Chronology of the Middle and Later Stone Age in East Africa

东非中晚期石器时代年表

• 批准号: 0113565
• 负责人: Stanley Ambrose
• 金额: $ 23.77万
• 依托单位: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• 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: 2001-07-01 至 2006-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0113565&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Chronology; Middle; Later; Stone; Age

With National Science Foundation support, Dr. Stanley H. Ambrose and his colleagues will conduct three field seasons of archaeological and geological research in the central and southern Rift Valley of Kenya to conduct a coordinated investigation into the origins and evolution of modern human behavior in East Africa. The team brings together American, Australian and Kenyan specialists in archaeology, geology, geochemistry, geochronology and paleontology. Many scholars now believe that transition from archaic (neanderthal-like) to modern behavior occurred in eastern Africa between 250,000 and 50,000 years ago. The transition from the Middle Stone Age (MSA) to the Later Stone Age (LSA) is widely considered to mark the change from "archaic" to "fully-modern" human behavior. Moreover, there are several behavioral innovations during the later MSA in eastern and southern Africa that are considered components of modern behavior that do not occur in the Middle Paleolithic of Eurasia. They include intensive long distance trade of fine-grained stone tool raw materials, microlithic blade technologies, ornamental artifacts, formal shaped bone tools and effective predation. Technological innovations seem to accumulate gradually, suggesting development in Africa, rather diffusion from an earlier area of origin elsewhere. However, this period lies beyond the range of radiocarbon dating, and most other dating techniques for this time span are inaccurate and unreliable. The central and southern Kenya Rift Valley region contains a rich archaeological record spanning the past 250,000 years. Recently active volcanoes have deposited layers of ash in most archaeological sites. Argon isotope dating of volcanics is one of the only methods that can provide reliable and accurate dates for sites between 250,000 and 40,000 years old. Volcanic layers can also be chemically "fingerprinted", and dating a volcanic ash once dates every site in which it occurs.Genetic and fossil evidence suggests that anatomically modern humans dispersed from eastern Africa several times during the last 100,000 years. Behavioral and technological innovations during the MSA in eastern Africa may have facilitated the expansion of modern humans out of Africa. This important era of human evolutionary history is extremely poorly documented and dated in Africa. The presence of abundant archaeological sites with stratified volcanics for dating now allows us to test the model of an eastern African origin of modern human behavior. Dr. Ambrose and his collaborators will focus on four questions: 1. How old are MSA and early LSA archaeological occurrences in the central Rift Valley? Advances in methods for single crystal laser fusion argon isotope dating and chemical correlation of young volcanics permit us to address this issue.2. How does stone tool technology change during this transition? This will be investigated by analysis of the tool production strategies and the tool types that were produced.3. How did stone tool raw material source use change during the transition? Expansion and contraction of trade networks and sizes of home ranges will be evaluated by chemical fingerprinting of obsidian artifacts. This prized material was widely traded. Most sources of obsidian are located in a restricted area and have unique geochemical fingerprints.4. How did faunal resource exploitation patterns change? Were MSA hunters like modern humans, who were able to take large, healthy, mature and dangerous prey. Age structure and body part data from archaeological faunas provide insights into predation patterns.5. What were the environmental contexts of the sites? How did settlement systems differ between the MSA and LSA Geoarchaeological approaches to reconstructing the environmental settings of archaeological sites will be employed. This research is important for several reasons. (1). It will provide the first accurate geochronology for the Middle Stone Age of Africa; (2) It will provide insights into the nature and dynamics of the transitions in technology, economy, land use and social and territorial organization; (3) It will help test models of the African origin of modern human behavior and the dispersal of modern humans from Africa.

在美国国家科学基金会的支持下，斯坦利·H.安布罗斯和他的同事将在肯尼亚中部和南部裂谷进行三个考古和地质研究的实地季节，对东非现代人类行为的起源和演变进行协调调查。 该小组汇集了美国、澳大利亚和肯尼亚的考古学、地质学、地球化学、地质年代学和古生物学专家。 许多学者现在认为，从古代（尼安德特人）到现代行为的转变发生在25万到5万年前的东非。从中石器时代（MSA）到晚石器时代（LSA）的过渡被广泛认为标志着人类行为从“古代”到“完全现代”的转变。此外，在东部和南部非洲的MSA后期，有几种行为创新被认为是欧亚大陆旧石器时代中期没有发生的现代行为的组成部分。它们包括精细的石器原材料、细石器刀片技术、装饰性人工制品、正式形状的骨工具和有效的捕食的密集的长距离贸易。 技术创新似乎是逐渐积累的，这表明是在非洲发展的，而不是从其他地方的早期起源地区扩散的。 然而，这一时期超出了放射性碳测年的范围，大多数其他测年技术在这一时间跨度上是不准确和不可靠的。 肯尼亚中部和南部的裂谷地区拥有丰富的考古记录，跨越了过去25万年。 最近的活火山在大多数考古遗址上沉积了一层层的火山灰。火山岩的氩同位素测年是唯一可以为25万至4万年前的遗址提供可靠和准确日期的方法之一。 火山层也可以用化学方法“识别”，对火山灰进行一次定年，就可以确定它出现的每一个地点的年代。遗传和化石证据表明，解剖学上的现代人类在过去10万年里曾多次从东非扩散。 东非MSA期间的行为和技术创新可能促进了现代人类在非洲的扩张。 在非洲，人类进化史上这个重要时代的记录和日期都非常少。 现在，大量的具有分层火山岩的考古遗址的存在使我们能够测试现代人类行为起源于东非的模型。安布罗斯博士和他的合作者将重点关注四个问题：1。 大裂谷中部的MSA和早期LSA考古发现有多久了？ 单晶激光熔融氩同位素定年方法的进展和年轻火山岩的化学对比使我们能够解决这个问题. 在这一转变过程中，石器技术如何变化？ 这将通过分析工具生产策略和所生产的工具类型来研究。 转型期石材工具原材料来源使用发生了怎样的变化？ 贸易网络的扩张和收缩以及家庭范围的大小将通过黑曜石文物的化学指纹进行评估。 这种珍贵的材料被广泛交易。大多数黑曜石的来源都位于一个有限的区域，并具有独特的地球化学指纹。 动物资源开发模式如何变化？ MSA猎人是否像现代人一样，能够捕获大型，健康，成熟和危险的猎物。 考古动物群的年龄结构和身体部位数据提供了对捕食模式的见解。 这些遗址的环境背景是什么？ MSA和LSA之间的结算系统有何不同 将采用地质考古方法重建考古遗址的环境。这项研究之所以重要，有几个原因。（一）.它将为非洲中石器时代提供第一个准确的地质年代学;（2）它将提供对技术、经济、土地使用以及社会和领土组织转型的性质和动态的见解;（3）它将有助于测试现代人类行为的非洲起源和现代人类从非洲扩散的模型。