Paleoanthropological Investigation of the Pestera cu Oase, Romania

罗马尼亚 Pestera cu Oase 的古人类学调查

• 批准号: 0409194
• 负责人: Erik Trinkaus
• 金额: $ 5.16万
• 依托单位: Washington University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2004
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2004-08-01 至 2007-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0409194&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Paleoanthropological; Investigation; Pestera; cu; Oase

Recent anthropological research has documented that modern humans emerged in sub-Saharan Africa prior to 100,000 years ago, and then after 50,000 years ago spread into Eurasia and the remainder of Africa. They spread across Europe between 37,000 and 30,000 years ago, during which time they encountered and variably absorbed populations of European Neandertals. However, the human fossil evidence for those earliest modern Europeans has been scarce and postdates 32,000 years ago. In the context of this, the 2002 and 2003 discoveries of early modern human fossils in the Pestera cu Oase in southwestern Romania, directly dated to about 35,000 years ago, provide novel evidence for understanding the biology and behavior of these earliest modern Europeans. The research at the Pestera cu Oase will consist of the detailed geological, paleontological, chronological and archeological documentation of the contents of the cave, which served primarily as a hibernation cave for Pleistocene cave bear and contains the fossil remains of cave bear, humans, and a variety of other mammals. From this, in addition to the recovery of additional human fossils, the research will answer questions about how the humans came to be in the cave, what their relationships were with the hibernating bears, and the extent to which they used the cave as a ritual and mortuary locality. It will document the biology of these earliest modern Europeans, who, on the basis of the material found so far, differ significantly from living humans. Moreover, ongoing study of these fossils relates directly to questions regarding the biological nature of the earliest modern humans and why, after two million years of successful adaptations, archaic humans (like the Neandertals) were replaced by modern humans in a relatively short period of time. Romania is in the process of emerging scientifically and economically to participate in the larger European and global community. The international collaborative research at the Pestera cu Oase will promote this in several ways. It will foster scientific exchanges between Romanian, American and other European scholars. It will involve field and laboratory training of Romanian doctoral students, who do not have the resources to otherwise train outside of Romania. It will enhance the scientific infrastructure of laboratories of the Romanian Academy and Universitatea Babes-Bolyai in Cluj-Napoca, through collaboration and providing needed equipment and supplies. It will help to conserve the valuable, and irreplaceable, cave environments of the abundant cave systems in Romania, most of which are currently threatened by commercial exploitation, uncontrolled tourism and pollution. It will facilitate the proper curation and subsequent analysis of the valuable paleontological treasures of Romania. Moveover, the initial announcement in 2003 of the Pestera cu Oase fossils received global (and Romanian) media attention, and as such it is helping to increase awareness in Romania and elsewhere of their natural resources. This can only help with the process of conserving those resources and making them appropriately available to the public. The field research at the Pestera cu Oase will enhance all of these aspects of international collaboration.

最近的人类学研究证明，现代人在10万年前出现在撒哈拉以南非洲，然后在5万年前传播到欧亚大陆和非洲其他地区。他们在3.7万到3万年前传播到欧洲各地，在此期间，他们遇到了欧洲尼安德特人，并以不同的方式吸收了他们。然而，那些最早的现代欧洲人的人类化石证据一直很稀少，可以追溯到3.2万年前。在此背景下，2002年和2003年在罗马尼亚西南部佩斯特拉库奥斯发现的早期现代人化石，直接可以追溯到大约3.5万年前，为理解这些最早的现代欧洲人的生物学和行为提供了新的证据。Pester a cu Oase的研究将包括对洞穴内容的详细地质、古生物学、年代学和考古学记录，洞穴主要是更新世洞熊的冬眠洞穴，包含洞熊、人类和各种其他哺乳动物的化石遗骸。由此，除了发现更多的人类化石外，这项研究还将回答以下问题：人类是如何进入洞穴的，他们与冬眠的熊有什么关系，以及他们在多大程度上将洞穴作为仪式和殡仪馆。它将记录这些最早的现代欧洲人的生物学，根据迄今发现的材料，他们与现代人有很大的不同。此外，正在进行的对这些化石的研究直接涉及到关于最早的现代人的生物学性质的问题，以及为什么在经过200万年的成功适应后，古代人(如尼安德特人)在相对较短的时间内被现代人取代。罗马尼亚正在从科学和经济上崛起，加入更大的欧洲和全球大家庭。Pester a cu Oase的国际合作研究将在几个方面促进这一点。它将促进罗马尼亚、美国和其他欧洲学者之间的科学交流。它将涉及罗马尼亚博士生的实地和实验室培训，这些博士生没有资源在罗马尼亚以外的地方进行培训。它将通过合作和提供所需的设备和用品，加强罗马尼亚学院和Cluj-Napoca的Babes-Bolyai大学实验室的科学基础设施。它将有助于保护罗马尼亚丰富的洞穴系统中宝贵的、不可替代的洞穴环境，这些洞穴系统中的大多数目前受到商业开采、不受控制的旅游和污染的威胁。它将有助于对罗马尼亚珍贵的古生物珍宝进行适当的管理和随后的分析。此外，2003年首次宣布的Pester a cu Oase化石受到了全球(和罗马尼亚)媒体的关注，因此有助于提高罗马尼亚和其他地方对其自然资源的认识。这只会有助于保护这些资源并适当地向公众提供这些资源。Pester a cu Oase的实地研究将加强所有这些方面的国际合作。