Dissertation Research: Blade Production in the Early Levantine Mousterian

在Anthony Marks博士的指导下，Katherine Monigal女士将为她的博士论文收集数据。她将研究从以色列穆斯特尔遗址挖掘出来的石材收藏，这些石材储存在美国和以色列的博物馆里。这些石块都来自一种被称为“Tabun-D”的考古行业；它们都有40,000年以上的历史，可能跨度长达200,000年。这些地点本身位于许多环境区域。莫尼格尔女士将描述和测量选定作品的大量属性，并利用这些数据重建用于制造石器的技术。考古学家传统上关注的是最终的产品，而不是实现这一目标的过程。有了收集到的数据，Monigal女士将比较不同时间和环境分区的Tabun-D遗址，试图确定技术数据是否支持将这些遗址纳入单一文化传统，并试图解释可能观察到的差异的原因。根据在欧洲的研究，考古学家认为，某些石器类型的生产，如刀片，与解剖学上的现代人密切相关。在世界的这个地区，叶片生产工业的出现可以追溯到大约4万年前。然而，正如莫尼格尔女士和其他人所指出的，刀片出现在近东遗址的时间要早得多，一些组装支持这一结论。考古学家利用这一单一特征，将这些事件归类到“Tabun-D”的标题下。然而，目前还不清楚这一称谓在社会上意味着什么，也不清楚这个行业的制造者是否属于同一个群体或传统。在此之前，不可能问这些数据是否与诸如解剖学上的现代人的出现等问题有关。通过她对工艺流程的研究，莫尼加尔女士将能够以一种原创的方式解决这个问题。这项研究之所以重要，有几个原因。它将产生许多考古学家感兴趣的数据。它将提供对现代人出现的深刻见解，并有助于培养一位有前途的年轻科学家。

Marks/Monigal Under the direction of Dr. Anthony Marks, Ms. Katherine Monigal will collect data for her doctoral dissertation. She will study collections of lithic materials which have been excavated from Mousterian sites in Israel and are stored in museums in both the United States and Israel. The lithics are all attributable to an archaeological industry termed "Tabun-D"; are all older than 40,000 years and may span a period of up to 200,000 years. The sites themselves are located in a number of environmental regions. Ms. Monigal will describe and measure a large number of attributes on selected pieces and with these data will reconstruct the technology used to make stone tools. Archaeologists traditionally focus on the final products which are produced and not on the process used to reach this end. With the data collected, Ms. Monigal will then compare Tabun-D sites across time and environmental subzone, attempt to determine whether technological data support the incorporation of these sites into a single cultural tradition and try to explain the causes of variation which may be observed. Based on work in Europe, archaeologists have argued that the production of certain stone tool types, such as blades, is tightly associated with anatomically modern humans. In this region of the world, the emergence of blade producing industries dates to about 40,000 years ago. However, as Ms. Monigal and others have noted, blades appear much earlier in sites in the Near East and a number of assemblages support this conclusion. Using this single characteristic, archaeologists have grouped these occurrences under the heading "Tabun-D." However it is very unclear what this designation means in social terms and whether the makers of this industry belonged to the same group or tradition. Until this is done, it is not possible to ask whether this data is relevant to questions such as the emergence of anatomically modern humans. Through her study of technological process, Ms. Mo nigal will be able to address this question in an original way. This research is important for several reasons. It will produce data of interest to many archaeologists. It will providfe insight into the emergence of modern humans and help to train a promising young scientist.