Dissertation: Landscape and Experimental Perspectives on the Technological Organization of Oldowan Hominids in the Paleo-Olduvai Basin

论文：古奥杜瓦伊盆地奥杜瓦原始人技术组织的景观和实验视角

• 批准号: 9909908
• 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: 1999
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1999-11-15 至 2001-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9909908&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Dissertation; Landscape; Experimental; Perspectives; Technological

Under the direction of Dr. Robert Blumenschine, MS. Joanne Tactikos will collect data for her doctoral dissertation. She will analyze a large sample of lithics (stone tools and their manufacturing byproducts) from two time horizons at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. Over the course of a multiyear NSF supported project, Dr. Blumenschine has concentrated on two units approximately 1.83 and 1.75 million years ago. Because these paleo- land surfaces are clearly defined in the geological sequence, it has been possible to follow them over many kilometers of sediment and to sample them systematically for both human shaped lithics and for faunal remains. Based on the fauna and on sedimentological characteristics the paleogeography has been reconstructed and it is possible, in principle, to map hominid activities in ecological context. While archaeologists traditionally focus on "sites", dense concentrations of lithics and faunal remains, Dr. Blumenschine's team has recognized that many hominid activities occur in a non-site context and leave only a modest imprint on the landscape. Thus his study incorporates both dense and more sparse material scatters. MS Tactikos will contribute to this larger endeavor through the systematic analysis of the lithic remains. She will categorize the two levels of Olduvai lithics according to standardized archaeological typology. She will then collect raw materials employed in their manufacture, duplicate the production techniques and then use the replicas to perform a variety of tasks such as cutting and scraping wood. On the basis of knowledge gained it will then be possible to refine and modify the original typology. With this information she can then examine the distribution of types on the reconstructed Olduvai landscapes to gain insight into early hominid land use patterns.While early Olduvai hominids shared many attributes such as upright posture and tool use with their present day counterparts, they were in many ways behaviorally distinct. Because it is from such a base that modern humans developed, scientists wish to understand essential characteristics of early hominid lifestyle and large scale geographic studies such as Tactikos have the potential to help accomplish this. The research is also important because it will help to train a promising young scientist.

在 Robert Blumenschine 博士的指导下，MS。 Joanne Tactikos 将为她的博士论文收集数据。她将分析坦桑尼亚奥杜瓦伊峡谷两个时间范围内的大量石器样本（石器及其制造副产品）。在 NSF 支持的一个多年项目过程中，Blumenschine 博士专注于大约 1.83 和 175 万年前的两个单位。由于这些古陆地表面在地质序列中得到了明确的界定，因此可以跟踪它们跨越数公里的沉积物，并系统地对它们进行采样，以获取人类形状的石器和动物遗骸。根据动物区系和沉积学特征，古地理已被重建，原则上可以绘制生态背景下的原始人类活动图。虽然考古学家传统上关注“遗址”，即密集的石器和动物遗骸，但布卢门斯奇恩博士的团队已经认识到，许多原始人类活动发生在非遗址环境中，只在景观上留下适度的印记。因此，他的研究结合了密集和稀疏的材料分散体。 MS Tactikos 将通过对石器遗迹进行系统分析，为这项更大的事业做出贡献。她将根据标准化考古类型学对奥杜瓦伊石器的两个级别进行分类。然后，她将收集制造过程中使用的原材料，复制生产技术，然后使用复制品执行各种任务，例如切割和刮削木材。在获得的知识的基础上，就可以完善和修改原始类型。有了这些信息，她就可以检查重建的奥杜瓦伊景观上的类型分布，以深入了解早期原始人类的土地利用模式。虽然早期奥杜瓦伊原始人类与当今的同类有许多共同的特征，例如直立姿势和工具使用，但他们在许多方面都存在缺陷。行为方式不同。由于现代人类正是在这样的基础上发展起来的，科学家们希望了解早期原始人类生活方式的基本特征，而大规模的地理研究（例如 Tactikos）有可能帮助实现这一目标。这项研究也很重要，因为它将有助于培养一位有前途的年轻科学家。