MACROFLORAL ANALYSIS OF HEARTH FILL, PROTEIN RESIDUE ANALYSIS OF LITHIC ARTIFACTS, AND AMS RADIOCARBON DATING OF CHARCOAL FROM SITES IN THE COTEAU MINE AREA, NORTH DAKOTA

Samples were examined from 11 stone ring sites in the Coteau Mine Area in Mercer County, west-central North Dakota, to provide subsistence information. These sites will be impacted by expansion of coal strip mining operations. A total of 33 lithic tools from these 11 sites were analyzed for possible protein residues to determine animal resources that might have been hunted/processed with the tools. Five fill samples from hearths associated with stone rings at sites 32ME169, 32ME755, 32ME1482, and 32ME1513 were floated to recover macrofloral remains. Charcoal from the hearth at 32ME1482 was identified and AMS radiocarbon dated. Macrofloral analysis will be used to provide information concerning plant resources utilized by the site occupants. Cultural material was noted at shallow depths, making sampling and interpreting the pollen record problematic due to frost heaving and mixing of the modern with the prehistoric records.为获取生计模式相关信息，研究人员对北达科他州中西部默瑟县科托矿区内的11处石环遗址开展了样品采集与分析工作。这些遗址将因露天煤矿开采作业的扩张而遭到破坏。本次研究对上述11处遗址出土的共计33件石制工具开展了蛋白质残留物分析，以推断这些工具曾被用于猎取或加工的动物资源种类。研究人员对遗址32ME169、32ME755、32ME1482及32ME1513中与石环相关的灶坑的5份填土样品开展了浮选处理，以回收大植物遗存。针对遗址32ME1482灶坑出土的木炭样品，研究人员完成了种属鉴定，并采用加速器质谱（Accelerator Mass Spectrometry，AMS）碳十四测年法进行年代测定。大植物遗存分析结果将用于阐释遗址居民所利用的植物资源情况。由于浅表层存在文化遗存，加之冻胀作用导致现代沉积与史前沉积发生混合，使得花粉记录的采样与解读工作面临诸多难题。