Dissertation Research: Zooarchaeology of Bed II, Olduval Gorge

论文研究：奥杜瓦尔峡谷二号床的动物考古学

• 批准号: 9712211
• 负责人: Robert Blumenschine
• 金额: $ 1.2万
• 依托单位: Rutgers University New Brunswick
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1997
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1997-08-01 至 1999-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9712211&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Dissertation; Research; Zooarchaeology; Bed; II

Under the direction of Dr. Robert Blumenschine, MS Amy Cushing will collect data for her doctoral dissertation. She will conduct laboratory analysis in Arusha Tanzania and examine the ca. 8,000 vertebrate fossils collected by Dr. Blumenschine and his colleagues in their multi-year ongoing research project at Olduvai Gorge. The team has focused on a single well defined stratigraphic horizon in lower Bed II which dates to ca. 1.5 million years ago. It has been sampled, and test excavations conducted across a 300 km .sq. area which includes six distinct paleogeographic zones. Seventy one trenches have been excavated. MS Cushing will first identify bones to taxon and, when possible, species. She will conduct a taphonomic analysis to determine how natural factors such as water and carnivore action have affected these materials. With these forces controlled, she will then search for human caused actions which will shed light on early hominid behavior. Preliminary study indicates that many of the specimens were broken by human percussion and this indicates either hunting or scavenging for food. Ms Cushing will: 1. test the representativeness of faunal data from individual trenches which contain high densities of remains ( and which could be called `sites`) as opposed to that of landscape samples. 2. determine in which habitats on the paleo-Olduvai landscape hominids preferred to carry out carcass processing activities; 3. identify where on the paleolandscape such animal resources were clustered by determining which habitats would have been more productive in terms of available carcass abundance; 4. understand how variation in the nature of animal communities affected early hominid behavior. Most archaeologists collect from and excavate `sites` where large concentrations of bone and other cultural materials provide clear cut evidence of a human presence. However such occurrences constitute one end of a continuum and a focus on `sites` alone ignores less dense scatters and patches of remains which are common on many landscapes. Such has been the case over several decades of research at Olduvai Gorge and archaeologists do not know how representative sites in fact are, or how site focused archaeology has biased our understanding of early human behavior. The Blumenschine project is unique because it has collected across the entire range of material densities and MS Cushing's analysis will allow a comparison across the span. It will not only increase understanding of prehistoric human behavior at Olduvai Gorge but also help archaeologists improve the techniques they use to collect and analyze excavated remains. It will also assist in training a promising young scientist.

在 Robert Blumenschine 博士的指导下，Amy Cushing 女士将为她的博士论文收集数据。她将在坦桑尼亚阿鲁沙进行实验室分析并检查大约。 Blumenschine 博士及其同事在奥杜瓦伊峡谷进行的多年研究项目中收集了 8,000 块脊椎动物化石。该团队专注于二号下层中一个明确界定的地层层位，该层位的历史可追溯到约 2007 年。 150万年前。已对其进行取样，并在 300 平方公里的范围内进行了试掘。该地区包括六个不同的古地理区域。已挖掘七十一条战壕。 库欣女士将首先识别分类单元的骨骼，并在可能的情况下识别物种。她将进行埋藏学分析，以确定水和食肉动物活动等自然因素如何影响这些材料。控制这些力量后，她将寻找人类引起的行为，这将揭示早期原始人类的行为。初步研究表明，许多标本因人类敲击而破碎，这表明它们可能是在狩猎或寻找食物。 库欣女士将： 1. 测试来自各个沟渠的动物群数据的代表性，这些沟渠包含高密度的遗骸（可以称为“遗址”），而不是景观样本。 2. 确定古奥杜威景观原始人类更喜欢在哪些栖息地进行尸体加工活动； 3. 通过确定哪些栖息地在可用尸体丰度方面生产力更高，来确定这些动物资源在古景观中的聚集位置； 4. 了解动物群落性质的变化如何影响早期原始人类的行为。 大多数考古学家从“遗址”收集和挖掘大量骨头和其他文化材料，这些遗址提供了人类存在的明确证据。然而，此类事件构成了一个连续体的一端，仅关注“遗址”就忽略了许多景观中常见的密度较低的分散物和遗迹斑块。奥杜瓦伊峡谷几十年来的研究就是这样，考古学家不知道遗址实际上有多大代表性，也不知道以遗址为中心的考古学如何影响了我们对早期人类行为的理解。 Blumenschine 项目是独一无二的，因为它收集了整个材料密度范围，并且 MS Cushing 的分析将允许在整个范围内进行比较。它不仅将增加对奥杜瓦伊峡谷史前人类行为的了解，还将帮助考古学家改进收集和分析出土遗骸的技术。它还将有助于培养一位有前途的年轻科学家。