Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Isotopic Reflections of Mobility and Labor Patterns

坎迪斯·拉斯顿博士加州大学戴维斯分校的候选人，将进行考古研究，研究社会组织和狩猎采集人口劳动分工之间的关系。婚后居住地或婚后居住地影响着社会结构及其亲属关系网络。罗尔斯顿的博士论文研究将调查男性与女性对生存和饮食的贡献的相对重要性之间的关系，以及婚后居住。人类骨骼组织稳定同位素分析的进步，使考古学家能够生成细致入微的数据集，以研究古代饮食和流动性。稳定同位素分析提供了更直接的证据，古移民和饮食的个人，可以区分个人水平的居住和饮食模式，并允许男性和女性之间的流动性和饮食模式的比较。这项研究使用了五种同位素判别（锶，氧，硫，碳和氮）。结合多条同位素证据可以增强这些分析的解释力，以了解人类的流动性及其利用的食物网。该项目还将进一步拉斯顿的学术和智力发展。证据将来自两个加州中央谷考古遗址，CA-SAC-107和CA-SJO-68，可追溯到早期（约1000年）。5000-2500 BP）。 加州的考古记录显示了以下时间趋势：1）生存经济的转移和2）性别劳动的日益分化。因此，该地区是理想的测试如何生存和劳动与婚后居住的共同变化。在加州的中央谷进行的考古研究传统上集中在资源集约化，人口强迫和资源萧条作为文化变革的驱动力。相比之下，文化发展和社会组织的动态尚未得到充分解决。跨文化分析表明，经济制度，男女之间的劳动分工，战争和领土是显着的预测婚后居住的做法。这些发现确立了罗尔斯顿研究的中心问题。劳动分工，更具体地说，对整体饮食的有偏见的生存贡献，是否会影响加州中央谷早期人口的婚后居住？罗尔斯顿将通过以下方法解决研究问题：1）利用同位素化学重建婚姻流动性（锶，氧和硫）在骨骼组织，以确定婚后居住，2）解释生存的做法，使用以前公布的动物，植物，和人为数据从CA-SAC-107和CA-SJO-68，（3）利用骨胶原中碳、氮的稳定同位素和生物磷灰石中碳的稳定同位素，重建两个遗址埋葬人群的饮食结构。罗尔斯顿的论文研究将澄清早期婚后居住的同步模式，但也与来自不同时期的特定地点的数据相结合时，提供了一个历时的角度，将阐明加州的土著群体，更广泛地说，狩猎采集者的婚后居住实践的演变。此外，这项研究将证明使用多种同位素方法来理解古代人类行为的重要性。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

Candice Ralston, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of California-Davis, will conduct archaeometric research to study the relationship between social organization and the division of labor for hunter-gatherer populations. Place of residence after marriage, or postmarital residence, impacts the structure of societies and their kinship networks. Ralston's dissertation research will investigate the relationship between the relative importance of male versus female contributions to subsistence and diet, and postmarital residence. Advancements in stable isotope analysis of human skeletal tissues, permit archaeologists to generate nuanced data-sets with which to investigate ancient diet and mobility. Stable isotope analysis provides more direct evidence of paleomigration and diet for individuals, can distinguish individual-level residential and dietary patterns, and permit comparison between male- and female-mobility and dietary patterns. This study uses five isotopic discriminants (strontium, oxygen, sulfur, carbon, and nitrogen). Incorporating multiple lines of isotopic evidence enhances the interpretive power of these analyses for understanding human mobility and the food webs they exploit. This project will also further Ralston's academic and intellectual development.Evidence will come from two California Central Valley archaeological sites, CA-SAC-107 and CA-SJO-68, dating to the Early Period (ca. 5000-2500 BP). The California archaeological record shows temporal trends for 1) shifting subsistence-economies and 2) increasing differentiation of gendered labor. As such, the region is ideal to test how subsistence and labor co-vary with postmarital residence. Archaeological research conducted in California's Central Valley has traditionally focused on resource intensification, demographic forcing, and resource depression as drivers of cultural change. By contrast, the dynamics of cultural development and social organization have not been adequately addressed. Cross-cultural analyses suggest that economic systems, the division of labor between women and men, warfare, and territoriality are significant predictors of postmarital residence practices. These findings set up the central question of Ralston's research. Does the division of labor, and more specifically, a biased subsistence contribution to the overall diet, influence postmarital residence for Early Period populations in the Central Valley of California? Ralston will address the research question by 1) reconstructing marital mobility using isotope chemistry (strontium, oxygen, and sulfur) in skeletal tissues to ascertain postmarital residence, 2) interpreting subsistence practices using previously published faunal, botanical, and artifactual data from CA-SAC-107 and CA-SJO-68, and 3) reconstructing the diet of burial populations from the two sites using stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen in bone collagen, and carbon in bioapatite. Ralston's dissertation research will clarify synchronic patterns of postmarital residence for the Early Period but also, when combined with site-specific data from different periods, provide a diachronic perspective that will elucidate the evolution of postmarital residence practices of indigenous groups of California and, more broadly, hunter-gatherers. Additionally, this study will demonstrate the significance of using multi-isotopic approaches to understanding ancient human behavior.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.