支持对令人印象深刻的史前贝壳丘的考古研究，这些贝壳丘曾经环绕着加利福尼亚州北部的大旧金山湾区。由大约5000-4000年前的狩猎采集民族创造的最大的土丘，曾经高约9米，延伸超过一个足球场大小，包含了数千个人类墓地，各种各样的文物，以及字面上数以吨计的食物残骸。在肯特·莱特福特博士和爱德华·卢比博士的指导下，一个由加州大学伯克利分校、旧金山州立大学和一家文化资源管理公司的学者组成的合作小组将解决这些考古遗址的功能、生态和年代学问题。该项目将1)综合关于该地区有记录的考古遗迹(即贝壳丘、非墓地、岩石艺术遗址)的现有信息，2)完成对埃利斯登陆遗址(CCO-295)的博物馆藏品的分析，埃利斯登陆遗址是考古史上的重要人物内尔斯·纳尔逊在1906-1908年出土的大型丘陵，以及3)对埃利斯登陆与最近出土的重大非墓地(ALA-343)进行详细比较。研究人员将研究这些土堆是如何建造的，它们是被用作专门的墓地、堆积如山的村庄还是简单地用作垃圾场，以及土堆建造者可能如何影响旧金山湾区的生态系统。该项目的学术价值有两个方面。首先，对贝壳丘的研究突出了考古学中一个更广泛的研究问题--北美许多地区的土著人民建造堆积的风景。该项目的综合方法对于更好地理解建造堆砌空间的美洲原住民的社会政治结构、社区组织、象征系统、殡仪馆仪式和文化实践具有重要的潜力。最终目标是将加州的贝壳丘与北美其他狩猎-采集山地景观进行比较和对比。只有通过这种比较的视角，我们才能解释为什么人们在大约5000-3000年前开始在太平洋海岸、美国东南部和其他地方创造了大量的堆积如山的建筑，并进行了人类的埋葬。其次，该项目强调了在当代考古研究中以谨慎和仔细的方式使用“旧”博物馆藏品的效用。该项目提供了一个研究近100年历史藏品的模式，将私营部门和学术考古学家、美洲原住民学者、博物馆专家和环境科学家聚集在一起。他们将通过动物考古学、考古植物学、沉积物和人工制品分析、贝类同位素调查以及地层单位和特征的放射性碳测年的综合方法来解决一系列研究问题。该项目的更广泛影响包括研究生培训、与当地美洲原住民群体的联系以及公共教育。该项目通过支持人类学、地球和行星科学、环境科学、政策和管理、地理学和博物馆研究的研究生，促进跨学科研究。该项目将促进考古界与当地土著人民之间的交流，促进研究小组美洲原住民成员的学术工作，并与他们的部落(奥隆、米沃克海岸)进行接触。该项目的公共教育部分将通过出版物、公开会议和加州大学伯克利分校和旧金山州立大学的博物馆展品来传播调查结果。

The National Science Foundation will support archaeological research on the impressive prehistoric shell mounds that once ringed the greater San Francisco Bay Area in northern California. Created by hunter-gatherer peoples beginning about 5000-4000 years ago, the largest mounds, once rising about 9 meters in height and extending more than a football field in size, contained thousands of human burials, diverse kinds of artifacts, and literally tons of food remains. Directed by Dr. Kent Lightfoot and Dr. Edward Luby, a collaborative team of scholars from the University of California at Berkeley, San Francisco State University, and a cultural resource management firm will address questions about the function, ecology, and chronology of these archaeological sites. The project will 1) synthesize existing information on recorded archaeological remains (i.e., shell mounds, non-mounded sites, rock art sites) from the region, 2) complete the analysis of a museum collection from the Ellis Landing Site (CCO-295), a large mound excavated in 1906-1908 by an important figure in the history of archaeology, Nels Nelson, and 3) undertake a detailed comparison of Ellis Landing with a significant and recently excavated non-mounded cemetery (ALA-343). The researchers will address how the mounds were constructed, whether they were used as specialized cemeteries, mounded villages or simply as refuse dumps, and how the mound builders may have influenced the ecosystems of the San Francisco Bay Area.The intellectual merits of the project are twofold. First, the study of the shell mounds highlights a broader research issue in archaeology -- the construction of mounded landscapes by native peoples across many areas of North America. The project's integrated approach has significant potential for better understanding the sociopolitical structures, community organizations, symbolic systems, mortuary observances, and cultural practices of Native Americans who constructed mounded spaces. The ultimate goal is to compare and contrast the California shell mounds with other hunter-gatherer mounded landscapes in North America. Only by taking such a comparative perspective can we address why peoples created extensive mounded structures with human burials on the Pacific Coast, the American Southeast, and elsewhere beginning about 5000-3000 years ago. Second, the project highlights the utility of using "old" museum collections in a prudent and carefully considered manner in contemporary archaeological research. The project presents a model for studying a nearly 100 year-old collection by bringing together private sector and academic archaeologists, Native American scholars, museum specialists, and environmental scientists. They will address a suite of research questions through an integrated approach of zooarchaeological, archaeobotanical, sediment, and artifactual analyses, isotopic investigations of shellfish, and radiocarbon dating of stratigraphic units and features.The broader impacts of the project involve graduate student training, outreach with local Native American groups, and public education. The project fosters inter-disciplinary research by supporting graduate students in Anthropology; Earth and Planetary Science; Environmental Science, Policy and Management; Geography; and Museum Studies. The project will facilitate communication between the archaeological community and local native peoples by fostering the scholarly work of Native American members of the research team and outreach with their tribes (Ohlone, Coast Miwok). The public educational component of the project will involve the dissemination of findings through publications, a public conference, and museum exhibits at both UC Berkeley and San Francisco State University.