Dissertation Research: Pliocene Hominid Foraging Behavior at Sterkfontein Member 5 (South Africa): Insights From Actualistic Studies of Modern Chimpanzees and Their Environ

在 Henry Bunn 博士的指导下，Travis Pickering 先生将为他的博士论文收集数据。他的研究目标是检查与早期原始人类骨骼相关的动物遗骸，以确定这些物质是通过非人类过程积累的还是人类活动的结果。如果是后者，那么对这些材料的分析将使科学家能够深入了解早期原始人类的饮食和行为。如果事实相反，那么动物遗骸可以提供有关原始人类生活的特定当地环境的信息，但仅此而已。许多自然过程可以将人类和其他动物的骨头聚集到一个地方：例如，豹子、豪猪和鬣狗都以不敬虔的方式聚集这些遗骸。为了确定人类是否是罪魁祸首，科学家们利用考古遗址作为对照，根据其他证据，已知那里曾发生过狩猎，并使用石器进行了屠宰实验，以寻找人类屠宰行为的“特征”。同样，他们还从鬣狗和其他食肉动物的巢穴以及猎杀的狮子中收集了骨头，以确定非人类食肉动物的改造特征。然而，正如皮克林指出的那样，生活在数百万年前的最早的原始人类的行为方式不太可能与最近的同类相似，而且人们几乎不知道这样的组合应该是什么样子。由于它们的体型与黑猩猩相似，并且可能主要依赖于它们的手和牙齿，皮克林认为现代黑猩猩可能提供了一个相关的模型。 尽管这不是黑猩猩饮食中的重要元素，但黑猩猩确实吃肉并在野外猎杀动物。在这项研究的第一阶段，皮克林先生将为圈养的黑猩猩提供山羊尸体，并让黑猩猩以它们为食。这些残留物将被收集、清理并送往威斯康星大学进行动物考古学分析，重点是啃咬痕迹的位置和性质以及破损模式。在研究的后期阶段，在这笔赠款的支持下，他将前往南非分析斯特克方丹南方古猿遗址的动物遗骸。然后将注意到 Sterkfontien 材料和现代控制材料之间骨骼部分表示和骨骼修改的相似性和差异。 这项研究很重要，原因有几个。它将提供对早期原始人类行为的深入了解。它将有助于开发可在许多场所使用的分析技术，并将有助于培训有前途的年轻科学家。

Under the direction of Dr. Henry Bunn Mr. Travis Pickering will collect data for his doctoral dissertation. The goal of his research is to examine faunal remains associated with early hominid skeletons to determine whether such materials accumulated through non-human processes or as the result of human activity. If the latter is the case, then analysis of these materials will permit scientists to gain insight into early hominid diet and behavior. If the opposite proves true, then faunal remains can provide information on the specific local environment in which a hominid lived, but little more than that. A number of natural processes can act to aggregate bones - human and otherwise - into one place: leopards, porcupines and hyenas for example all accumulate such remains in desecrate concentrations. To determine whether humans are the responsible agent scientists have used as controls archaeological sites where it is known, on the basis of other evidence, that hunting has taken place and also conducted butchering experiments using stone tools to search for `signatures` of human butchering behavior. Likewise they have collected bones from hyena and other carnivore dens and from lion kills to determine the characteristics of non-human carnivore modification. As Pickering notes however it is quite unlikely that the earliest hominids who lived millions of years ago behaved in ways similar to their more recent counterparts and one has very little idea what such an assemblage should look like. Because they were similar in size to chimpanzees and probably relied primarily on their hands and teeth, Pickering believes that modern chimpanzees may provide a relevant model. Although it is not an important element in their diet, chimpanzees do eat meat and hunt and kill animals in the wild. In the first stage of this research Mr. Pickering will provide captive chimps with goat carcasses, and allow the chimps to feed on them. The residues will be collected, cleaned and taken to the University of Wisconsin for zooarchaeological analysis which focuses on the location and nature of gnaw marks and on breakage patterns. In a later stage of the research, also supported through this grant, he will travel to South Africa to analyze faunal remains from the australopithecine site of Sterkfontein. Similarities and differences in skeletal part representation and bone modifications between the Sterkfontien material modern control material will then be noted. This research is important for several reasons. It will provide insight into early hominid behavior. It will help to develop analytic techniques which can be employed in many sites and it will assist in training a promising young scientist.