Archaeology & Paleoenvironments of the Kapthurin Formation, Baringo District, Kenya

考古学

• 批准号: 9601419
• 负责人: Sally McBrearty
• 金额: $ 22.28万
• 依托单位: University of Connecticut
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 1996
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1996-09-15 至 2000-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9601419&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Archaeology; Paleoenvironments; Kapthurin; Formation; Baringo

With support from the National Science Foundation Dr. Sally McBrearty will continue archaeological research in the Baringo Basin region of Kenya. In particular she will focus on the Kapthurin Formation in the Tugen Hills. Previous archaeological research in the area has yielded a stratified sequence of archaeological sites as well as a small amount of hominid (human) skeletal material. Research will include analysis of existing museum collections, new archaeological site excavations and investigation of ancient landsurfaces. Geochemical analysis and argon dating of tuff units will refine the Kapthurin chronology. Dr. McBrearty will use stone artifacts and archaeological fauna in an attempt to reconstruct human behavior. A number of techniques will be employed to understand the fluxuating environment to which these hominids adapted. While a number of lines of evidence archaeological, paleontological and genetic suggest that anatomically modern humans first appeared in sub Saharan Africa just when and where this occurred is unknown. What interests paleoanthropologists most however is the process which lead to this emergence and here also little evidence is available. Dr. McBrearty's research will address this issue. Information to date suggests that the transition took place during the Middle Pleistocene and the Kapthurin Formation encompasses this time period. Prior work indicates that it contains archaeological materials and fauna as well as human remains. Dr. McBrearty's work will increase this data base and bring a wide range of modern scientific techniques to bear in order to make interpretations. This research is important for several reasons. It will increase our understanding of Africa's past. It will provide data of interest to a large number of paleoanthropologists and shed new light on the emergence of modern humans.

在国家科学基金会的支持下，萨利·麦克布雷蒂博士将继续在肯尼亚巴林戈盆地地区进行考古研究。她将特别关注图根山的卡普图林地层。该地区以前的考古研究已经产生了考古遗址的分层序列以及少量的原始人(人)骨骼材料。研究将包括对现有博物馆藏品的分析、新的考古遗址发掘和对古代地表的调查。凝灰岩单元的地球化学分析和Ar测年将完善Kapthurin年代学。麦克布雷蒂博士将使用石器和考古动物群，试图重建人类的行为。许多技术将被用来理解这些原始人所适应的流动环境。虽然考古学、古生物学和遗传学的一系列证据表明，解剖学上的现代人最早出现在撒哈拉以南非洲，但这种情况发生的时间和地点尚不清楚。然而，古人类学家最感兴趣的是导致这种出现的过程，在这里也几乎没有证据可用。麦克布雷蒂博士的研究将解决这个问题。到目前为止的信息表明，这种转变发生在中更新世，卡普图林组包括这段时间。先前的工作表明，它含有考古材料和动物以及人类遗骸。麦克布雷蒂博士的工作将扩大这一数据库，并利用广泛的现代科学技术进行解释。这项研究之所以重要，有几个原因。这将增加我们对非洲过去的了解。它将为大量古人类学家提供感兴趣的数据，并为现代人的出现提供新的线索。