Dissertation Research: Subsistence and Mobility in the Late Upper Paeolithic: Fauna from the Fucino Basin, Italy

在菲奥娜·马歇尔博士的指导下，弗朗西丝卡·阿海克女士将为她的博士论文收集数据。她将分析在意大利中部阿布鲁佐古老的富奇诺湖边缘挖掘一系列六个洞穴遗址时收集的考古动物群。总而言之，这些遗址跨越了18,000到10,000年前的时间段，从而记录了最后一次冰川结束时的非常寒冷的时期，以及向更温暖的全新世气候条件的过渡。该地区的占领似乎是持续的，与欧洲大多数其他有人居住的地区形成对比的是，石材工具行业在这一时期相对保持不变。因此，似乎整个过程中都存在一个单一的文化群体，因此可以不考虑可能的人口更替的复杂性。Alhaique女士将记录这段时间内定居点和生存战略的变化。许多考古学家认为，在欧洲(以及世界其他地区)，从更新世到全新世的转变标志着一种变化，狩猎和采集群体变得更加久坐，他们的生存重点从有限数量的大型哺乳动物物种转移到更广泛的范围，包括较小的动物和鸟类。然而，很少对相关材料进行仔细的动物群分析，也没有考虑其他因素，如年龄相关的选择性破坏更小更脆弱的骨骼。在她的工作中，阿尔海克将分析6个富契诺遗址的动物。由于在大多数情况下，这些都已经被鉴定到物种层面，她将把重点放在人类对材料的修改上，以确定哪些骨骼是由人类中介造成的，以及可能扭曲样本的自然破坏因素。她还将重建死亡季节，因为这揭示了工地被占领的时间长短。对迁徙物种的研究和对哺乳动物牙齿的牙骨质分析可以确定其季节性。新石器时代革命的阶段--动植物的驯化--设定在更新世末期和全新世早期。(假设)对较小物种的关注增加，定居和种群密度的明显增加都预示着后来的发展。阿莱克的研究将为这一过程提供更多的洞察力。它将提供关于一个重要考古区的有用数据，并有助于培养一位有前途的年轻科学家。

Under the direction of Dr. Fiona Marshall, MS Francesca Alhaique will collect data for her doctoral dissertation. She will analyze archaeological faunas collected during the excavation of a series of six cave sites located on the edges of ancient lake Fucino in Abruzzo, Central Italy. Taken together the sites span the time period between 18,000 and 10,000 years ago and thus document the very cold period at the end of the last glaciation and the transition to warmer Holocene climatic conditions. Occupation in the region appears continuous and in contrast to most other inhabited portions of Europe, stone tool industries remain relatively unchanged over this period. Thus it seems likely that a single cultural group was present throughout and the complication of possible population replacement can be discounted. MS Alhaique shall document changes in settlement and subsistence strategy over this time. Many archaeologists have argued that within Europe (and in other parts of the world as well), the Pleistocene-Holocene transition was marked by a change in which hunting and gathering groups became more sedentary, and shifted their subsistence focus from a limited number of large mammal species to a broader range which included smaller animals and birds. However careful faunal analysis of relevant materials has rarely been conducted and other factors, such as age dependent selective destruction of smaller more fragile bones has not been considered. In her work, MS Alhaique will analyze the fauna from the six Fucino sites. Since these have already been identified in most instances to a species level, she will focus on human modification to the materials to determine which bones result from human agency and on natural destructive factors which may serve to distort the sample. She will also reconstruct season of death since this sheds light on length of site occupation. Seasonality can be determined to the study of migratory species and through cementum analysis of mammal teeth. The stage for the Neolithic Revolution - the domestication of plants and animals - was set during the terminal Pleistocene and early Holocene. The (supposed) increased focus on smaller species, the apparent increase in sedentarization and population density all foreshadow later developments. MS. Alhaique's research will provide additional insight into the process. It will provide useful data on an important archaeological region and assist in training a promising young scientist.