Ancient Hunters of the Alpena-Amberley Ridge: Archaeological Investigations beneath Lake Huron

阿尔皮纳-安伯利山脊的古代猎人：休伦湖下的考古调查

• 批准号: 0964424
• 负责人: John O'Shea
• 金额: $ 26.72万
• 依托单位: Regents of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-06-01 至 2015-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0964424&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Ancient; Hunters; Alpena; Amberley; Ridge

With National Science Foundation Support, Dr. John O'Shea and a team of colleagues from the University of Michigan will conduct three seasons of archaeological field work on the Alpena-Amberley Ridge, beneath the waters of modern Lake Huron in the Great Lakes. The team brings together specialists in the use of remote operated vehicles (ROV) and autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV), underwater archaeology, and computer science in an effort to identify archaeological sites associated with early hunting groups that once inhabited the Alpena-Amberley Ridge area during the Lake Stanley low water stage. At this time, some nine thousand years ago, the ridge existed as a corridor of dry land extending from Presque Isle in Michigan to the Point Clarke region of southern Ontario. The research builds on a prior National Science Foundation supported study that identified a series of stone structures which bear a strong resemblance to hunting structured used historically in the Arctic in the pursuit of caribou. The goal of the current research effort is to confirm the human origin of these structures and to begin the process of identifying and describing the ancient human sites and associated artifacts.The Alpena-Amberley ridge holds a potential treasure trove of information relating to the early occupation of the Great Lakes. Unlike anywhere else in the region, the ancient landscape remains much as the original occupants left it. There has been no development, land clearance or farming to destroy sites, and no looting to remove important or attractive artifacts. Not only does it provide the opportunity to identify sites from a time period that is poorly known on land, it also offers the potential for the preservation of intact sites, stone constructions, and plant and animal remains that rarely are preserved in the Great Lakes region. It also will provide a laboratory in which to investigate the life ways of the early inhabitants to the Great Lakes, and particularly the transition from Paleo-Indian to Archaic patterns systems. The preserved layout and distribution of inundated sites may also provide insights into the culture and organization of these early hunters of a kind that is only rarely preserved on land.Apart for the extraordinary anthropological potential of the work, the research promises a number of broader benefits. The work will provide a detailed view of the Lake Stanley era terrain and the Lake Huron lake bottom, and will yield important geological, environmental, botanical and faunal evidence from this important time period. It will also provide data on the current conditions of the mid-Lake environment, and particularly the impact of invasive species. Finally, the work brings together researchers and students from a wide range of departments and institutions, such as the Department of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering and the Museum of Anthropology at the University of Michigan, Computer Science at Wayne State University, and archaeologists and educators from the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary. The research effort represents the creative combination of existing equipment, capabilities, and expertise to address a novel new range of problems. The "cross-training" benefits of the research are shared not only among the senior investigators, but by the interdisciplinary group of graduate and undergraduate students that participate in the research.

在国家科学基金会的支持下，约翰·奥谢博士和密歇根大学的同事团队将在五大湖现代休伦湖水域下方的阿尔皮纳-安伯利山脊进行三个季节的考古实地工作。 该团队汇集了遥控潜水器（ROV）和自主水下航行器（AUV）、水下考古学和计算机科学领域的专家，致力于识别与曾经居住在阿尔皮纳-安伯利山脊地区的早期狩猎群体相关的考古遗址。在斯坦利湖低水位期间。 大约九千年前的这个时候，山脊作为一条旱地走廊而存在，从密歇根州的普雷斯克岛一直延伸到安大略省南部的克拉克角地区。 该研究建立在之前国家科学基金会支持的一项研究的基础上，该研究确定了一系列石头结构，这些结构与北极地区历史上用于追捕驯鹿的狩猎结构非常相似。 当前研究工作的目标是确认这些结构的人类起源，并开始识别和描述古代人类遗址和相关文物的过程。阿尔皮纳-安伯利山脊蕴藏着与早期占领相关的潜在信息宝库五大湖的。 与该地区其他地方不同的是，这里的古老景观仍然保留着最初居住者留下的样子。 没有开发、土地清理或耕种来破坏遗址，也没有抢劫来清除重要或有吸引力的文物。 它不仅提供了识别陆地上鲜为人知的时期遗址的机会，还提供了保存五大湖地区很少保存的完整遗址、石头建筑以及动植物遗骸的潜力。它还将提供一个实验室，用于研究五大湖地区早期居民的生活方式，特别是从古印度模式系统到古代模式系统的转变。 被淹没地点保存下来的布局和分布也可以让人们深入了解这些早期猎人的文化和组织，这种早期猎人在陆地上很少被保存下来。除了这项工作的非凡人类学潜力外，这项研究还带来了许多更广泛的好处。 这项工作将提供斯坦利湖时代地形和休伦湖湖底的详细视图，并将提供这一重要时期的重要地质、环境、植物和动物证据。 它还将提供有关湖心环境当前状况的数据，特别是入侵物种的影响。 最后，这项工作汇集了来自各个部门和机构的研究人员和学生，例如密歇根大学造船与海洋工程系和人类学博物馆、韦恩州立大学计算机科学系以及考古学家和教育工作者来自桑德贝国家海洋保护区。 这项研究工作代表了现有设备、能力和专业知识的创造性结合，以解决一系列新的问题。 研究的“交叉培训”好处不仅由高级研究人员共享，而且由参与研究的研究生和本科生的跨学科群体共享。