Settlement pattern dynamics and the evolution of social complexity on the northern Northwest Coast

在美国国家科学基金会的支持下，肯尼斯·M·艾姆斯博士、安德鲁·马丁代尔博士和凯文·爱丁堡博士将使用最近完善的田野和测绘方法来研究北美西北海岸北部社会复杂性的历史。这一地区的社会复杂性与学者们传统上认为只能通过农业才能实现的社会复杂性相当；然而，该地区的人们是猎渔者-采集者(HFG)，这是一项可以揭示人类历史这一普遍方面的根本原因的案例研究本研究重点放在尖仙海岸和不列颠哥伦比亚省鲁珀特港(PRH)的考古记录上，这是关于HFG复杂性的主要全球案例研究。在欧洲接触点，公屋包含了密集的村庄聚集地，在考古上可以看到巨大的贝类蚊子的异常集中。该港277个有记录的地点包括96个贝类，其中61个是有记录的村庄，其中18个是面积为30平方公里的主要村庄(超过10,000平方米)。关键的悬而未决的问题是最初占领港口的时间；定居点模式的演变，包括历史上的村庄聚集地何时发展；以及永久性不平等的发展时机。该项目将利用过去20年来为调查地质复杂的沿海环境中的大型贝壳遗址而磨练的实地技术，在公屋建立一个大型放射性碳测年数据集。还将汇编北威武公约北部的考古和古环境放射性碳年代数据库。结果将提高海洋环境中有机样品转换为日历日期的精确度(对构建历史至关重要)；测试当前社会和政治复杂性演变的模型；建立港口内大型贝类幼虫的年表；以及港口历史村落聚集地的形成日期，从而检验adawx帐户。这项工作将在北美西海岸产生得到最好支持的当地海洋放射性碳校正，利用可能覆盖过去12,000年的良好海岸聚落历史，改善全球对这一问题的理解；更好地证据表明，北海岸上出现了永久性的不平等；一个基于大的放射性碳测年控制样本的北海岸人口动态模型，以及一种调查巨大贝类幼虫的经过测试的方法，这将具有广泛的考古价值。积极使用和测试尖仙海岸的数据将为将口头传统纳入考古研究提供一个经过测试的模型，解决当地人的一个主要问题。该项目建立在公共房屋的国际研究项目和海岸尖仙人深度参与此类研究的长期传统基础上。该项目由NSF和加拿大社会科学和研究理事会资助，吸引了来自美国、加拿大和英国的研究人员。海岸尖沙咀的参与包括实地和实验室研究工作，以及正式咨询、与长辈讨论和积极与他们分享结果。

With NSF support, Drs. Kenneth M. Ames, Andrew Martindale, and Kevan Edinborough will use recently perfected field and mapping methods to investigate the history of social complexity on the northern Northwest Coast (NWC) of North America. The social complexity in this region was comparable to that which scholars traditionally thought could only be achieved with agriculture; yet the people of this region were hunter-fisher-gatherers (HFG), a case study that can reveal the underlying causes of this universal aspect of human historyThis research focuses on the Coast Tsimshian and on the archaeological record of Prince Rupert Harbor (PRH), British Columbia, a major global case study for HFG complexity. At European Contact, PRH contained a dense aggregation of villages, archaeologically visible as an extraordinary concentration of massive shell middens. The harbor's 277 recorded sites includes 96 shell middens of which 61 are documented villages, 18 of which are major villages (more than 10,000 m2 ) in a area of 30 km2. Key open questions are the timing of initial occupation of the harbor; the evolution of settlement patterns including when the historic village aggregation developed; and the timing of the development of permanent inequality. The project will build a large data set of radiocarbon dates in PRH using field techniques honed over the past 20 years for investigating large shell sites in geologically complex coastal environments. A database of archaeological and paleoenvironmental radiocarbon dates for the northern NWC will also be compiled. The results will increase the precision with which organic samples from marine environments are converted to calendar dates (essential to constructing histories); test current models of the evolution of social and political complexity; build a chronology for the massive shell middens within the harbor, and date the formation of the historic village aggregation in the harbor, hence testing the adawx accounts. This work will produce the best-supported local marine radiocarbon correction on the west coast of North America improving global understanding of this issue with a well dated coastal settlement history that potentially covers the last 12,000 years; better evidence with which to date the appearance of permanent inequality on the NWC, a model of population dynamics for the northern coast based on a large, controlled sample of radiocarbon dates and a tested methodology for investigating enormous shell middens, which will be of broad archaeological interest. The active use and testing of Coast Tsimshian data will provide a tested model for incorporating oral traditions into archaeological research, addressing a major issue for Native peoples.The project builds on a long tradition of international research projects in PRH and of deep involvement of Coast Tsimshian people in such research. The project is funded by NSF and the Social Science and Research Council of Canada, drawing researchers from the United States, Canada and Great Britain. Coast Tsimshian involvement includes work in field and lab research as well as formal consultation, discussions with elders and active sharing of the results with them.