Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award: Lithic Minimalization And Ecological Risk

博士论文改进奖：岩石最小化与生态风险

• 批准号: 1542310
• 负责人: John Shea
• 金额: $ 2.55万
• 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: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-08-01 至 2017-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1542310&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Improvement; Award; Lithic; Doctoral; Dissertation; Improvement; Award; Lithic

This project evaluates the role of climatic variability in the evolution of small tool technologies. Small tool technologies are a novel and cyclical feature in Homo sapiens societies. Nanotechnologies such as have revolutionized biomedical sciences, engineering and computer systems are now considered hallmarks of the "digital age." Yet, the practice of producing small tools emerged in African and Eurasia over 100 000 years ago. These tools are known as microliths. Archaeologists link microliths to such distinctive human behaviors as the production of composite tools (e.g. projectile weapons), the construction of ecological niches, extensive social networking, and global human dispersals. Anthropologists have long recognized a link between microlithic technologies and ecological risk, or the frequency and severity of economic loss due to insufficient recovery of energy from their environment. Long-term comparative research on processes of toolkit microlithization as a response to ecological risk is hampered by variable definitions for microliths; uncertainty about how microliths were made; and a lack of data on how microlith production methods were culturally transmitted. This project will use a comparative technological approach to the rich southern African MIS 2 (c. 29 - 12 ka) archaeological record to address these obstacles. First, it will establish statistical guidelines for defining microliths to overcome their variable definitions. Second, it will obtain detailed technological information from experiments on siliceous rocks and quartz minerals to compare two primary microlith production strategies: bipolar and freehand reduction. Third, it will track evidence for the cultural transmission of these production strategies using attributes of core modification and flake morphology to indicate lithic process vs. product copying. Technological data will be combined with modern climatic, paleoenvironmental and spatial data to assess the role of ecological risk in the uptake and spread of microlithic technologies in southern Africa. These relationship will be assessed on stone tools at three southern African rockshelters: Sehonghong, Ntloana T'oana and Boomplaas. The southern African MIS 2 archaeological record is uniquely positioned to offer insights into the operation of analogous microlithic technological systems in other areas of the world, and thus human behavioral evolution more broadly. Rapid climate change is a concern shared by all of humanity past and present. Although the role of climate change in our future is yet to be determined, how our late Pleistocene ancestors dealt with climate change is a story written in stone. Our future survival depends on understanding this story.

该项目评估了气候变异性在小型工具技术发展中的作用。小型工具技术是Homo Sapiens Societies的新颖和周期性的特征。纳米技术（例如已经彻底改变了生物医学，工程和计算机系统）的纳米技术现在被认为是“数字时代”的标志。然而，生产小工具的实践在2000年前在非洲和欧亚大陆出现。这些工具称为微石。考古学家将微石与独特的人类行为联系起来，例如生产复合工具（例如弹丸武器），生态壁ches的建设，广泛的社交网络和全球人类分散。长期以来，人类学家已经认识到微石技术与生态风险之间存在联系，或者由于能源从其环境中恢复不足而导致的经济损失的频率和严重性。关于工具包小石化过程作为对生态风险的反应的长期比较研究受到微石的可变定义的阻碍。关于如何制作微石的不确定性；缺乏有关如何在文化传播中如何传播微石材生产方法的数据。该项目将使用比较的技术方法对丰富的南部非洲MIS 2（c。29-12ka）考古记录来解决这些障碍。首先，它将建立统计准则，以定义微石以克服其可变定义。其次，它将从有关硅质岩石和石英矿物的实验中获得详细的技术信息，以比较两种主要的微石生产策略：双极性和徒手减少。第三，它将使用核心修饰和薄片形态的属性来跟踪这些生产策略的文化传播证据，以指示岩性过程与产品复制。技术数据将与现代气候，古环境和空间数据相结合，以评估生态风险在微石技术在南部非洲的吸收和传播中的作用。这些关系将在三个南部非洲岩石镜的石材工具上进行评估：Sehonghong，Ntloana T'Oana和Boollpaas。南部非洲的MIS 2考古记录是独特的，可以为世界其他地区的类似微石技术系统的运作提供深入的见解，从而更广泛地进行了人类的行为进化。快速的气候变化是过去和现在的所有人类所分享的关注点。尽管气候变化在我们未来的作用尚未确定，但我们晚期的更新世祖先如何处理气候变化是一个用石头写成的故事。我们未来的生存取决于理解这个故事。