Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Late Prehistoric Socio-Economic Organization in Northwest Alaska: a Study of Pottery Production and Distribution in the Arctic

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。本研究通过对Kotzebue海峡沿岸和邻近的河流走廊到阿拉斯加内陆的考古陶器的重点研究，考察了阿拉斯加西北部在过去2000年里涌现的复杂性的历史。在过去的两千年里，阿拉斯加西北部见证了重大的社会变化，有组织的捕鲸活动、沿海村庄的聚集、富裕的墓葬和战争的发展。在这一时期，白令海峡两岸的族群形成了强烈的区域认同，导致了子区域与子区域之间物质文化风格的显著差异，并最终导致了图勒捕鲸者向东扩展到加拿大北极地区。这些民族人口的关系、互动和演变仍然是该地区考古中最未解决的问题之一。本研究试图通过研究这些群体使用的陶器来阐明这些问题及其对阿拉斯加西北部社会和政治组织变化的影响。从Kotzebue海峡附近的考古组合中发现的陶器成分、制作技术和风格变化，将使学生P.I.能够评估关于公元一千年到二千年之间社会发展的几种预测，这些预测包括对人口密度增加、领土扩张、在企业群体层面（在定居点内部和之间）的社会不对称对陶器的生产和分配从粘土来源到生产、使用和丢弃都有影响。来自克鲁森斯特恩角（Cape Krusenstern）、苏厄德半岛（Seward Peninsula）北部海岸(包括埃斯彭伯格角（Cape Espenberg）、Kotzebue Sound海岸以及Noatak和Kobuk河谷的存档和新获得的陶器收藏将被研究，以确定用于建造陶器的粘土的化学成分、陶器制造的性质（形式、壁厚、回火、烧制制度等）以及风格特征（装饰和非装饰陶器）的变化。研究人员将研究这些特征，以确定区域间陶器运动的程度，以及在获取不同来源、技术和/或风格的陶器方面，聚群之间和聚群内部的差异。这项研究的一个重要组成部分包括从Kotzebue Sound、Kobuk河和Noatak河周围的地质来源收集粘土样本，与考古陶器样本进行比较。这将允许估计陶器从来源到沉积地点的移动程度，并代表社会互动和移动。这项研究的另一个组成部分将是对该地区周围的考古特征进行精确测绘和定年，以便对区域人口密度和分布的变化进行估计。将建立扩展的放射性碳和热释光年代学，以完善和补充该地区现有的年代学模式。这项工作是在与国家公园管理局的合作和许可下进行的。项目成果将主要在阿拉斯加的Kotzebue通过公开和学校演讲与阿拉斯加原住民和阿拉斯加西北部社区的其他地方团体分享。此外，还将制作大型层压海报和描述这项研究的自制PowerPoint演示文稿，并将其分发给该地区的社区。这些教育产品很容易分发到偏远社区和学校，比试图亲自在该地区的每个村庄社区展示更有效和更具成本效益。项目成果将通过在专业会议上介绍、建立项目网站以及在西雅图地区向公众和学校介绍等方式更广泛地传播。华盛顿大学的本科生将参与该项目，协助样品制备，同时在Co-PI的指导下参加独立的实验课程。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).This research examines the history of emergent complexity in Northwest Alaska over the past 2000 years through a focused study of archaeological pottery from the coast of Kotzebue Sound and the adjacent river corridors into the Alaskan interior. Northwest Alaska witnessed significant social change over the past two millennia with the development of organized whale hunting, aggregated coastal villages, wealthy burials, and warfare. On both sides of the Bering Strait ethnic groups formed strong regional identities during this period that led to marked differences in material culture styles from sub-region to sub-region and eventually the expansion of Thule whale hunters eastward across the Canadian arctic. The relationships, interaction, and evolution of these ethnic populations remain among the most unresolved issues in the archaeology of this region. This research attempts to shed light on these issues and their implications for changing social and political organization in Northwest Alaska through the study of the pottery used by these groups. Pottery composition, manufacture techniques, and stylistic variability from archaeological assemblages around Kotzebue Sound will allow the student P.I. to evaluate several predictions about social development between the first and second millennia A.D. These predictions include the expectation for increased population density, territoriality, and social asymmetry at the corporate group level (within and between settlements) with implications for the production and distribution of pottery from clay source to production, use and discard. Archived and newly acquired pottery collections from Cape Krusenstern, the northern coast of the Seward Peninsula including Cape Espenberg, the shores of Kotzebue Sound, and the Noatak and Kobuk River valleys will be studied to determine chemical composition of clays used in constructing the pots, the nature of pot manufacture (form, wall thickness, tempering, firing regime, etc), and variability in stylistic characteristics (of both decorated and non-decorated pottery). These characteristics will be studied to determine the degree of inter-regional pottery movement and inter- and intra-settlement differences in access to diverse sources, technologies, and/or styles of pots An important component of this research includes the collection of clay samples from geological sources around Kotzebue Sound and the Kobuk and Noatak Rivers for comparison to archaeological pottery samples. This will allow an estimation of the degree of pottery movement from source to deposition locales and a proxy for social interaction and movement. Another component of this research will be precision mapping and dating of archaeological features around this region in order to develop estimates of changes in regional population densities and distributions. Expanded radiocarbon and thermoluminescence chronologies will be built to refine and supplement existing chronological models for the region.This work is conducted in partnership and under permit with the National Park Service. Project results will be shared with Native Alaskans and other local groups in the Northwest Alaska community through public and school presentations, primarily in Kotzebue, Alaska. In addition, large laminated posters and a self-timed PowerPoint presentation describing this research will be created and distributed to communities across the region. These educational products are easily distributed to remote communities and schools and are more effective and cost-efficient than trying to present in person in every village community in the region. Project results will be disseminated more widely through presentation at professional conferences, the creation of a project website, and public and school presentations in the Seattle area. University of Washington undergraduate students will participate in the project, assisting in sample preparation while taking an independent lab course for credit, supervised by the Co-PI.