A Landscape Approach to Archaeological Variability at the Acheulian to Middle Stone Age Transition in the Kapthurin Formation, Kenya

肯尼亚卡普图林地层从阿舍利时代到中石器时代过渡时期考古变化的景观方法

• 批准号: 0217728
• 负责人: Sally McBrearty
• 金额: $ 27.42万
• 依托单位: University of Connecticut
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2002
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2002-06-01 至 2007-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0217728&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Landscape; Approach; Archaeological; Variability; Acheulian

With the support of the National Science Foundation a team of archaeologists and geologists led by Dr. Sally McBrearty will carry out three seasons of field work in the Baringo region of Kenya. The team will investigate how Middle Pleistocene landuse patterns changed with the appearance of Homo sapiens in the East African Rift Valley about 300,000 years ago. They will focus upon three stratigraphic intervals within the Kapthurin Formation, where sites containing Acheulian artifacts, thought to have been made by Homo erectus, are interstratified with those containing Middle Stone Age artifacts, thought to have been made by Homo sapiens. The ancient topography will be reconstructed by geological mapping with laser transit, and a three-dimensional model of each target interval will be reconstructed using GIS software. The ancient plant and animal communities will be documented through the study of mammalian and plant fossils, as well as fossil soil and fossil tooth stable carbon and oxygen isotopes. Surface collection, trial trenches, and horizontal excavation at two sites per stratigraphic interval will provide evidence for early human behavior in the form of stone tools and fossil bone which has been processed for food by early hominids. Patterns of association of these behavioral traces of with topographic features and plant communities will be sought for each target interval. A change in landuse patterns with early Homo sapiens, reflecting greater cognitive abilities, technical competence, and geographic range, can be predicted on anatomical and archaeological grounds, but the evidence to date has been drawn from widely dispersed sites which are not well dated. The Kapthurin Formation is confined to a single depositional basin, and the ages of the stratigraphic intervals to be studied are well calibrated by the 40Ar/39Ar dating method. Any landuse patterns detected in the three stratigraphic intervals will be compared to assess the nature and tempo of change through time. Dr. McBrearty and her collaborators will focus on five questions: 1) Is there a detectable change in landuse patterns between the Acheulian and Middle Stone Age? 2) Did Middle Stone Age hominids use a broader array of microhabitats than Acheulian hominids, such as uplands and distal floodplains, in addition to stream and lakeside settings? 3) Were Middle Stone Age hominids able to range further from sources of water or raw material for stone tool making than Acheulian hominids? 4) Were either Acheulian or Middle Stone Age tool makers designing specific implements to exploit particular habitats? 5) How does the competence of Acheulian hunters compare with hunters of the Middle Stone Age? This research is important because it will illustrate the nature of the behavior of the earliest members of Homo sapiens and illuminate some of the processes leading to the origin of our species.

在国家科学基金会的支持下，由萨莉·麦克布雷蒂博士领导的考古学家和地质学家团队将在肯尼亚巴林戈地区进行三个季节的实地工作。 该团队将调查大约 30 万年前东非大裂谷中更新世土地利用模式如何随着智人的出现而发生变化。 他们将重点关注卡普图林组内的三个地层区间，其中包含阿舍利文物（被认为是由直立人制造）的地点与包含中石器时代文物（被认为是由智人制造）的地点交叠在一起。 通过激光中转地质测图重建古代地形，并利用GIS软件重建每个目标层段的三维模型。 通过对哺乳动物和植物化石以及化石土壤和化石牙齿稳定碳和氧同位素的研究，将记录古代动植物群落。 每个地层间隔的两个地点的地表收集、试验沟槽和水平挖掘将为早期人类行为提供证据，这些证据以石器和化石骨头的形式出现，这些骨头已被早期原始人类加工为食物。 将为每个目标间隔寻找这些行为痕迹与地形特征和植物群落的关联模式。 早期智人土地利用模式的变化反映了更强的认知能力、技术能力和地理范围，可以根据解剖学和考古学的基础进行预测，但迄今为止的证据是从广泛分散的地点得出的，而这些地点的年代并不明确。 Kapthurin组局限于单一沉积盆地，所研究的地层层段的年龄通过40Ar/39Ar测年方法得到了很好的校准。 将比较三个地层区间中检测到的任何土地利用模式，以评估随时间变化的性质和节奏。 McBrearty 博士和她的合作者将重点关注五个问题：1）阿舍利时代和中石器时代之间的土地利用模式是否存在可察觉的变化？ 2）除了溪流和湖畔环境之外，中石器时代的原始人类是否比阿舍利原始人类使用更广泛的微生境，例如高地和远端洪泛区？ 3）中石器时代的原始人类是否能够比阿舍利原始人类更远离水源或石器制造原材料？ 4）阿舍利时代或中石器时代的工具制造商是否设计了特定的工具来开发特定的栖息地？ 5）阿舍利猎人的能力与中石器时代的猎人相比如何？ 这项研究很重要，因为它将说明智人最早成员的行为本质，并阐明导致我们物种起源的一​​些过程。