Late Pleistocene Hunter-Gatherer Adaptations in the Great Basin: Continued Studies of Bonneville Estates Rockshelter

在国家科学基金会的支持下，特德·格贝尔博士和他的同事们将继续对位于内华达州东北部埃尔科县的邦纳维尔庄园岩石掩体进行考古发掘。他们在2005年的工作将集中在岩石庇护所的最早的文化职业，从7000年到早在12,300年前的放射性碳。2003-2004年的调查显示，这些遗址包含了大量的诊断用矛尖和其他石器，易腐烂的文物，包括篮子、绳索、木材和骨制工具的碎片，植物的遗骸，以及保存完好的动物骨骼，其中许多都显示出明显的人类屠宰痕迹。该洞穴的晚更新世-早全新世沉积物丰富，加上它们分层良好，可以安全地确定年代，使Bonneville Estates可以说是大盆地中已知的最重要的考古遗址，可以回答有关北美西部内陆早期人口的问题，以及从晚更新世到全新世人类适应的演变。2005年的工作将集中在（1）确定岩石庇护所的更新世晚期文化职业的年龄，（2）描述人工制品组合以解释人类技术，（3）描述动物和植物组合以解释人类生存活动，以及（4）将岩石庇护所的记录置于美洲人民的更大背景下。这将通过挖掘岩石避难所的晚更新世沉积物，并通过仔细分析文物，生态事实和恢复的功能来完成。该项目将为研究生和本科生提供宝贵的学习经验，并将使他们更好地了解人类在恶劣干旱环境中的经历。通过在古气候和古环境背景下考虑东部大盆地的考古记录，拟议的研究还将提高我们对全球变化对小规模人类社会影响的理解。

With National Science Foundation support, Dr. Ted Goebel and his colleagues will continue archaeological excavations of Bonneville Estates Rockshelter, located in Elko County, northeastern Nevada. Their work in 2005 will focus on the rockshelter's earliest cultural occupations that span from 7000 to as early as 12,300 radiocarbon years ago. Excavations in 2003-2004 revealed that these occupations contain an incredibly rich record of diagnostic spear points and other stone artifacts, perishable artifacts including fragments of baskets, cordage, and wood and bone tools, remains of plants, and very well-preserved animal bones, many of which display clear signs of human butchery. The richness of the cave's late Pleistocene-early Holocene deposits, coupled with the fact that they are well-stratified and can be securely dated, make Bonneville Estates arguably the most important archaeological site known in the Great Basin for answering questions about the early peopling of the interior of western North America and the evolution of human adaptations from the late Pleistocene into the Holocene. Work in 2005 will focus on (1) firmly establishing the age of the rockshelter's late Pleistocene cultural occupations, (2) characterizing artifact assemblages to explain human technologies, (3) characterizing faunal and floral assemblages to explain human subsistence activities, and (4) placing the rockshelter's record into the greater context of the peopling of the Americas. This will be done through excavation of the rockshelter's late Pleistocene deposits, and through careful analyses of artifacts, ecofacts, and features recovered. The project will provide invaluable learning experiences for both graduate and undergraduate students, and will lead to greater appreciation of the human experience in harsh arid environments. By considering the archaeological record of the eastern Great Basin within a paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental context, the proposed study will also enhance our understanding of the impacts of global change on small-scale human societies.