Dissertation Research: Seasonality and Human Evolution in the Southern Levant

在Ofer Bar-Yosef博士的指导下，丹尼尔利伯曼先生， 哈佛大学人类学研究生， 为他的博士论文收集资料。 他的目标是 确定史前“纳图菲”遗址的季节， 为了完成这项工作，他将联合收割机分析 考古动物遗迹进行控制实验。 纳图夫期（12，500至10，500 bp）紧接着 农业的发展，因此， 在此之前发生的适应性调整， 驶动 考古学家推测纳图菲人 是该地区第一批定居并占据 这是一个很重要的因素，这个因素起着很大的作用。 大量先前的研究表明，牙骨质-一种组织， 将哺乳动物的牙根附着在骨头上 在一个动物的一生中， 它经常表现为 交替的较亮和较暗的条带， 一年中的季节。 然而，这些机制， 明显的关系没有很好地理解，它是未知的 变化是否与季节变化等因素有关 饮食硬度、饮食质量或生殖状况。 为了 将这种技术以有意义的方式应用于大型系列 在许多纳图菲遗址发现的瞪羚遗骸中， 利伯曼将对山羊进行对照研究， 硬度和质量的变化，并影响牙骨质的生长 知道了 他还将研究山羊和绵羊， 生殖史 在此基础上，他将研究 考古材料。 这项研究之所以重要，有几个原因。 它会脱落 增加了对驯化过程的了解 植物和动物--最根本的“革命”之一 人类历史上 第二，它将有助于发展 这是一种分析技术，许多科学家都可以用它来进行分析。 各种各样的目的。 最后，它将进一步培训 一位非常有前途的科学家的

Under the direction of Dr. Ofer Bar-Yosef, Mr. Daniel Lieberman, a graduate student in Anthropology at Harvard University, will collect data for his doctoral dissertation. His goal is to determine the seasons in which prehistoric "Natufian" sites were occupied and to accomplish this he will combine analysis of archaeological faunal remains with controlled experimentation. The Natufian period (12,500 to 10,500 bp) immediately precedes the development of agriculture and therefore it is likely that adaptions which occurred during this earlier time set the process in motion. Archaeologists have postulated that the Natufians were the first people in the region to settle and occupy single sites year round and that this factor plays a major role. A large body of prior research indicates that cementum - a tissue which attaches the tooth root of mammals to the bone is deposited continuously over the life of an animal. It often appears as alternating lighter and darker bands which are correlated to season of the year. However, the mechanisms which underlay the apparent relationship are not well understood and it is unknown whether changes are related to factors such as seasonal variation in diet hardness, diet quality or reproductive status. In order to apply this technique in a meaningful way to the large series of gazelle remains recovered from many Natufian sites, Mr. Lieberman will conduct controlled studies on goats in which diet hardness and quality is varied and effect on cementum growth noted. He will also study goats and sheep with known reproductive histories. On this basis, he will then examine archaeological materials. This research is important for several reasons. It will shed increased insight into the process which led to the domestication of plants and animals - one of the most fundamental "revolutions" in human history. Secondly, it will assist in the development of an analytic technique which may be used by many scientists for a wide variety of purposes. Finally, it will further the training of an extremely promising scientist.