Kostenki: Initial Upper Paleolithic in Eastern Europe

Kostenki：东欧最初的旧石器时代晚期

• 批准号: 0132553
• 负责人: John Hoffecker
• 金额: $ 15.37万
• 依托单位: University of Colorado at Boulder
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2002
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2002-04-01 至 2005-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0132553&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Kostenki; Initial; Upper; Paleolithic; Eastern

This award supports a two-year project designed to investigate the earliest appearance of modern humans in Eastern Europe. It focuses on the excavation and analysis of archaeological sites located in the Russian village of Kostenki on the west bank of the Don River (roughly 450 km south of Moscow). The Kostenki sites have yielded the oldest known remains of modern humans in Eastern Europe, and even earlier traces of habitation that were probably left by modern humans more than 40,000 years ago. The new project will excavate the lowest human occupation layers of two of these sites (Kostenki 12 and 14) in order to expand our knowledge of the technology and economy of their occupants, and to establish with greater precision both their age and environmental setting. The research will bring together a team of American and Russian scientists from several fields, including archaeology, paleobotany, paleozoology, geology and geochronology. One project goal is improved understanding of how the sites were formed, which apparently involved a complex interplay of wind and slope action, periodic flooding, soil formation, and possibly other processes. This goal is closely tied to better dating of the earliest occupation levels at Kostenki 12 and 14 and reconstruction of environmental conditions. A series of new absolute dates (radiocarbon and luminescence) and paleomagnetic samples will be obtained from these levels, and an effort will be made to relate the sequence of layers to global climate-change and paleomagnetic events between 30,000 and 50,000 years ago. Fossil pollen and spores will be collected for reconstructions of vegetation, which will be used in conjunction with the study of fossil soils to provide further support for correlations with the global sequence. Excavations will be conducted at Kostenki 12 and 14 during July-August of 2002 and 2003. The expanded sample of artifacts, features (e.g., former hearths), and associated mammal remains recovered from the lowest occupation levels will yield information about the technology and economy of the modern humans who appeared in Eastern Europe at this time. In the context of how the sites were formed, study of the mammal remains-such as the body parts represented and the damage on them-will help determine whether they were hunted or gathered by humans or deposited by natural processes. Stone artifacts will be analyzed in terms of from where the stone was obtained and how the implements were manufactured and used (based on microscopic study of the wear on their edges). Artifacts of softer materials (chiefly bone and ivory) are of special interest, because their complexity suggests that modern humans may have achieved a quantum jump in technological ability over their Neanderthal predecessors in Europe. The project will explore the thesis that complex and innovative technology was critical to the survival of modern humans-recently derived from southern latitudes and morphologically adapted to warm climates-in the relatively cold and dry environments of Eastern Europe.

该奖项支持一个为期两年的项目，旨在调查东欧最早的现代人类出现。它的重点是挖掘和分析位于顿河西岸（莫斯科以南约450公里）的俄罗斯村庄Kostenki的考古遗址。Kostenki遗址发现了东欧已知最古老的现代人类遗骸，甚至可能是4万多年前现代人类留下的更早的居住痕迹。新项目将挖掘其中两个遗址（Kostenki 12和14）的最低人类职业层，以扩大我们对其居住者的技术和经济的了解，并更精确地确定他们的年龄和环境背景。这项研究将汇集来自几个领域的美国和俄罗斯科学家，包括考古学、古植物学、古动物学、地质学和地质年代学。该项目的一个目标是提高对这些遗址如何形成的理解，这显然涉及风和斜坡作用、周期性洪水、土壤形成以及可能的其他过程的复杂相互作用。这一目标与更好地确定Kostenki 12和14最早的职业水平以及重建环境条件密切相关。将从这些地层中获得一系列新的绝对日期（放射性碳和发光）和古地磁样本，并努力将这些地层序列与3万至5万年前的全球气候变化和古地磁事件联系起来。收集花粉和孢子化石用于植被重建，并将与土壤化石研究结合使用，为与全球序列的相关性提供进一步的支持。2002年7月至2003年8月期间，将在Kostenki 12号和14号进行挖掘。从最低的职业水平恢复的人工制品、特征（例如，以前的壁炉）和相关哺乳动物遗骸的扩大样本将提供有关此时出现在东欧的现代人的技术和经济的信息。在研究遗址形成的背景下，对哺乳动物遗骸的研究——比如所代表的身体部位和它们身上的损伤——将有助于确定它们是被人类猎杀或采集的，还是自然沉积的。石质文物将根据石头的来源和工具的制造和使用方式进行分析（基于对其边缘磨损的微观研究）。较软材料的人工制品（主要是骨头和象牙）特别令人感兴趣，因为它们的复杂性表明现代人可能在技术能力上比他们在欧洲的尼安德特人前辈取得了巨大的飞跃。该项目将探索复杂和创新的技术对现代人类在相对寒冷和干燥的东欧环境中生存至关重要的论点。现代人类最近从南纬地区进化而来，在形态上适应了温暖的气候。