EAGER: Upward Sun River (Xaasaa Na') Exploratory Excavation

该项目包括挖掘与埋葬/火葬坑特征相关的住宅结构，我们的团队去年夏天在Upward Sun River（Xaasaa Na？）（49 XBD-298），位于阿拉斯加中部塔纳纳盆地的多组分场地。该特征是在埋藏的环境中，在地表以下1米以上，在相对不受冷扰动影响的沉积物中。在与联邦、州和土著官员协商后（MOA第106条规定），各方同意挖掘该特征。 到目前为止，已经观察到四个额外的特征（埋葬/火葬坑），所有这些特征似乎都是户外无衬里的火坑。这次拟议的挖掘旨在挖掘住宅结构，并收集更多的地质考古样本，以增加我们对遗址形成，沉积后干扰，技术和生存的了解，并专门评估儿童火化到结构的其余部分。目前，在东白令海的晚更新世/早全新世环境中还没有发现墓葬，因此我们对一整套与丧葬有关的行为的了解基本上是未知的。这次挖掘有可能为我们对西半球这一时期的理解提供变革性的数据。

This project consists of excavation of a residential structure associated with a burial/cremation pit feature, well-dated to 10,000 RCYBP (~11,500 calendar years ago) found by our team last summer at Upward Sun River (Xaasaa Na?) (49XBD-298), a multi-component site in the Tanana Basin, central Alaska. The feature is in buried contexts, over 1 meter below surface, in deposits relatively undisturbed by cryoturbation. After consultation with federal, state, and Native officials (stipulated in the Section 106 MOA), all parties agreed to excavation of the feature. Four additional features (to the burial/cremation pit) have been observed to date, and all appear to be outdoor unlined firepits. This proposed excavation is designed to excavate the residential structure, and collect additional geoarchaeological samples to increase our knowledge of site formation, post-depositional disturbance, technology, and subsistence, as well as to specifically evaluate the child cremation to the rest of the structure. At present, no burials have been found in Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene contexts in Eastern Beringia, so our knowledge of an entire suite of mortuary-related behaviors is essentially unknown. This excavation has the potential to contribute transformative data to our understanding of this time period in the Western Hemisphere.