Exploring the Feasibility of Landscape Archaeology at Olduvai Gorge

Robert Blumenschine博士和Fidelis Masao博士将在坦桑尼亚北部的Olduvai峡谷遗址进行探索性古人类学研究，以测试一系列调查和分析技术。他们希望确定是否有可能将原始未受干扰环境中的物质与从其他地方侵蚀的物质区分开来，这些物质位于地层层序的更高位置，然后重新沉积和重新埋藏。他们将使用三种技术-广泛的表面收集，从不同大小的方块进行密集的表面收集，最后是控制挖掘-收集一系列动物骨骼和石器。然后对这些进行分析和比较。奥杜瓦伊峡谷为人类的发展提供了至关重要的证据，因为它的地层中含有跨越近200万年的考古材料。尽管在峡谷进行了许多古人类学研究，但大部分都集中在“遗址”或密集的石块和动物群遗迹上。这为史前景观以及早期人类如何融入其中提供了一幅有偏见的图景。考古学家已经意识到，为了提供一幅平衡的画面，也应该检查中等和低文物密度的地区。然而，在奥杜瓦伊，这可能很难或不可能做到。由于峡谷非常陡峭，物质往往会从原始环境中被侵蚀并向下输送。为了获得揭示人类行为的分布数据，有必要将来自原位材料的数据分开。Blumenschine博士和Masao博士的工作将表明，实际上是否可以做到这一点。这项研究之所以重要，有几个原因。希望它将有助于开发和测试分析技术，这些技术将适用于许多考古情况。它将为一个更大的研究项目奠定基础，本身可能会增加我们对这个重要地点的了解。由于一名研究人员是美国人，另一名是坦桑尼亚人，这也将促进这两个国家之间的科学合作。

Drs. Robert Blumenschine and Fidelis Masao will conduct exploratory paleoanthropological research at the site of Olduvai Gorge in Northern Tanzania to test a series of survey and analytic techniques. They wish to determine whether it is possible to distinguish materials in primary undisturbed context from those which have been eroded from elsewhere, higher up the stratigraphic sequence, and then redeposited and reburied. They will use three techniques - broad scale surface collection, intensive surface collection from squares of different size, and finally, controlled excavation - to collect series of animal bones and stone tools. These then will be analyzed and compared. The Olduvai Gorge provides crucial evidence on the development of humans because its strata contain archaeological materials which span almost two million years. Although much paleoanthropological research has been conducted at the Gorge, it has focussed, for the most part, on "sites" or dense concentrations of lithic and faunal remains. This has provided a biased picture of the prehistoric landscape and how early humans fit into it. Archaeologists have come to realize that to provide a balanced picture, areas of medium and low artifact density should be examined as well. At Olduvai, however, this may be difficult or impossible to do. Because the Gorge is so steep, materials tend to be eroded from their primary context and carried downward. To acquire distributional data which will shed light on human behavior, it is necessary to separate derived from in situ materials. Drs. Blumenschine's and Masao's work will show whether, in fact, this can be done. This research is important for several reasons. It will, hopefully, serve to develop and test analytic techniques which will be applicable in many archaeological situations. It will set the stage for a larger research project and may, in itself, increase our understanding of this important site. Since one investigator is American and the other Tanzanian, it will also foster scientific cooperation between these two countries.