Gona Paleoanthropological Research Project

戈纳古人类学研究项目

• 批准号: 0004103
• 负责人: Sileshi Semaw
• 金额: $ 10万
• 依托单位: Indiana University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2001
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2001-03-01 至 2003-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0004103&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Gona; Paleoanthropological; Research; Project

The roots of our species appear to be in Africa. Some of the earliest and most exciting traces of our distant ancestry have been unearthed in Ethiopia. Here the PIs propose to pursue further paleoanthropological and archaeological investigations in a very promising area of the West Central Afar region of Ethiopia, or the Gona. The Gona Project has three major research goals for the fieldwork planned in 2001. These include detailed geological studies and archaeological excavations at 1) DAN1, a new 2.6 million year old (my) archaeological site with evidence of the earliest known in situ stone artifacts and fossilized animal bones, 2) BSN12, a site which yielded a partial skull of a Homo erectus and associated Oldowan and Early Acheulian stone artifacts estimated between 1.5-1.0 my, and 3) DAN5 where a nearly complete skull of an early Homo estimated between 2,0-1.5 my was discovered in association with surface Oldowan and Early Acheulian artifacts. DAN1and BSN12 were identified in 1999 and DAN5 was discovered in 2000. Previous research at Gona has resulted in the discovery of thousands of stone tools dated to 2.5 my, but fossilized animal bones were absent from the excavations. Bones with evidence of stone tool cut-marks dated to 2.5 my were recently discovered at Bouri, in the Middle Awash study area, but there were no excavated artifacts found in direct association with the bones. Despite the lack of artifacts in direct association with cut-marked bones, it was argued that ancestral humans began making artifacts for processing carcasses for meat. Thus far, the earliest evidence for associated artifacts and bones comes from Hadar in deposits dated to 2.3 my. The only known 2.6 my old in situ stone artifacts and associated animal bones are those discovered in the year 2000 from Gona (at DAN1). This new site promises to yield critical evidence for understanding early human diet, for studying the function of the earliest stone tools and for providing important clues regarding the factors that triggered early human flaked stone production. The BSN12 and DAN5 sites have yielded important hominids, stone artifacts and well-preserved fauna. However, further archaeological and paleontological test-excavations, and detailed geological studies are needed 1) to firmly determine the age of the sites and 2) to ascertain the stratigraphic relationships of the hominids, the artifacts and the fossil bones. A major component of the geological study will involve sampling of sediments for paleomagnetic analyses and tuffs for geochemical correlations for resolving the age of these important discoveries.

我们物种的根似乎在非洲。我们远古祖先的一些最早和最令人兴奋的遗迹在埃塞俄比亚被发掘出来。在这里，私人投资机构建议在埃塞俄比亚中西部阿法尔地区或戈纳地区一个非常有前途的地区进行进一步的古人类学和考古学调查。戈纳项目对2001年计划的实地考察工作有三个主要研究目标。这包括在1)DAN1进行详细的地质研究和考古发掘，这是一个新的260万年前的(我的)考古遗址，有证据表明已知的最早的原位石器和动物骨骼化石，2)BSN12，一个遗址出土了直立人的部分头骨以及相关的奥多万人和早期阿舍利人的石器，估计在1.5-1.0My之间，以及3)DAN5，在那里发现了一个几乎完整的早期人的头骨，估计在2.0-1.5My之间，与地表的奥多万人和早期阿舍利人的遗物有关。1999年发现了DAN1和BSN12,2000年发现了DAN5。戈纳之前的研究发现了数千件石器，年代为2.5My，但发掘中没有发现动物骨骼化石。最近在中阿瓦什研究地区的Bouri发现了带有2.5My石器切割痕迹的骨骼，但没有发现与这些骨骼直接相关的出土文物。尽管缺乏与切割过的骨头直接相关的文物，但有人认为，祖先人类开始制造用于加工肉类的文物。到目前为止，相关的人工制品和骨骼的最早证据来自哈达尔的沉积物，其年代为2.3年。唯一已知的2.6我的旧原址石器和相关的动物骨骼是2000年在戈纳发现的(在DAN1)。这一新遗址有望为理解早期人类饮食、研究最早石器的功能以及提供关于引发早期人类片状石材生产的因素的重要线索提供关键证据。BSN12和DAN5遗址出土了重要的原始人、石器和保存完好的动物群。然而，还需要进一步的考古和古生物测试挖掘，以及详细的地质研究，1)确定遗址的年代，2)确定原始人、文物和化石骨骼的地层关系。地质学研究的一个主要组成部分将包括对沉积物进行古地磁分析，并对凝灰岩进行地球化学对比，以确定这些重要发现的年代。