Dissertation Research: An Assessment of Terminal Woodland Subsistence and Settlement in the Mobile-Tensaw Delta, Alabama

论文研究：阿拉巴马州莫比尔-坦索三角洲终端林地生存和定居的评估

• 批准号: 9809613
• 负责人: Tristram Kidder
• 金额: $ 1.2万
• 依托单位: Tulane University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1998
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1998-06-15 至 2000-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9809613&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Dissertation; Research; Assessment; Terminal; Woodland

Under the direction of Dr. Tristram Kidder, Mr. David Morgan will collect data for his doctoral dissertation. He will conduct archaeological test excavations at 10 sites located in the Mobile-Tensaw Delta in Alabama. The goal of the research is to examine the settlement and subsistence strategy of Late Woodland (400 -1,100 AD) Native Americans who inhabited this region. Anthropologists disagree on the extent to which coastal resources such as fish and shell fish played important roles in prehistoric diet. Based on a worldwide ethnographic study, some argue that in terms of the energetic costs involved in obtaining and processing such food, the return is not sufficient to confer high value on such items. Others have focused on the density and dependability of such foodstuffs and argued that exactly the opposite was the case. While relatively good data are available from high latitudes, where marine mammals played an important dietary role, much less is known about far more densely inhabited temperate environments. Mr. Morgan's research will provide an important case study relevant to this question. The research is also important in a regional context. By Late Woodland times, agriculture was widespread in North America and many groups depended heavily on maize, squash as well as a range of less well known domesticates. In interior Alabama such plant remains are regularly recovered from sites of this age. However it is not known whether coastal peoples incorporated such resources into their diets and the data collected by Mr. Morgan will also address this issue. If domesticates are not present, this implies that available wild resources were sufficient. To accomplish this work, Mr. Morgan will place small test excavations in 10 sites distributed across two environmental settings. Ceramics will allow the relative dating of individual levels and faunal remains recovered will provide insight into length and seasons of occupation. Floatation analysis will permit the recovery of plant remains which will be analyzed to a species level. This research is important for several reasons. It will provide information on a time period and geographical region which is relatively understudied. It will also shed additional light on prehistoric subsistence adaptation and assist in training a promising young scientist.

在特里斯特拉姆·基德（Tristram Kidder）博士的指导下，戴维·摩根（David Morgan）先生将收集数据的博士学位论文。他将在阿拉巴马州的移动Tensaw三角洲的10个地点进行考古测试发掘。该研究的目的是检查已故林地（公元400 - 1,100）的定居点和生存战略，该地区居住在该地区。人类学家不同意鱼类和贝壳鱼等沿海资源在史前饮食中发挥重要作用的程度。基于一项全球人种志研究，一些人认为，就获取和处理这种食物所涉及的充满活力的成本而言，回报不足以赋予此类项目的高价值。其他人则专注于此类食品的密度和可靠性，并认为情况恰恰相反。虽然可以从高纬度地区获得相对较好的数据，那里的海洋哺乳动物发挥了重要的饮食作用，但对更密集的温带环境知之甚少。摩根先生的研究将提供与这个问题有关的重要案例研究。在区域背景下，这项研究也很重要。到后期的林地时代，农业在北美广泛，许多群体都依赖玉米，壁球以及一系列鲜为人知的家乡。在阿拉巴马州内部，这种植物的遗体经常从这个时代的地点回收。但是，尚不清楚沿海人民是否将这种资源纳入其饮食中，摩根先生收集的数据也将解决这个问题。如果不存在驯养，这意味着可用的野生资源就足够了。为了完成这项工作，摩根先生将在分布在两个环境环境的10个地点中进行小型测试发掘。陶瓷将允许单个水平的相对日期，而恢复动物的遗体将提供对职业的长度和季节的见解。浮动分析将允许恢复植物残留物，将分析到物种水平。 这项研究很重要，原因有几个。它将提供有关相对研究的时间段和地理区域的信息。它还将为史前的生存适应提供更多的启示，并有助于培训有前途的年轻科学家。