Doctoral Dissertation Research: Resource Intensification and Sedentism in Prehistoric Central California: A Bioarchaeological Perspective on Diet and Disease

加州中部的生物考古学是人类学研究中一个被忽视的领域，部分反映了一种误解，即该地区的史前社会随着时间的推移几乎没有表现出文化变化。然而，过去几十年的考古调查揭示了生存模式的重大变化，从早期（4500-2800 BP）更普遍的大型狩猎适应到中期（2800-1200 BP）更久坐的生活方式，包括采用橡子储存经济。在这个项目中，研究人员将测量人类骨骼中稳定的碳和氮同位素，并将研究疾病的骨骼和牙齿证据，以检查饮食、健康和性别分工的时间变化在加利福尼亚中部的考古骨骼中。这项研究将首次利用稳定同位素分析数据结合古病理学来评估旧金山湾和萨克拉门托-圣华金三角洲的史前饮食和健康趋势。尽管在与欧洲人接触时，加州中部的人口数量是北美最高的，但在没有农业的情况下，人口密度仍然很高。许多研究人员认为，在整个中世纪，研钵和杵技术的丰富程度的增加标志着向强化橡子利用的过渡，这可能提供了显著的营养价值，因为橡子脂肪含量高，可以长期储存，并且可以为冬季食物短缺提供宝贵的缓冲。最近，另一些人认为，在整个中后期，定居活动的增加和人口的增长导致了大型动物群的枯竭，导致了橡子和海洋食物等不太理想的食物的增加。尽管资源集约化模型预测了与健康下降相关的条件，但很少有研究直接评估了加利福尼亚中部生存变化和定居主义对健康的影响。该项目的结果将为加利福尼亚史前三千年的史前饮食和健康提供连续的生物记录，并将进一步为该地区未来的调查提供基础。这项研究将极大地促进我们对史前加利福尼亚社会生物学的理解，并将作为与其他非农业定居社会进行比较的基础。这个项目的一个更广泛的影响是，它将为研究人员提供高级的研究生培训，并获得稳定同位素分析的最新方法，这将促进古饮食研究的未来调查。此外，这项研究将对了解加州土著居民最早的生活方式做出有价值的贡献，这将对现存的美洲土著人民产生兴趣。

The bioarchaeology of central California is a neglected area of anthropological research, in part reflecting the misconception that prehistoric societies from this region exhibited little cultural change through time. Archaeological investigations over the past several decades, however, have revealed substantial change in subsistence patterns from a more generalized large-game hunting adaptation in the Early Period (4500-2800 BP) to a more sedentary lifeway involving the adoption of an acorn-storage economy during the Middle Period (2800-1200 BP). In this project, the investigators will measure stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes in human bone, and will study skeletal and dental evidence of disease to examine temporal changes in diet, health, and the sexual division of labor in archaeological skeletons from central California. This study will be the first to evaluate prehistoric diet and health trends in the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta using data from stable isotope analysis in conjunction with paleopathology.Although population numbers in central California were among the highest in North America at the time of European contact, high population density was maintained in the absence of agriculture. Many researchers have argued that the increase in abundance of mortar and pestle technology throughout the Middle Period signified a transition toward intensified acorn use, which may have provided significant nutritional benefits since acorns are high in fat, can be stored for long periods, and would have provided a valuable buffer against winter food shortages. More recently, others have argued that increased sedentism and population growth throughout the Middle and Late Period resulted in the depletion of large fauna, leading to the intensification of less optimal foods, such as acorns and marine foods. Although resource intensification models predict conditions associated with declining health, few studies have directly evaluated the health consequences of subsistence change and sedentism in central California. The results of this project will provide a continuous biological record of prehistoric diet and health for over three millennia of California prehistory, and will further provide the foundations for future investigations in the region. This study will greatly contribute to our understanding of the biology of prehistoric California societies, and will serve as a basis for comparison with other nonagricultural sedentary societies. One of the broader impacts of this project is that it will provide the researcher with advanced graduate training and access to state of the art methods in stable isotope analysis that will foster future investigations in paleodietary research. Additionally, this research will be a valuable contribution toward understanding the earliest lifeways of California's indigenous populations, which will be of interest to living Native American peoples.