Doctoral Dissertation Research: An Isotopic Assessment of Late Prehistoric Interregional Warfare in the Southcentral US

博士论文研究：美国中南部史前晚期区域间战争的同位素评估

基本信息

批准号：
1830438
负责人：
George Sabo
金额：
$ 1.48万
依托单位：
University of Arkansas
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
Standard Grant
财政年份：
2018
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2018-05-01 至 2019-10-31
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1830438&HistoricalAwards=false
关键词：
Doctoral Dissertation Research Isotopic Assessment

项目摘要

There is a great need to develop better methods to identify and quantify warfare when it occurs without accompanying written documentation, and to consider alternative explanations of data. The study of isotopes preserved in human skeletal remains provide a valuable means to identify the geographic origins of individuals or groups buried in archeological contexts suggesting warfare, offering evidence that can corroborate other archaeological and biological indicators (fortifications, village destruction, traumatic skeletal injury, etc.). Even so, refinement of isotopic methods is required to improve the confidence of results. Lead (Pb) is a toxic trace metal that affects the health of biological organisms, but its composition can also indicate from where an individual originates. Pb isotopes preserved in human tooth enamel provide a signature, via food chain pathways, of the geographic area in which that individual was born and grew up. This study will establish and demonstrate a new method for biological sourcing, the biological available Pb method, which compares the Pb isotopes of prehistoric human and non-migratory animal populations to determine if humans found in the archaeological record of one area are local or actually came from another region. This will aid researchers who commonly question whether particular burials or mortuary treatments, such as isolated skulls and mandibles, reflect special burial treatment of honored ancestors or the disposal of dismembered enemies from other regions. This study will test if late prehistoric Caddo communities in southwest Arkansas were committing large-scale acts of violence against neighboring regions. Concurrent archeological evidence of increased violence in the Southern Plains and the Eastern Woodlands may reflect increasing tensions between regions. Alternatively, unusual burial treatments often attributed to warfare might indicate alternative practices involving transport of partial skeletal remains for special burial at important regional centers. This study also serves the practical purpose of determining cultural affiliation for the purposes of Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act compliance and to inform and encourage feedback from descendant communities including the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma. The study also has practical forensic applications for determining points of geographic origin for human skeletal material recovered from multiple present day/recent contexts.Mr. Samuelsen, under the supervision of Dr. George Sabo III, will employ Pb and strontium (Sr) isotope analysis to evaluate early lifetime locations for the remains of 352 individuals represented in a skull-and-mandible cemetery (A.D. 1253-1399) at the Crenshaw site in southwest Arkansas, as part of his dissertation research. This will be accomplished through the creation of a comparative multi-state map of biologically available Pb/Sr isotopic ratios from states surrounding Arkansas. This map will be compared to Pb/Sr isotopic ratios from the human and animal remains from Crenshaw and other southwest Arkansas sites. High resolution Pb and Sr isotopes will be obtained using a multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (MC-ICP-MS) at the University of Arkansas. The resulting data, whether indicating local or foreign origin, will illustrate how biological Pb isotopes can be analyzed, how they can reveal the purpose behind specialized burial treatments, and demonstrate how isotopes like Pb and Sr can help evaluate the prevalence and extent of many ancient cultural practices including interregional warfare and specialized mortuary practice.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.

迫切需要开发更好的方法来识别和量化战争而不伴随书面文档，并考虑对数据的替代解释。对人类骨骼遗骸中保存的同位素的研究提供了一种有价值的手段，可以识别出在考古背景下埋葬的个人或群体的地理起源，表明战争，提供可以证实其他考古学和生物学指标的证据（村庄破坏，村庄破坏，创伤性骨骼伤害等）。即便如此，同位素方法的改进仍需要提高结果的信心。铅（PB）是一种影响生物生物健康的有毒痕量金属，但其组成也可以从一个人起源的位置表明。保存在人牙搪瓷中的PB同位素通过食物链途径提供了该人出生和长大的地理区域的签名。这项研究将建立并证明一种生物采购的新方法，即生物可用的PB方法，该方法比较了史前人类和非迁移动物种群的PB同位素，以确定一个地区的考古记录中是否发现了人类，或者实际上来自另一个地区。这将有助于研究人员通常质疑特定的埋葬或葬礼治疗方法，例如孤立的头骨和下颌骨，反映了对尊贵祖先的特殊葬礼或处置其他地区的肢解敌人。这项研究将测试阿肯色州西南部的晚期史前Caddo社区是否正在对邻近地区实施大规模的暴力行为。同时存在的考古证据表明，南部平原和东部林地的暴力行为增加可能反映出地区之间紧张局势的增加。另外，经常归因于战争的异常埋葬治疗可能表明涉及在重要区域中心特殊埋葬的部分骨骼遗体运输的替代实践。这项研究还符合确定文化隶属关系的实际目的，以遵守美国原住民的保护和遣返法，并为包括俄克拉荷马州卡德多国家在内的后代社区提供信息并鼓励反馈。这项研究还具有实用法医应用，用于确定从当今/最近的多个近期环境中恢复的人类骨骼材料的地理来源点。在乔治·萨博三世（George Sabo III）博士的监督下，萨缪尔森（Samuelsen）将采用PB和跨肿瘤（SR）同位素分析来评估在Southwest Arkansasassasasassass as的Crenshaw Site的一部分，评估了Skull and Cemetery公墓（公元1253- 1399年）在Skull and Cemetible公墓（公元1253- 1399年）中代表的352个人的遗体。这将通过创建来自阿肯色州周围国家的生物可用PB/SR同位素比的比较多状态图来实现。该地图将与来自Crenshaw和其他阿肯色州西南地点的人类和动物遗体的PB/SR同位素比进行比较。高分辨率的PB和SR同位素将使用阿肯色大学的多多策略耦合等离子体质谱仪（MC-ICP-MS）获得。所得的数据，无论是指示当地或外国起源，都将说明如何分析生物学PB同位素，如何揭示他们如何揭示专用埋葬治疗背后的目的，并证明PB和SR之类的同位素如何帮助评估许多古老的文化实践的普遍性和程度基金会的智力优点和更广泛的影响评论标准。