Palaeoanthropological Investigations of the Middle Stone Age in the Middle Awash Valley of Ethiopia

中石器时代是解剖学意义上的现代人取代古人类的时期。最近在非洲的研究发现表明，这一时期人类的经济活动也可能与关键的行为变化有关。然而，对中石器时代遗址的挖掘是有限的，具有良好动物保存的长序列是罕见的。这个项目将由一个由考古学家、古生物学家、地质学家和地球化学家组成的跨学科团队继续在埃塞俄比亚阿瓦什山谷中部阿杜马-布里地区的中石器时代和阿舍利遗址开展工作。继续挖掘将集中在与化石湖岸和三角洲沉积物有关的人类经济活动的证据上。平行的工作将继续在Aduma地区相对鲜为人知的中石器时代工业和后来在Bouri的Acheulan遗址上进行，以便在这两个地区的序列之间建立时间和古环境关系。研究将包括阿杜马地区的地层、古景观和古环境重建，并利用几种技术建立一个绝对的年代学。该项目将与T.D.怀特领导的一个小组的工作相协调，该小组正在向北约30公里的地点工作。该项目将继续在埃塞俄比亚中部建立一个富有成效的站点网络。材料的出色保存为海洋相关产业的发展提供了新的见解。特别重要的是，它有可能获得对早期人类从独立行为者转变为共同合作并使用相对复杂工具的群体实体的行为转变的新见解。

9521879 BROOKS The Middle Stone Age is a period when anatomically modern humans replaced more archaic forms. Recent research findings in Africa have shown that economic activities of humans in this time may also have been associated with crucial behavioral changes. Excavation of Middle Stone Age sites is limited, however, and long sequences with good faunal preservation are rare. This project will continue work by an interdisciplinary team of archeologists, paleontologists, geologists, and geochemists at Middle Stone Age and Acheulean sites in the Aduma-Bouri regions of the Middle Awash Valley of Ethiopia. Continued excavations will focus on evidence of human economic activities in association with fossil lake shores and deltaic deposits. Parallel work will continue on the relatively little-known Middle Stone Age industries of the Aduma region and the later Acheulan sites at Bouri in order to establish a chronological and paleoenvironmental relationship between the sequences of these two regions. Research will include stratigraphic, paleolandscape, and paleoenvironmental reconstruction of the Aduma region and establishment of an absolute chronology using several techniques. The project will be coordinated with the work of a team led by T.D. White that is working sites about 30 km to the north. This project will continue what already has been a productive network of sites in central Ethiopia. The excellent preservation of materials has generated new insights into the evolution of marine-related industries. Of special significance is the potential to gain new insights into the behavior transformation of early humans from independent actors into communal entities who work together and employ relatively sophisticated tools.