Aleutian Archaeology: Identifying Cultural and Environmental Relationships c. 6000 BP to 250 BP

Caroline Funk博士和一个由来自美国各地的六个联邦机构和学术界同事组成的多学科协作团队将以阿拉斯加州西阿留申群岛的Kiska岛为中心进行为期一年的实地研究和实验室分析。他们将通过研究史前阿留申考古记录和基斯卡岛的环境历史，研究人类对资源和环境/生态历史的影响。该小组将致力于发展该地区的环境/生态历史和人类使用基斯卡岛的历史，以确定人类对环境的潜在影响，并促进关于人类与海岸/岛屿环境长期交叉的全球辩论。这些广泛的目标是通过人类学，地理学和生物科学的合作研究来回答一系列问题：史前老鼠群岛阿留申人是如何生活和构思他们的景观的，环境是如何塑造老鼠群岛阿留申文化的？拉特群岛阿留申人、环境和土著动植物物种经历了哪些物理和气候条件和事件？人类在塑造景观、海景和非人类物种的形式和特征方面扮演了什么角色？为了了解阿留申人与环境之间的相互作用，将考古遗址中存在的植物和动物物种的变化与已知或我们新定义的气候趋势，地震记录，火山事件以及基斯卡岛阿留申史前的事件和过程进行比较。实地工作包括考古调查，旨在定位新的考古遗址，测试已知和新发现的遗址，以及地质调查，以绘制地貌和地质特征。 现场和非现场取芯提供花粉和植物宏体化石数据，湖泊取芯提供高分辨率火山灰数据。岛屿潮间带调查为区域食物网建模提供基线数据。实验室分析在实地考察过程中收集的所有材料进行，创建多学科，比较数据集，以测试我们的假设递归人类/环境的影响。石器和有机人工制品分析和动物群分析提供了关于阿留申人身份和资源利用的数据。石质人工制品的来源（XRF）可能会让我们深入了解阿留申人在老鼠岛群之外的联系人。花粉和植物化石提供了阿留申植物利用和古气候的信息。通过对考古标本进行的同位素和微量元素分析测量的海洋哺乳动物种群特征，结合新的食物网模型，提供了有关史前自给性收获和海洋生态系统动态的信息。地质地层学发展和地貌学研究提供了关于可能影响人类及其资源的大规模环境事件的信息。这项研究为北方的研究提供了关于人类和大规模环境事件影响的宝贵数据。Kiska岛和Rat群岛阿留申人的新环境和人类历史是从我们人类学/考古学，生物科学和地球科学的协同作用中发展起来的，与区域和全球数据集相关联，以扩大对岛屿生态系统的形式和功能以及人类与它们的关系的理解。 这项工作有助于恢复生态学和土地管理决策，同时推进关于小规模社会对其景观影响的社会自然和身份理论。一个项目网站，公开讲座，学术文章和演示确保工作在阿留申，公共，土地管理和科学界广泛传播。

Dr. Caroline Funk and a collaborative, multidisciplinary team of six federal agency and academic colleagues from across the United States will conduct one year of field research and laboratory analyses centered on Kiska Island, Western Aleutians, Alaska. They will research human impacts on resources and environmental/ecological histories by studying the prehistoric Aleut archaeological record and the environmental history of Kiska Island. The team will work to develop an environmental/ecological history of the area and a history of human use of Kiska Island, to identify potential areas of human impact on the environment, and to contribute to global debates about long-term human intersections with coast/island environments. These broad objectives are accomplished by cooperative research in the anthro-, geo-, and biosciences to answer a series of questions: how did prehistoric Rat Islands Aleut live within and conceive of their landscape and how did the environment shape Rat Islands Aleut culture? What physical and climatic conditions and events did Rat Islands Aleut, the environment, and indigenous plant and animal species endure? What role did humans have in shaping the form and characteristics of landscapes, seascapes, and non-human species? To understand the interactions between Aleuts and their environment, variations in plant and animal species present in archaeological sites are compared to known or our newly defined climate trends, seismic records, volcanic events, and events and processes in Kiska Island Aleut prehistory. Field work includes archaeological survey aimed toward locating new archaeological sites, testing known and newly discovered sites, and geo-survey to map geomorphological and geological features. On and off site coring provides pollen and plant macrofossil data and lake coring provides high resolution tephra data. Island intertidal survey sets baseline data for modeling the regional food web. Laboratory analyses are performed on all materials collected during fieldwork, creating the multidisciplinary, comparative data sets necessary to test our hypotheses about recursive human/environment impacts. Lithic and organic artifact analyses and faunal analyses provide data about Aleut identity and resource use. Lithic artifact sourcing (XRF) may grant insight into Aleut contacts outside of the Rat Islands group. Pollen and plant macrofossils provide information about Aleut plant use and paloeclimate. Sea mammal population characteristics as measured by isotope and trace element analyses performed on archaeological specimens provide information about prehistoric subsistence harvests and marine ecosystem dynamics when combined with the new food web models. Geological tephrastratigraphy development and geomorphological studies provide information about large-scale environmental events that may have impacted humans and their resources. The research contributes valuable data regarding human and large-scale environmental event impacts to studies of the North. Entirely new environmental and human histories of Kiska Island and Rat Islands Aleuts developed from our synergy of anthropology/archaeology, bioscience, and geoscience link to regional and global data sets to expand understanding of the form and function of island ecosystems and human relationships with them. The work aids in restoration ecology and land management decisions, while advancing socionatural and identity theories about small-scale society impacts on their landscapes. A project website, public talks, and scholarly articles and presentations ensure that the work is broadly disseminated in Aleut, public, land management, and scientific communities.