Doctoral Dissertation: Into Arabia: Exploring Early Upper Pleistocene Range Expansions Into Oman

阿曼中部更新世研究计划（COPR）将由杰弗里I。罗斯博士的监督下，安东尼E。标记. 该项目由NSF论文改进资助，将调查上更新世时期（128，000 - 18，000 BP）南阿拉伯半岛石器技术的来源和发展。 正是在这段时间里，第一个解剖学上的现代人出现在非洲，并迅速传播到地球仪。 COPR的实地考察将侧重于挖掘洞穴和岩石掩体内的考古材料，以从未受干扰的埋藏矿床中获取样本。 关注这些保存完好的背景将有助于建立该地区石器技术的发展序列。对阿拉伯南部石器制造的研究将有助于揭示中石器时代/中旧石器时代研究中的未知地区。 直到最近，由于社会政治条件的限制，学者们一直无法研究这条早期人类迁徙的走廊。 南阿拉伯半岛特别重要，因为它可能是第一批解剖学上的现代人类在更新世晚期从非洲扩张的主要传播路线，也是狩猎采集者在潮湿时期扩张范围的边缘地带。如果狩猎采集者确实在更新世晚期从非洲扩散，在移徙走廊的沿着，很可能会有明显的技术联系。 了解阿曼石器产业的性质将使我们能够评估与东非的可能联系，从而测试人类起源的“非洲之外”模型的一个重要方面。 遗传学领域的最新研究为这一假说提供了证据。 我们的研究有可能通过提供第一个直接的考古证据来进一步证实这种在非洲以外的扩张。通过资助阿拉伯半岛的考古研究，这篇论文改进补助金具有次要的，尽管重要的政治后果。 该项目将是与阿曼遗产部的合资企业，并计划作为长期项目的第一季。 阿曼在支持和鼓励科学研究方面是阿拉伯世界中独一无二的;因此，委员会将通过为阿曼考古学家提供旧石器时代研究领域的培训，培养这些价值观。 在这个政治敏感时期，保持合作并继续在伊斯兰世界和西方世界之间建立桥梁至关重要。

The Central Oman Pleistocene Research program (COPR) will be conducted by Jeffrey I. Rose under the supervision of Dr. Anthony E. Marks. This project, funded by an NSF dissertation improvement grant, will investigate the source and development of stone tool technologies in South Arabia during the Upper Pleistocene period (128,000-18,000 BP). It is during this time the first anatomically modern humans appear in Africa and rapidly disseminate throughout the globe. The COPR fieldwork will focus on excavating archaeological material within caves and rockshelters to obtain samples from undisturbed, buried deposits. Focusing on these well-preserved contexts will help establish a developmental sequence of lithic technology in this region.The study of stone tool manufacture in southern Arabia will help shed light on a region that is terra incognita in Middle Stone Age/Middle Palaeolithic research. Until recently, scholars have been prevented from studying this corridor of early human migration because of restrictive socio-political conditions. South Arabia is particularly important in that it may have served as the primary route of dispersal for the first anatomically modern humans expanding from Africa sometime during the Upper Pleistocene, as well as a marginal zone for hunter-gatherer range expansions during episodic wet phases.If hunter-gatherers did disperse from Africa during the Upper Pleistocene, it is likely there will be recognizable technological affinities along the corridor of migration. Understanding the nature of lithic industries in Oman will allow us to evaluate possible connections with East Africa, thus, testing an important facet of the 'Out-of-Africa' model of human origins. Recent work in the field of genetics has added credence to this hypothesis. Our research has the potential to add further corroboration by providing the first direct archaeological evidence for this expansion outside of Africa.By funding archaeological research in the Arabian Peninsula, this dissertation improvement grant has secondary, albeit important political consequences. The project will be a joint venture with the Omani Ministry of Heritage, and is planned as the first season of a long term project. Oman is unique among much of the Arab world in its support and encouragement of scientific research; therefore, COPR will serve to cultivate these values by providing training for Omani archaeologists in the field of Palaeolithic studies. In this politically sensitive time, it is vital to maintain cooperation and continue building bridges between the rifting worlds of Islam and the West.