Alternative Pathways to Behavioral Modernity

在美国国家科学基金会的支持下，Paola Villa和她的同事将对南非和法国的几个石器组合进行详细的技术分析，这些石器组合可以追溯到中期到晚期石器时代（MSA/LSA）和中期到晚期旧石器时代（MP/UP）的过渡时期（90 - 26 ka）。这是一项国际合作努力；两名南非考古学家和五名法国考古学家是该项目的合作伙伴。待研究的MSA组合来自Sibudu（目前由Lyn Wadley挖掘的新地点）Rose Cottage洞穴和Klasies River Main。法国的组合包括五个中旧石器时代，两个查特佩隆时代（由最后的尼安德特人制造）和两个奥里尼亚纪（UP）组合。人们普遍认为，从古代行为向现代行为的转变首先发生在撒哈拉以南的非洲，许多行为和技术创新促进了现代人走出非洲。然而，南部非洲从MSA到LSA的过渡时期并不十分清楚，对过渡的时间和过程存在广泛的分歧。南非早期出现的许多创新，如复杂的压扣技术、复合工具、微晶片和刀片技术，仍有待通过实验复制支持的技术分析来验证。该项目将解决以下问题：1。这些创新技术在南非出现得比法国早吗？2. 它们是否表现出持久性？它们是后来出口到欧洲的一整套行为的一部分吗？3. 南非的MSA/LSA转变是一个缓慢的过程，直到至少25 ka才完成，还是在大约50-40 ka发生了快速变化？4. 在50-40年前，MSA是否存在时间限制模式和区域差异，而西欧没有？5. 这些模式是否可与LSA和旧石器时代晚期的模式相比较，或者它们具有不同的性质？6. 在50-40 ka之后，两个区域之间的相似性是否更强？（如果现代行为作为非洲移民的结果传播到欧洲，这是可以预料的）。7. 在法国的MP/UP过渡过程中，技术不连续性有多强？奥里尼亚期的技术行为是否有先例？人类技术的进化是关于现代行为起源争论的一个方面，需要更多的经验数据来解决这些问题。该项目的目标是模拟石器技术的变化，这些变化可能与认知和象征能力的变化有关。这个项目的一个主要原因是通过关注一个具体的研究项目来促进西欧和非洲方法之间更强的联系，使两个科学团体之间能够进行富有成效的交流。不同研究传统的方法和解释原则的结合和融合，以及由此产生的出版物和在国际会议上的介绍，将对旧石器时代研究的进行方式产生强烈的影响。欧洲和非洲的考古学家都将从这种合作中获益。

With National Science Foundation support Paola Villa and her colleagues will conduct detailed technological analyses of several lithic assemblages in South Africa and France dated to the period of transition from the Middle to the Later Stone Age (MSA/LSA) and from the Middle to the Upper Paleolithic (MP/UP) between 90 and 26 ka. This is an international collaborative effort; two South African and five French archaeologists are project associates. The MSA assemblages to be studied are from Sibudu (a new site under current excavation by Lyn Wadley) Rose Cottage Cave and Klasies River Main. The French assemblages include five Middle Paleolithic, two Chatelperronian (made by the last Neanderthals) and two Aurignacian (UP) assemblages. It is widely believed that the transition from archaic to modern behavior occurred first in sub-Saharan Africa and that many behavioral and technological innovations facilitated the expansion of modern humans out of Africa. However the period of transition from MSA to LSA in Southern Africa is not very well known and there is wide disagreement about the timing and process of transition. The early appearance in South Africa of many innovations, such as sophisticated knapping techniques, composite tools, microliths and bladelet technologies, remains to be verified by technological analyses supported by experimental replication. The project will address the following questions: 1. Do these innovative technologies appear earlier in South Africa than in France? 2. Do they show persistence through time and were they part of a behavioral package later exported to Europe? 3. Was the MSA/LSA transition in South Africa a slow process that was not completed until at least 25 ka or was it a rapid change that took place at about 50-40 ka? 4. Were time-restricted patterning and regional variations present in the MSA but not in Western Europe before 50-40 ka? 5. Are these patterns comparable to the LSA and Upper Paleolithic patterns or are they of a different nature? 6. Are similarities between the two regions stronger after 50-40 ka? (this is to be expected if modern behavior spread to Europe as a result of migration out of Africa). 7. How strong are technological discontinuities at the MP/UP transition in France and are there antecedents to Aurignacian technical behaviors?The evolution of human technologies is one aspect of the debate about the origins of modern behavior and more empirical data are needed to resolve these issues. The goal of this project is to model changes in lithic technology that may be associated with changes in cognition and symbolizing abilities. A major reason for this project is to promote a stronger connection between Western European and Africanist approaches by focusing on a concrete program of research that will enable a productive interchange between the two scientific communities. The meeting and blending of approaches and interpretative principles of different research traditions and the resulting publications and presentations at international meetings will have a strong impact on the way Paleolithic research is conducted. Both European and Africanist archeologists stand to gain from this cooperative effort.