High Risk Exploratory: Test Excavations at Four Middle Stone Age Sites Near Mossel Bay, Western Cape Province, South Africa

在国家科学基金会的支持下，柯蒂斯·马雷安博士将在南非西开普省莫塞尔海湾附近的一系列岩石避难所遗址进行探索性考古挖掘。考古计划提供相对适中的高风险探索性研究资助，该项目是在这项竞赛下获得资助的。在初步勘察中，马雷恩博士和他的同事指出，正在考虑的四个地点都有完整的沉积物。在大多数情况下，可以追溯到中石器时代(MSA)时期的文物要么在裸露的部分中可见，要么在紧邻地区的地面上被发现。因此，有很好的理由期待，尽管还远不确定，现场材料是存在的。马雷恩博士和他的同事们将为每个岩石掩体绘制详细的表面地图，然后进行试掘。在田野调查完成后，将对回收的石质、动物群和贝壳材料进行分析，并根据结果设计一个完整的研究计划。这项工作的长期目标是了解人类行为从“古代”到“现代”的文化转变。虽然25万年前的原始人可以制作出精心制作的对称石器，但他们缺乏许多特征，如艺术、宗教、种族和远距离贸易，这些都是所有现代人的特征。到了40,000年前，这些都在考古记录中得到了明显的体现，很明显，我们的祖先在后一个时期拥有现代人类的能力。Marean博士和许多其他研究人员希望了解这种转变背后的过程。考古证据表明，这种变化首先发生在MSA期间的非洲，南非海岸的几个地点提供了新行为的早期和试探性迹象。然而，迄今为止的信息非常有限，尚未确定可靠的年表。莫瑟尔湾遗址在这方面具有重要意义，既是因为它们的位置，也是因为初步证据表明它们含有可测定日期的材料。马雷恩博士的研究将确定哪些地点包含最丰富、保存最完好和最长的序列，有了这些信息，就有可能设计一个长期的研究项目。

With National Science Foundation support, Dr. Curtis Marean will conduct exploratory archaeological excavation in a series of rock shelter sites located near Mossel Bay in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. The Archaeology Program provides relatively modest high risk exploratory research grants and the project is funded under this competition. In a preliminary reconnaissance, Dr. Marean and his colleagues noted that the four sites under consideration all contain intact deposit. In most, artifacts dating to the Middle Stone Age (MSA) period are either visible in exposed sections or have been discovered on the ground surface in the immediate region. Thus there is good reason to expect, although it is far from certain, that in situ materials are present. Dr. Marean and his colleagues will produce detailed surface maps for each of the rock shelters and then conduct test excavations. The lithic, faunal and shell material recovered will be analyzed after the completion of fieldwork and on the basis of the results it will then be possible to design a full research program.The long term goal of this work is to understand the cultural transition from "archaic" to "modern" human behavior. While hominids a quarter of a million years ago could fashion well crafted symmetrical stone tools they lacked many of the traits such as art, religion, ethnicity and long distance trade which characterize all modern people. By 40,000 years ago these are evident in the archaeological record and it is clear that our ancestors from this latter period had modern human capabilities. Dr. Marean and many other researchers wish to understand the process which underlies this transition. Archaeological evidence indicates that this change first took place in Africa during the MSA and several sites along the South African coast provide early and tentative indications of new behaviors. However the information to date is severely limited and solid chronologies are yet to be established. The Mossel Bay sites assume importance in this context both because of their location and because of preliminary evidence that they contain datable materials. Dr. Marean's research will determine which of the sites contains the most abundant, best preserved and longest sequence and with this information it will be possible to design a long term research project.