The Prehistory of the Osmore Basin

阿尔登德费尔博士将在位于秘鲁最南端的奥斯莫尔盆地继续他的考古研究。将挖掘三个地点，两个位于避难所，一个位于露天。所有这些都位于远高于海平面的位置，并对不同的高海拔地区进行了采样。所有这些都可以追溯到中古时期和早期形成时期，大约从现在之前的8000年到3500年。Aldenderfer博士和他的同事们将挖掘这些遗址的大片区域，以识别建筑遗迹，并恢复人工、动物和花卉遗迹。随后的分析将使他能够追踪随着时间的推移不断变化的居住模式、饮食和社会组织。在本报告所述期间，奥斯莫尔地区似乎发生了定居进程。在种群规模和密度、生存方面--以及驯化动植物的出现--以及社会复杂程度方面，似乎也发生了相应的变化。正是在这一时期和广大地区，骆驼和安第斯块茎被驯化。尽管这一过程的大致轮廓已知，但仍不清楚这些不同因素是如何相互作用的，以及哪些因素发挥了主要的因果作用。本研究的目的就是回答这些问题。奥斯莫尔盆地记录的这种变化在新旧大陆的许多地区几乎同时发生。因此，奥斯莫尔盆地的研究可能会为这一更广泛的过程提供洞察。由于该地区是植物和动物驯化的中心，而且初步工作表明这些遗址的动物和花卉遗骸保存得非常完好，该地区为研究这一问题提供了一个很好的背景。这项工作将使我们深入了解这一进程的早期阶段，这些阶段导致了像我们自己这样的复杂社会的发展。

Dr. Aldenderfer will continue his archaeological research in the Osmore basin which is located in far southern Peru. Three sites, two situated in rockshelters and one in open air, will be excavated. All are located well above sea level and sample different high altitude zones. All date from the Middle Archaic and Early Formative periods which extend from approximately 8,000 to 3,500 years before the present. Dr. Aldenderfer and his colleagues will excavate large areas of these sites to identify architectural remains and to recover artifactual, faunal, and floral remains. Subsequent analysis will allow him to trace changing settlement patterns, diet, and social organization over time. During the time period under investigation, a sedentarization process appears to have taken place in the Osmore region. Coincident changes in population size and density, in subsistence - with the emergence of domesticated plants and animals - and in degree of social complexity also seem to have occurred. It was during this period and general area that camelids and Andean tubers were domesticated. Although the general outlines of the process are known, it is still not clear how these different factors interacted and which played the primary causal role. The goal of this research is to answer these questions. The shift documented in the Osmore basin occurred at roughly the same time in many parts of both the Old and New Worlds. Thus, the Osmore basin research may provide insight into this broader process. Because the region was a center for both plant and animal domestication and because preliminary work has shown that faunal and floral remains are extremely well preserved at these sites, the region provides an excellent context to examine this issue. The work will provide insight into the early stages of the process which led to the development of complex societies such as our own.