Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant: Uncovering the First South Asians: The Prehistoric Colonization of Coastal Western India

博士论文研究改进补助金：揭示第一批南亚人：印度西部沿海的史前殖民

• 批准号: 0932235
• 负责人: Jeanne Sept
• 金额: $ 1.26万
• 依托单位: Indiana University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-09-01 至 2012-02-29
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0932235&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Improvement; Grant

Under the direction of Dr. Jeanne Sept, Mr. August Costa will collect data for his doctoral dissertation. His research will address the questions: Who were the first South Asians and when did they settle the Indian subcontinent? Such are among the most critical unresolved problems in South Asian anthropology. The aim of this research is to provide an archaeological test of the southern dispersal hypothesis, which suggests that anatomically and behaviorally modern humans Homo sapiens first colonized South Asia via a coastal route from Africa more than 50,000 years ago. The southern dispersal gained popularity in recent years due to genetic studies suggesting an antiquity of up to 70,000 years for some South Asian populations. Direct fossil and archaeological evidence for this scenario, however is currently lacking in South Asia and recent studies have not targeted sites of the appropriate age. In sum, no one has yet tested this migration scenario by searching for dated evidence of modern humans along the South Asian coast. Mr. Costa will address this issue by reinvestigating known (125,000 year old) archaeological sites located along the coast of the Saurashtra peninsula in Gujarat, Western India. This setting is one of few places in South Asia where Stone Age sites have been dated. Moreover, Saurashtra is the only place in South Asia where coastal Stone Age sites are known. This study will be accomplished by 1) reevaluating known sites from Saurashtra; 2) surveying Saurashtra, for new coastal sites (50,000 years old); and 3) assessing artifacts from the area for attributes indicative of modern humans (e.g. symbolism: jewelry and art, technological and economic innovations: complex stone and bone tools, long distance trade). In contrast to other Late Pleistocene populations (e.g. Neanderthals), present day humans' direct ancestors exhibited certain novel behaviors (e.g. artistic expression, complex hunting) which are often apparent from the archaeological record. If the southern dispersal hypothesis is correct, Mr. Costa should find evidence of anomalous behaviors compared to the norms of indigenous pre-modern South Asians which heralds the emergence of our species in the region. This work will hopefully illuminate the origins of modern people in a nation, which constitutes a geographical missing link to the story of human evolution. If confirmed this research would show that early humans settled India tens of thousands of years before their arrival in Europe and radically alter notions of who the earliest Eurasians were. This study would also have important implications for the peopling of Australia, Southeast Asia and East Asia. This research will help promote meaningful scholarly dialogue and further the role of India in prehistoric studies. The results of this work will raise awareness about the archaeological record of India among Western archaeologists through peer-reviewed publications and presentations of this research at scholarly meetings. Finally, this research will form the foundation of Mr. Costa's future career in Stone Age archaeology by establishing a study area, lab resources and a network of Indian researchers with whom he can continue to work with in the future.

在珍妮9月博士的指导下，奥古斯塔·科斯塔（August Costa）先生将收集其博士学位论文的数据。他的研究将解决这些问题：谁是第一个南亚人，他们什么时候解决印度次大陆？这是南亚人类学中最关键的未解决的问题之一。这项研究的目的是对南部分散假设进行考古测试，这表明在解剖学和行为上，现代人类同性恋者首次通过非洲沿海路线殖民了南亚，超过50，000年前。近年来，由于遗传研究表明，一些南亚人口的古代高达70,000年，近年来，南部的散布近年来广受欢迎。但是，目前在南亚缺乏这种情况的直接化石和考古证据，而最近的研究并未针对适当年龄的地点。总而言之，还没有人通过寻找南亚海岸沿线现代人类的日期证据来测试这种迁移情况。 Costa先生将通过重新研究位于印度西部古吉拉特邦Saurashtra半岛海岸的已知（125,000年）考古遗址来解决这个问题。这种环境是南亚的少数几个地方，那里的石器时代已经过时了。此外，Saurashtra是南亚唯一知道沿海石器时代遗址的地方。这项研究将通过1）重新评估Saurashtra的已知地点来完成； 2）对新沿海地区（50，000年）进行调查； 3）评估来自现代人类属性区域的工件（例如，象征主义：珠宝和艺术，技术和经济创新：复杂的石材和骨工具，长途贸易）。与其他晚更新世种群（例如尼安德特人）相比，当今人类的直接祖先表现出某些新型行为（例如艺术表达，复杂的狩猎），这些行为通常从考古记录中显而易见。如果南部分散假设是正确的，那么科斯塔先生应该找到与土著前现代南亚人的规范相比，这证明了我们物种在该地区的出现。这项工作将有望阐明一个国家现代人的起源，这构成了与人类进化故事的地理缺失联系。如果确认这项研究将表明，早期人类在到达欧洲之前就定居了数万年，并从根本上改变了对最早的欧亚人的观念。这项研究还将对澳大利亚，东南亚和东亚人民具有重要意义。这项研究将有助于促进有意义的学术对话，并进一步促进印度在史前研究中的作用。这项工作的结果将通过同行评审的出版物和在学术会议上对这项研究的演讲提高对印度考古记录的认识。最后，这项研究将通过建立研究区，实验室资源和印度研究人员网络来构成科斯塔先生未来的石器时代考古职业的基础，将来可以继续与之合作。