High Risk Exploratory Research: Hunter-Gatherers of the Southern French Alps

法国南部阿尔卑斯山的考古调查将作为长期比较研究的第一个试点阶段进行。调查将集中在石器时代的旧石器时代晚期和中石器时代，约公元前13000 - 6000年，并将寻求理解：1)在最后一个冰河时代结束后，高海拔地区是如何被殖民的，以及它们是如何与海岸和低地结合在一起的；2)高山生态如何影响文化适应及其随时间的变化；3)该地区的经济与那些环境截然不同的中欧地区的经济有何不同，调查员之前的工作集中在中欧地区。4)该地区最后的狩猎采集者在向农业社会过渡的过程中扮演了什么角色。各种不同的野外技术，包括耕地的地表行走、高地沼泽的取心和在岩棚底部测试挖沟，将用于两个有希望的地区的初步调查：卢普河上游河谷和拉克达洛斯盆地。对石质文物收藏的分析将特别关注石质原材料及其来源，石质工具制造技术以及石质文物的类型学。这些数据将有助于与较知名的地区进行比较，如西部的罗纳河谷下游和东部的意大利利古里亚，并形成解释运动模式和技术组织的基础。其他类型的人工制品，如骨头和贝壳，将允许对现场活动、移动和交换进行初步推断。“新石器革命”，即从狩猎和采集到定居的乡村农业和田园生活方式的转变，构成了人类适应的重大变化，为文明的兴起奠定了基础。因此，考古学家希望了解这一过程是如何发生的，如果约基姆博士的探索性研究成功，就有可能为这一过程提供更多的线索。由于学生助理也包括在实地工作中，该项目也将起到有价值的培训作用。

An archaeological survey in the southern French Alps will be carried out as the first, pilot phase in long-term, comparative research. The survey will focus on the late Palaeolithic and Mesolithic periods of the Stone Age, ca. 13,000 - 6,000 BC, and will seek to understand: 1) how areas at higher elevations were colonized after the end of the last ice age and how they were integrated with the coast and lowlands, 2) how the Alpine ecology affected cultural adaptations and their change through time, 3) how this area's economies differed from those of the quite different environments of central Europe, where the investigator's previous work has concentrated, and 4) what role the last hunter-gatherers in this region played in the transition to agricultural societies. A variety of different field techniques, including surface-walking of plowed fields, coring of upland bogs, and test-trenching at the base of rockshelters will be used in initial investigations of two promising areas: the upper valley of the Loup River and the basin of the Lac d'Allos. Analysis of collections of stone artifacts will give particular attention to stone raw materials and their sources, the technology of stone tool manufacture, and the typology of stone artifacts. These data will facilitate comparisons with better known regions, such as the lower Rhone Valley to the west and Italian Liguria to the east, as well as forming the basis for interpretations of patterns of movement and the organization of technology. Other types of artifacts, such as bone and shell, will allow preliminary inferences about site activities, movement, and exchange.The "Neolithic Revolution", the transition from a hunting and gathering to a settled village agricultural and pastoral lifestyle, constitutes a significant change in human adaptation and set the stage for the rise of civilization. Thus archaeologists wish to understand how it occurred and Dr. Jochim's exploratory research, if successful, has the potential to shed additional light on this process. Because student assistants are included in the fieldwork, the project will also serve a valuable training function.