Doctoral dissertation improvement grant: Archaeology and tephrostratigraphy of the southern Kapthurin Formation, Baringo, Kenya

博士论文改进补助金：肯尼亚巴林戈南部卡普图林地层的考古学和地层学

• 批准号: 0118345
• 负责人: Sally McBrearty
• 金额: $ 0.7万
• 依托单位: University of Connecticut
• 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: 2001-07-15 至 2003-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0118345&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; dissertation; improvement; grant; Archaeology

Under the direction of Dr. Sally McBrearty, Mr. Christian Tryon will collect data for his doctoral dissertation. His goal is to use closely dated archaeological and paleontological occurrences in the Kapthurin stratigraphic sequence in the Baringo region of Kenya to examine the emergence of anatomically and behaviorally modern humans. The Kapthurin formation is crucial for understanding this transformation because materials spanning the last ca. 2 million years are interbedded with volcanic ash which is amenable to potassium argon dating. Different ashes - the result of individual eruptions - have distinct trace element compositions and through their analysis, individual ashfalls can be "fingerprinted" and their distribution mapped across the formation. Thus they provide a relatively secure framework to track behavioral and biological change. Careful crafted hafted stone tools from both the Kapthurin as well as elsewhere in Africa are termed "Middle Stone Age (MSA)" and they provide the first evidence for humans with cognitive abilities similar to our own. The earliest date, ca. 285,000 years ago comes from the Kapthurin and Mr. Tryon wishes to gain insight into this early phase of the process. Research to date in the northern Kapthurin exposures has significantly changed archaeological views of this process because it has demonstrated that three separate stone working traditions, the MSA and two supposedly preceding ones are in fact interbedded and do not form a chronologically coherent developmental sequence. Researchers do not know whether this variability results from a single culture which manufactured different types of tools in different situations, or whether three separate and distinct cultures existed. In the Near East at a slightly younger date, such replacement occurred with different groups ebbing and flowing in response to changing environmental conditions.While much work has taken place in the northern Kapthurin deposits, their southern counterparts are more poorly known. Mr. Tryon is conducting a geological and archaeological survey of this area both to locate sites and to establish a detailed chronological sequence. With NSF support he will characterize the volcanic ashes collected and will conduct archaeological excavation to provide additional information on cultural variation. This research is important because it will shed light on the emergence of behavioral modern humans. It will also assist in training a promising young scientist.

在 Sally McBrearty 博士的指导下，Christian Tryon 先生将为他的博士论文收集数据。他的目标是利用肯尼亚巴林戈地区卡普图林地层序列中年代密切的考古和古生物学事件来研究解剖学和行为上现代人类的出现。卡普图林形成对于理解这种转变至关重要，因为跨越最后约的材料。 200万年与火山灰互层，适合钾氩测年。不同的火山灰——各个火山喷发的结果——具有不同的微量元素成分，通过分析，可以对各个火山灰进行“指纹识别”，并绘制它们在地层中的分布图。因此，它们提供了一个相对安全的框架来跟踪行为和生物变化。来自卡普图林以及非洲其他地方的精心制作的带柄石器被称为“中石器时代（MSA）”，它们为人类具有与我们相似的认知能力提供了第一个证据。最早的日期，约。 285,000 年前来自卡普图林，特赖恩先生希望深入了解这一过程的早期阶段。迄今为止，对卡普图林北部暴露区的研究已经显着改变了考古学对这一过程的看法，因为它证明了三个独立的石料加工传统，即MSA和两个所谓的先前的传统，实际上是互层的，并且没有形成按时间顺序连贯的发展序列。研究人员不知道这种差异是否源于在不同情况下制造不同类型工具的单一文化，或者是否存在三种独立且不同的文化。在近东，这种更替发生的时间稍早一些，不同的族群因环境条件的变化而潮起潮落。虽然在北部的卡普图林矿床中进行了大量工作，但南部的矿床却鲜为人知。特赖恩先生正在对该地区进行地质和考古调查，以定位遗址并建立详细的年代顺序。在美国国家科学基金会的支持下，他将描述收集到的火山灰的特征，并将进行考古发掘，以提供有关文化差异的更多信息。这项研究很重要，因为它将揭示现代人类行为的出现。它还将有助于培养一位有前途的年轻科学家。