Adaptive Strategies During the Paleolithic-Neolithic Transition in China

在国家科学基金会的支持下，罗伯特·埃尔斯顿博士和他的合作者将在中国宁夏回族自治区鸽子山盆地进行一个季度的考古调查。这一地区的特点是干燥的沙漠环境，在明显的生态与美国大盆地内的地区非常相似。该小组将对几平方公里的土地进行系统的调查，记录和绘制遗址地图，进行广泛的地表收集，并在春季土丘样本以及其他可能的地点进行有限的测试挖掘。他们将利用这些数据开始重建该地区的文化历史，并研究人类适应环境特征的变化模式。特别是，它们将侧重于水的利用。 初步证据表明，鸽子山盆地在最后一个冰河时代结束时居住着狩猎和采集群体，并在稍后的某个时间向农业过渡。该小组将研究在这一过渡过程中文化适应的变化。因为这项研究的一个主要目标是比较中国和美国西部沙漠地区的适应模式，一名中国考古学家还将前往美国，在俄勒冈州的马勒国家野生动物保护区进行实地考察，并对收集到的材料进行分析。 这项工作的目标是了解人类在相对简单的技术发展水平下如何适应极端的环境条件。在美国西部已经进行了大量的工作，这一地区的文化历史相当有名。从这些数据中，考古学家试图得出关于人类适应的广泛结论，但如果没有至少一个案例进行比较，就不可能知道是否可以推广一个地区的结论。埃尔斯顿博士和他的同事计划的工作将有助于回答这个问题。这项研究也很重要，因为它将为许多考古学家提供感兴趣的数据，因为它将加强中国和美国之间的科学联系。

With National Science Foundation support, Dr. Robert Elston and his collaborators will conduct one season of archaeological survey in the Pigeon Mountain Basin, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Peoples Republic of China. This region is characterized by a dry desertic environment quite similar in apparent ecology to areas within the United States Great Basin. The team will conduct systematic survey of several square kilometers, record and map sites, make extensive surface collections and conduct limited test excavations in a sample of spring mounds as well as other likely localities. They will use these data to begin a reconstruction of the culture history of the region and to examine the changing pattern of human adaptation in relation to environmental features. In particular they will focus on water utilization. Preliminary evidence indicates that the Pigeon Mountain Basin was inhabited by hunter and gatherer groups at the end of the last Ice Age and that at some later time a transition to agriculture occurred. The team will examine changes in cultural adaptation over this transition. Because one major goal of the research is to compare adaptive patterns in desertic China and the Western U.S., a Chinese archaeologist will also travel to the U.S. and conduct field research in the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon and analyze the materials collected. The goal of this work is to understand how humans at a relatively simple level of technological development adapt to extreme environmental conditions. A great deal of work has been conducted in the Western U.S. and the culture history of this area is reasonably well known. From these data archaeologists have attempted to draw broad ranging conclusions about human adaptation, but without at least one more case for comparison, it is impossible to know whether conclusions from one region can be generalized. The work planned by Dr. Elston and his colleagues will help to answer this question. The research is als o important because it will provide data of interest to many archaeologists and because it will strengthen scientific ties between the PRC and the U.S.