The Mousterian fauna from Grotte XVI, Dordogne, France

法国多尔多涅省第十六洞 (Grotte XVI) 的莫斯特动物群

• 批准号: 0203278
• 负责人: Donald Grayson
• 金额: $ 1.97万
• 依托单位: University of Washington
• 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: 2002-06-15 至 2003-10-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0203278&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Mousterian; fauna; Grotte; XVI; Dordogne

The Grotte XVI archaeological site, located in the Dordogne region of southwestern France, contains a sequence of human occupations that began prior to 70,000 years ago and that continued until the end of the Ice Age, about 10,000 years ago. The cave was first occupied by Neandertals, but the later occupants were modern in all ways, with the transition between the two presumed to have occurred around 30,000 years ago. Not only does the archaeological sequence at Grotte XVI span at least 60,000 years, but the preservation of the bones and teeth of large mammals is excellent, and the archaeological assemblages assumed to represent the latest Neandertals-the "Chatelperronian"-and the earliest modern peoples-the "Aurignacian"-are well-represented. The site is rich in the remains of such large ungulates as reindeer, red deer, ibex, and horse, all of which provide information on the diets of the residents of the site, and on the mammal history of this part of southwestern France. Previous work on these faunal assemblages, supported by the National Science Foundation, has shown that the diet of the Chtelperronian residents of the site (presumably Neandertals) did not differ in significant ways from that of the people (presumably modern in biology and behavior) who used the site immediately after them. This demonstration joins work from other parts of Europe in suggesting that if modern peoples truly replaced Neandertals, the differential use of animal resources may not have played a major role in allowing this to occur. In fact, the only important difference between the ChAtelperronian and Aurignacian large mammal assemblages involves cave bears. These huge carnivores were common in the ChAtelperronian level (as well as in earlier ones), but disappear soon thereafter, and it appears that increasingly intense use of caves in post-Neandertal times may have hastened the extinction of these remarkable animals. In addition, analysis of the history of the large mammals that occur at Grotte XVI between about 36,000 and 12,000 years ago has shown that the abundances of reindeer (known in North America as caribou) rose and fell in concert with summer temperatures: reindeer were far less abundant when summers were warmer. Ultimately, at the end of the Ice Age, summer temperatures became so warm that reindeer became extinct here. This long-term view of reindeer history suggests that current caribou populations in northern North America may be particularly vulnerable to global climate warming. Although the detailed picture that we have of human diet and large mammal history currently goes back to about 36,000 years ago, the Grotte XVI sequence includes a rich Mousterian assemblage, clearly reflecting Neandertal use of the site, that dates to about 65,000 years ago (less detailed records from the site are older yet). Support from the National Science Foundation will allow this earlier material to be studied as well. This analysis will let us know whether earlier Neandertal diets differed from those represented in later deposits, and will also tell us whether the relationship between summer temperatures and reindeer abundances existed this deeply into the Ice Age.

位于法国西南部多尔多涅地区的Grotte XVI考古遗址包含了一系列人类活动，这些活动始于7万年前，一直持续到大约1万年前的冰河时代结束。 洞穴最初被尼安德特人占据，但后来的居住者在各方面都是现代人，两者之间的过渡据推测发生在大约3万年前。 第十六号石窟的考古序列不仅跨越了至少6万年，而且大型哺乳动物的骨骼和牙齿保存得非常好，考古组合被认为代表了最晚的尼安德特人-“Chatelperronian”-和最早的现代人-“Aurignacian”-都有很好的代表性。 该遗址拥有丰富的驯鹿、红鹿、北山羊和马等大型有蹄类动物的遗骸，所有这些都提供了有关该遗址居民饮食以及该地区哺乳动物历史的信息。法国西南部的一部分。 之前在美国国家科学基金会的支持下，对这些动物群的研究表明，该遗址的奇特佩罗尼亚居民（可能是尼安德特人）的饮食与紧随其后使用该遗址的人（可能是生物学和行为上的现代人）的饮食没有显著差异。 这一证明与欧洲其他地区的工作一起表明，如果现代人真的取代了尼安德特人，动物资源的差异化使用可能并没有在允许这种情况发生方面发挥重要作用。 事实上，沙特尔佩罗阶和奥里尼亚克阶大型哺乳动物组合之间唯一重要的区别在于洞熊。 这些巨大的食肉动物在ChAtelperronian水平（以及更早的水平）中很常见，但此后不久就消失了，似乎在后尼安德特人时代越来越多地使用洞穴可能加速了这些非凡动物的灭绝。 此外，对约36，000年至12，000年前发生在第十六号洞穴的大型哺乳动物的历史分析表明，驯鹿（北美称为驯鹿）的数量随着夏季气温的变化而增减：夏季温暖时，驯鹿的数量要少得多。最终，在冰河时代末期，夏季气温变得如此温暖，驯鹿在这里灭绝了。 这种对驯鹿历史的长期看法表明，目前北美北方的驯鹿种群可能特别容易受到全球气候变暖的影响。 虽然我们目前对人类饮食和大型哺乳动物历史的详细描述可以追溯到大约36，000年前，但第十六洞序列包括丰富的Mousterian组合，清楚地反映了尼安德特人对该遗址的使用，可以追溯到大约65，000年前（该遗址的详细记录更早）。 美国国家科学基金会的支持也将使这些早期的材料得到研究。 这项分析将让我们知道早期尼安德特人的饮食是否与后来的沉积物中所代表的饮食不同，也将告诉我们夏季温度与驯鹿丰度之间的关系是否存在于冰河时代。