A Landscape Approach to Archaeological Variability at the Acheulian to Middle Stone Age Transition in the Kapthurin Formation, Kenya

在国家科学基金会的支持下，由萨利·麦克布雷蒂博士领导的考古学家和地质学家团队将在肯尼亚巴林戈地区进行为期三个季节的野外工作。该团队将调查大约30万年前东非裂谷智人的出现如何改变中更新世的土地利用模式。他们将关注Kapthurin组内的三个地层段，在那里，含有被认为是由直立人制成的阿舍利文物的遗址，与那些含有被认为是由智人制成的中石器时代文物的遗址，是相互分层的。通过激光经纬仪地质填图重建古地貌，并利用地理信息系统软件重建每个目标层的三维模型。通过研究哺乳动物和植物化石，以及化石土壤和化石牙齿的稳定碳和氧同位素，将记录古代动植物群落。在每个地层间隔的两个地点进行地面收集、试验沟渠和水平挖掘，将以石器和化石骨头的形式为早期人类行为提供证据，早期原始人已将其加工成食物。对于每个目标区间，将寻找这些行为痕迹与地形特征和植物群落的关联模式。根据解剖学和考古学的基础，可以预测早期智人的土地利用模式会发生变化，反映出更强的认知能力、技术能力和地理范围，但迄今的证据来自广泛分布的地点，这些地点的年代不是很好。Kapthurin组局限于一个单一的沉积盆地，利用40Ar/39Ar测年方法对所研究的地层段进行了很好的年龄标定。将对在三个地层间隔中检测到的任何土地利用模式进行比较，以评估随时间变化的性质和速度。麦克布雷蒂博士和她的合作者将关注五个问题：1)在阿舍利和中石器时代之间，土地利用模式是否发生了明显的变化？2)中石器时代的原始人除了溪流和湖边环境外，是否比非陶器时代的原始人使用更广泛的微生境，如高地和远处的洪泛平原？3)中石器时代的原始人是否能够比阿舍利原始人更远地远离水源或制作石器工具的原材料？4)阿舍利人或中石器时代的工具制造者是否设计了专门开发特定栖息地的工具？5)与中石器时代的猎人相比，阿舍利时代的猎人的能力如何？这项研究很重要，因为它将阐明智人最早成员的行为本质，并阐明导致我们物种起源的一些过程。

With the support of the National Science Foundation a team of archaeologists and geologists led by Dr. Sally McBrearty will carry out three seasons of field work in the Baringo region of Kenya. The team will investigate how Middle Pleistocene landuse patterns changed with the appearance of Homo sapiens in the East African Rift Valley about 300,000 years ago. They will focus upon three stratigraphic intervals within the Kapthurin Formation, where sites containing Acheulian artifacts, thought to have been made by Homo erectus, are interstratified with those containing Middle Stone Age artifacts, thought to have been made by Homo sapiens. The ancient topography will be reconstructed by geological mapping with laser transit, and a three-dimensional model of each target interval will be reconstructed using GIS software. The ancient plant and animal communities will be documented through the study of mammalian and plant fossils, as well as fossil soil and fossil tooth stable carbon and oxygen isotopes. Surface collection, trial trenches, and horizontal excavation at two sites per stratigraphic interval will provide evidence for early human behavior in the form of stone tools and fossil bone which has been processed for food by early hominids. Patterns of association of these behavioral traces of with topographic features and plant communities will be sought for each target interval. A change in landuse patterns with early Homo sapiens, reflecting greater cognitive abilities, technical competence, and geographic range, can be predicted on anatomical and archaeological grounds, but the evidence to date has been drawn from widely dispersed sites which are not well dated. The Kapthurin Formation is confined to a single depositional basin, and the ages of the stratigraphic intervals to be studied are well calibrated by the 40Ar/39Ar dating method. Any landuse patterns detected in the three stratigraphic intervals will be compared to assess the nature and tempo of change through time. Dr. McBrearty and her collaborators will focus on five questions: 1) Is there a detectable change in landuse patterns between the Acheulian and Middle Stone Age? 2) Did Middle Stone Age hominids use a broader array of microhabitats than Acheulian hominids, such as uplands and distal floodplains, in addition to stream and lakeside settings? 3) Were Middle Stone Age hominids able to range further from sources of water or raw material for stone tool making than Acheulian hominids? 4) Were either Acheulian or Middle Stone Age tool makers designing specific implements to exploit particular habitats? 5) How does the competence of Acheulian hunters compare with hunters of the Middle Stone Age? This research is important because it will illustrate the nature of the behavior of the earliest members of Homo sapiens and illuminate some of the processes leading to the origin of our species.