Doctoral Dissertation Research: Lithic Raw Material Exploitation Patterns in the Wadi al-Hasa, West-Central Jordan

在Harold Dibble博士和Deborah Olszewski博士的指导下，Maire Crowley女士将为她的博士论文收集数据，内容是约旦Wadial？Hasa的岩石原料开发模式。她将分析从旧石器时代中期/晚期过渡到新石器时代的七个地点的岩屑组合，并对含有硅质岩的地层进行调查，这将扩大东部晚更新世项目在2000年进行的一项调查。有两种主要模式主导着对黎凡特地区晚更新世人类行为的解释，一种是基于中内盖夫高地研究的环流/辐射模式，另一种是基于约旦南部研究的输运模式。然而，这些模型是基于对晚更新世Wadial-Hasa存在的湖泊/沼泽生态系统的行为响应的研究，这些环境和/或地形条件与Wadial？Hasa存在的环境和/或地形条件截然不同。克劳利将测试和完善一个专门为这种湖泊/沼泽环境开发的行为流动性模型。这个模型将为两个主要模型提供一个有用的替代方案，并有助于我们理解黎凡特其他存在类似湖泊/沼泽环境的地区的史前行为模式，例如Azraq和Jafr Basins。原材料的可用性已被证明是影响岩屑组合形态和工艺模式的最重要因素之一。由于高质量的原材料在黎凡特地区随处可见，许多黎凡特石器研究中普遍存在一种假设，即原材料可以被视为常量。在欧洲等世界其他地区的研究表明，随着时间的推移，原材料来源的枯竭是审查历时组合变异性时必须考虑的一个重要因素，因为欧洲的原材料供应要少得多。克劳利女士还将研究在研究黎凡特岩屑组合的历时变异性时，耗竭是否是一个需要考虑的因素，质疑以前没有受到质疑的假设，即在这一领域，原材料的可获得性可能被视为一个常量。在文献中，经常提到识别史前火龙鱼使用的原材料来源的困难。然而，克劳利女士将开发和完善各种视觉标准相结合的程序，这些标准将使大量文物能够被高效而廉价地分析，并使其能够将来源缩小到收集的原材料数据可能被用于测试行为模型的地方。这项研究也很重要，因为它将产生一个关于采购和原材料利用数据的大型和详细的计算机化数据库。这个数据库将为其他旧石器时代石器研究人员提供有用的资源，以检验各种假说。这项研究也将为培养一位有前途的旧石器时代考古学家做出重大贡献。

Under the direction of Dr. Harold Dibble and Dr. Deborah Olszewski, Ms. Maire Crowley will collect data for her doctoral dissertation on lithic raw material exploitation patterns in the Wadi al?Hasa, Jordan. She will analyze lithic assemblages from seven sites which span a time range from the Middle/Upper Paleolithic transition through to the Neolithic, and conduct a survey of chert bearing formations which will expand (both in detail and areas covered) a survey conducted in 2000 by the Eastern al?Hasa Late Pleistocene Project.There are two principal models which dominate interpretations of Late Pleistocene human behavior in the Levant, the circulating/radiating model, based on research in the Central Negev Highlands, and the transhumance model, based on research in southern Jordan. However, these models are based on the study of behavioral responses to very different environmental and/or topographical conditions from the lake/marsh ecological system which existed in the Wadi al?Hasa in the Late Pleistocene. Ms. Crowley will be testing and refining a model of behavioral mobility developed specifically for this type of lake/marsh environment. This model will provide a useful alternative to the two dominant models and aid our understanding of prehistoric behavior patterns in other areas of the Levant where similar lake/marsh environments existed, for example the Azraq and Jafr Basins.Raw material availability has been shown to be one of the most important factors influencing morphological and technological patterns in lithic assemblages. Because high quality raw material is widely available in the Levant, an assumption pervades much Levantine lithic research that raw material can be treated as a constant. Research in other regions of the world, such as Europe, where raw material is much less widely available, has shown that depletion of raw material sources over time is a significant factor which must be taken into account when examining diachronic assemblage variability. Ms. Crowley will also examine whether depletion is a factor that needs to be considered when studying diachronic variability in Levantine lithic assemblages, questioning the previously unchallenged assumption that in this area raw material availability may be treated as a constant.The difficulty of identifying raw material sources utilized by prehistoric flintknappers has frequently been noted in the literature. However, Ms. Crowley will be developing and refining procedures for combining a variety of visual criteria which will enable large numbers of artifacts to be analyzed efficiently and inexpensively and which should make it possible to narrow sources down to where the body of raw material data collected may be used to test behavioral models.Sourcing studies have rarely been performed in the Levant. This research is also important because it will generate a large and detailed computerized database of sourcing and raw material utilization data. This database will provide a useful resource for other paleolithic lithic researchers to draw on to test a variety of hypotheses. This research will also make a significant contribution to the training of a promising paleolithic archaeologist.