Zooarchaeological and Taphonomic Analysis of the Die Kelders Cave 1 (South Africa) Middle Stone Age Fauna

Die Kelders Cave 1（南非）中石器时代动物群的动物考古学和埋藏学分析

• 批准号: 9727491
• 负责人: Curtis Marean
• 金额: $ 8.38万
• 依托单位: SUNY at Stony Brook
• 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: 1998-02-01 至 2002-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9727491&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Zooarchaeological; Taphonomic; Analysis; Die; Kelders

With National Science Foundation support Dr. Curtis Marean and his students will analyze faunal remains recovered from the archaeological site of Die Kelders. Located on the southern coast of South Africa, approximately 120 km SE of Cape town, it includes two adjoining caves and the stratified deposits contained therein document human activity for possibly as much as a quarter million years. The materials recovered by Dr. Marean and collaborators through NSF supported research include stone tools and hominid teeth as well as abundant faunal remains. This latter body of material constitutes the focus for the current study. The group will analyze mammal bones - most introduced to the caves through human hunting - from the earlier Middle Stone Age (MSA) levels of the site. The goal of the work is to examine not only diet but to reconstruct the techniques employed to obtain prey. It is possible through the examination of body part distributions to determine whether the animal carcasses consumed resulted from purposeful hunting or from scavenging of carnivore kills. A list of species which were hunted and eaten also provides insight into hunting capabilities. A study of this kind is time consuming because prior work by Dr. Marean has confirmed the necessity to focus not only on large and easily identifiable bone fragments but also on smaller splinters of longbone shaft which archaeologists normally categorize as `unidentifiable.` Thus extensive refitting is necessary. Archaeologists believe that the Middle Stone Age peoples of Africa were either the immediate ancestors or first representatives of behaviorally modern humans and through analysis of their behavior it will be possible to gain insight into modern human origins. There has been extensive disagreement about the level of cultural competence exhibited by such groups and much of this has centered on subsistence competence. Some archaeologists have argued that MSA groups lacked the ability to hunt large animals and that such remains recovered in sites resulted from scavenging. Others believe exactly the opposite is the case. With the carefully excavated materials from Die Kelders and the analytic techniques Dr. Marean and colleagues have developed, it should be possible to select among these, and several other alternatives. This research is important because it will shed new light on the emergence of modern human behavior. It will provide data of interest to many archaeologists and assist in training and furthering the academic careers of several graduate students.

在国家科学基金会的支持下，柯蒂斯·马里安博士和他的学生将分析从 Die Kelders 考古遗址发现的动物遗骸。它位于南非南部海岸，距开普敦东南约 120 公里，包括两个相邻的洞穴，其中的分层沉积物记录了可能长达 25 万年的人类活动。 马里安博士和合作者通过国家科学基金会支持的研究回收的材料包括石器和原始牙齿以及丰富的动物遗骸。后一部分材料构成了当前研究的重点。该小组将分析来自该遗址早期中石器时代（MSA）水平的哺乳动物骨骼——大部分是通过人类狩猎引入洞穴的。这项工作的目标不仅是检查饮食，还要重建获取猎物的技术。 通过检查身体部位的分布，可以确定所消耗的动物尸体是来自有目的的狩猎还是来自食肉动物的猎杀。被猎杀和食用的物种清单也提供了对狩猎能力的深入了解。此类研究非常耗时，因为马里安博士之前的工作已经证实，不仅需要关注大型且易于识别的骨头碎片，还需要关注考古学家通常将其归类为“无法识别”的较小的长骨碎片。是必要的。 考古学家认为，非洲中石器时代的人们要么是现代人类行为的直系祖先，要么是行为上的第一个代表，通过分析他们的行为，将有可能深入了解现代人类的起源。对于这些群体所表现出的文化能力水平存在着广泛的分歧，其中大部分集中在生存能力上。一些考古学家认为，MSA 群体缺乏捕猎大型动物的能力，并且在遗址中发现的此类遗骸是由拾荒造成的。其他人则认为情况恰恰相反。借助 Die Kelders 精心挖掘的材料以及 Marean 博士及其同事开发的分析技术，应该可以在这些以及其他几种替代方案中进行选择。 这项研究很重要，因为它将为现代人类行为的出现提供新的线索。它将提供许多考古学家感兴趣的数据，并协助培训和促进几名研究生的学术生涯。