Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Prehistoric Plant Use Among Complex Maritime Hunter-Gatherer-Fishers, Santa Cruz Island, California

在迈克尔·科洛索博士的指导下，克里斯蒂娜·M。吉尔将分析圣克鲁斯岛上史前居住地的植物遗骸，圣克鲁斯岛是加州南部海岸外的北方海峡群岛之一。 她的目标是研究植物资源在史前海上狩猎采集渔民中的作用，以及植物的重要性如何随着时间的推移而变化，以应对环境压力和与大陆人口的贸易增加。 尽管岛屿人口的海洋重点，在何种程度上，当地可用的植物资源在整个全新世的使用是重要的生存，解决，区域交流和社会政治复杂性的理解变化。 吉尔女士将通过检查圣克鲁斯岛上的三个居住地来解决这些研究目标，每个居住地都与相邻基岩露头中的砂浆孔有关。 在整个加州，石臼和杵通常被用来处理植物性食物。 特别有趣的是，在Diablo巴尔德斯遗址（SCRI-619/620）的挖掘，从至少公元前3000年开始直到欧洲人接触之后（公元1782年），产生了大量的球茎（类似于球茎），这是当地一种高等级的植物食物。 Diablo巴尔德斯遗址因其长期的占领和在许多地层中发现的球茎，将对完善目前对岛屿资源开发、定居和交换的理解作出重大贡献。 该研究项目将有助于在简单的技术水平上理解人类的适应能力。 它将继续通过整合多线的证据，以审查植物和动物的食物资源使用的觅食理论和饮食广度模型，在岛屿的情况下，海洋资源特别丰富，但植物资源可能是至关重要的均衡饮食。 跨文化的比较，特别是关于植物的相对重要性，在各种海上狩猎采集渔民社会将提供新的见解觅食决策是如何作出的。更广泛的影响包括学生的参与，这是至关重要的，在这个研究项目的各个方面。 以前在迪亚波罗巴尔德斯遗址的挖掘工作涉及本科生和研究生以及专业考古学家的结合，培养了一个独特的合作研究环境。 计划中的挖掘将为学生和来自学术，政府和公共考古背景的专业人士提供类似的互动。 此外，实验室分析将通过考古动物群和古民族植物学分析培训为本科生提供重要的教育机会。这项研究将大大提高对植物在当前和过去的丘马什印第安文化中的作用的理解。 Chumash印第安人Santa Ynez部落的青年教育方案致力于保护传统知识，并支持考古研究，以提供有关其过去的宝贵信息。 在2011年夏天的发掘期间，吉尔女士为圣克鲁斯岛的青年项目组织了一次徒步旅行，重点是识别本土植物及其传统用途。 基于这次徒步旅行的成功，她将继续领导青年计划和其他感兴趣的部落成员的年度徒步旅行。 促进科学和美洲原住民社区之间的积极，开放的关系是这个研究项目的目标。

Under the direction of Dr. Michael Glassow, Kristina M. Gill will analyze carbonized plant remains from prehistoric habitation sites on Santa Cruz Island, one of the Northern Channel Islands off the coast of southern California. Her goal is to examine the role of plant resources among prehistoric maritime hunter-gatherer-fishers, and how the importance of plants changed through time in response to environmental stress and increased trade with mainland populations. Despite the maritime focus of island populations, the extent to which locally available plant resources were used throughout the Holocene is important for understanding changes in subsistence, settlement, regional exchange, and socio-political complexity. Ms. Gill will address these research objectives by examining three habitation sites on Santa Cruz Island, each of which is associated with mortar holes in adjacent bedrock outcrops. Throughout California, stone mortars and pestles typically were used to process plant foods. Of particular interest, excavations at the Diablo Valdez site (SCRI-619/620), occupied from at least 3000 BC until after European contact (AD 1782), yielded a large number of carbonized corms (similar to bulbs), a highly ranked local plant food. The Diablo Valdez site, with its long period of occupation and the presence of carbonized corms in numerous strata, will make a significant contribution to refining current understanding of island resource exploitation, settlement, and exchange. This research project will contribute to understanding human adaptation at a simple level of technology. It will proceed through integration of multiple lines of evidence to examine both floral and faunal food resource use in terms of foraging theory and diet breadth models, in an island context where marine resources are particularly abundant but where plant resources likely were critical to a balanced diet. Cross-cultural comparison, specifically with regard to the relative importance of plants, among various maritime hunter-gatherer-fisher societies will provide new insights into how foraging decisions were made.Broader impacts include participation by students, which is essential during all aspects of this research project. Previous excavations at the Diablo Valdez site involved a combination of undergraduate and graduate students and professional archaeologists, fostering a unique cooperative research environment. The planned excavations will provide a similar interaction between students and professionals from academic, government, and public archaeology backgrounds. Moreover, laboratory analyses will provide important educational opportunities for undergraduate students through training in archaeological faunal and paleoethnobotanical analysis. This research will significantly improve understanding of the role of plants in both current and past Chumash Indian culture. The youth education program of the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians is dedicated to preserving traditional knowledge and supporting archaeological research that provides valuable information about their past. During excavations in summer 2011, Ms. Gill led an interpretive hike for the youth program on Santa Cruz Island, focusing on the identification of native plants and their traditional uses. Based on the success of this hike, she will continue to lead annual hikes for the youth program and other interested tribal members. Fostering a positive, open relationship between the scientific and Native American community is a goal of this research project.