Early MIS 3 occupation of Mochena Borago Rockshelter, Southwest Ethiopian Highlands: Implications for Late Pleistocene archaeology, paleoenvironments and modern human dispersals
Early MIS 3 occupation of Mochena Borago Rockshelter, Southwest Ethiopian Highlands: Implications for Late Pleistocene archaeology, paleoenvironments and modern human dispersals
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DOI：
10.1016/j.quaint.2012.03.047
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发表时间：
2012-10-01
影响因子：
2.2
通讯作者：
Wang, Hong
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Brandt, Steven A.;Fisher, Erich C.;Wang, Hong
在距今70至50 ka BP之间，解剖学意义上的现代人分散在非洲各地和非洲之外，最终遍布所有可居住的大陆。了解这些迁徙之前和期间非洲的古环境和人类行为模式，对于理解狩猎采集者如何以及为什么能够迅速适应他们所遇到的新环境至关重要。然而，在非洲之角（据称是人口迁移到阿拉伯南部和亚洲的集结地之一），很少有这一时期的遗址被发现。位于埃塞俄比亚西南部高地与埃塞俄比亚裂谷交汇处的一座休眠火山西坡上的莫奇纳博拉戈岩石避难所的挖掘工作，已经获得了第一个可靠的考古序列，可以追溯到后来的分散时期。三个主要的岩石地层组（含职业期）的碳放射性碳年龄与53-38 ka calBP相似；更深的矿床已经过测试，但仍未确定日期。考古组合主要由黑曜石片状石制品制成，由小的，最低限度的制备，单到多平台片状岩心；径向制备的芯很少，而叶片芯则不存在。来自非径向岩心的单面或双面小点主导了最早的成形工具组合，而背片最早出现于大约45 ka calBP。类似于43 ka calBP，刮刀和背片是主要的，而不是点。然而，除了双极技术的出现之外，几乎没有证据表明技术发生了变化。因此，莫切纳博拉戈的考古序列不能被整齐地划分为石器时代中期、石器时代晚期或“过渡时期”，这对考古学家试图对非洲工具制造传统进行分类的一些原则提出了质疑。(C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd和INQUA。版权所有。
Between 70 and 50 ka BP, anatomically modern humans dispersed across and out of Africa to eventually populate all inhabitable continents. Knowledge of paleoenvironments and human behavioral patterns in Africa prior to and during these dispersals is crucial for understanding how and why hunter-gatherers were able to adapt rapidly to the new environments they encountered. However, few well-dated sites from this time period are known from the Horn of Africa, one of the purported staging areas for population movements into southern Arabia and Asia. Excavations at Mochena Borago Rockshelter, situated on the western slopes of a dormant volcano where the SW Ethiopian Highlands meet the Ethiopian Rift, have yielded the first securely dated archaeological sequence for later periods of the dispersal. Three major lithostratigraphic groups incorporating occupational episodes have yielded charcoal radiocarbon ages similar to 53-38 ka calBP; deeper deposits have been tested but remain undated. Archaeological assemblages consist mainly of obsidian flaked stone artifacts manufactured from small, minimally prepared, single- to multi-platform flake cores; radially prepared cores are rare and blade cores are absent. Small unifacial to bifacial points from non-radial cores dominate the earliest shaped tool assemblages, and backed pieces first appear by similar to 45 ka calBP. By similar to 43 ka calBP, scrapers and backed pieces are predominant, rather than points. However, there is little evidence for technological change other than the appearance of bipolar technology. Mochena Borago's archaeological sequence thus cannot be neatly classified as Middle Stone Age, Later Stone Age or "transitional" and calls into question some of the principles by which archaeologists have attempted to classify African toolmaking traditions. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.