Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Ecological & Behavioral Implications of New Archaeological Occurrences from Upper Burgi Exposures at Koobi Fora, Kenya

在J.W.K.Harris博士的指导下，Jack McCoy将对肯尼亚北部Koobi Fora的200万年前的沉积物进行广泛的实地调查和挖掘。这一博士论文项目旨在主要通过原始人类(早期人类)修改的化石骨骼显示肉类消费和石器使用的证据来识别、描述和描述考古发生。使用石器加工肉和骨髓的身体会在新鲜的骨头上产生独特的修改痕迹(切割痕迹、敲击痕迹)。当骨头变成化石时，这些痕迹通常会被保存在骨头上。在230万年前这种新的肉类消费行为的既定模式的证据(石器和切割标记的化石骨头)在埃塞俄比亚北部和西部仅在肯尼亚的Lokalalei被发现。然而，在Koobi Fora，在那里已经从上Burgi(220万-190万年前)发现了30多个原始人(属：南方古猿和直立人)的化石遗骸，几乎对这一时期的原始人行为、生态或物质文化一无所知。以前在库比福拉进行的广泛的古生物和考古研究并没有关注上布尔吉时期的考古痕迹；这是原始人进化的关键时期。库比福拉的面积超过3000平方公里。大约1000平方公里是过去400万年间暴露出来的古代沉积物。由于出露的独特性质和广阔的横向范围，在沉积物中可以识别出各种各样的古代景观和栖息地。选择相隔很远的调查区域，使之有可能利用改良的骨骼和石器作为景观上的标志，形成这一时期人类活动和运动的区域视图。识别这些标记在不同地理位置和古环境中的分布模式，将使人们能够解决原始人栖息地偏好的理论问题，以及在人类进化的早期阶段其他地方没有解决的饮食和行为变化。值得注意的是，这项研究超越了对考古痕迹的发现和初步描述，并考察了使石器适应一种新的原始人行为(食肉)的环境，这种新的原始人行为最终将成为习惯。预计这项研究将成为一项长期的盆地范围比较研究的一部分，该研究将解决图尔卡纳盆地最早的考古记录随着时间的变化而发生的性质变化。从更广泛的角度来看，该项目有可能证实改良化石骨作为石器使用的明确替代品的有用性。如果带有修改签名的化石骨骼碎片在地质记录中具有可见性，那么就有可能识别出没有石器证据(传统的考古记录)存在的原始人的存在和行为模式。来自埃塞俄比亚戈纳的石器，距今260万年，目前定义了考古记录的开始。关于260万年前的原始人行为的可测试假说只有在原始人能够位于古代景观上的情况下才能被提出。切割有标记的骨头和敲击断裂的骨干碎片可能提供这一机会，并可能成为研究考古记录真实起源的新范式的基础。

Under the direction of Dr. J.W.K. Harris, Jack McCoy will conduct extensive field survey and excavation of 2 million year old sediment deposits at Koobi Fora in Northern Kenya. This doctoral dissertation project is designed to identify, characterize and describe archaeological occurrences principally through the proxy of hominid (early human) modified fossil bone exhibiting evidence of meat consumption and stone tool use. Using stone tools to process a carcass for meat and marrow produces distinctive modification marks (cut marks, percussion marks) on fresh bone. These marks are often preserved on the bone as it becomes fossilized. Evidence (stone tools and cut marked fossil bone) of an established pattern of this novel new meat consumption behavior prior to 2.3 million years ago has been discovered to the north in Ethiopia and only a short distance to the west at Lokalalei in Kenya. And yet, at Koobi Fora, where the fossil remains of over three dozen hominids (genera: Australopithecus & Homo) have been recovered from Upper Burgi (2.2-1.9 million years old) exposures virtually nothing is known of hominid behavior, ecology, or material culture during this period. Extensive paleontological and archaeological research previously conducted at Koobi Fora did not focus on archaeological traces from the Upper Burgi period; a pivotal time in hominid evolution.Koobi Fora encompasses an area of over 3,000 square kilometers. Approximately 1,000 square kilometers are exposed ancient deposits spanning the last 4 million years. Because of the unique nature and vast lateral extent of the exposures, a large variety of ancient landscapes and habitats can be identified in the sediments. The selection of widely separated areas of investigation makes it possible, utilizing modified bone and stone tools as markers on the landscape, to develop a regional view of hominid activities and movements during this time period. Recognition of the distribution patterns of these markers across widely different geographic locations and paleoenvironments will allow one to address theoretical questions of hominid habitat preference, as well as changes in diet and behavior which have not been addressed elsewhere at this early stage of human evolution. Significantly, this research goes beyond the discovery and initial description of the archaeological traces and examines the circumstances that made stone tools adaptive at the onset of a novel new hominid behavior (carnivory) that would eventually become habitual. It is expected that this research will become part of a long term basin-wide comparative study that will address the changing nature of the earliest archaeological record in the Turkana Basin over time.On a broader perspective, this project has the potential to confirm the usefulness of modified fossil bone as an unequivocal proxy for stone tool use. If fossil bone fragments with a modification signature indicative of hominid activity have visibility in the geological record then it will become possible to identify hominid presence and behavior patterns where no stone tool evidence (traditional archaeological record) is known to exist. Stone tools from Gona in Ethiopia, dated at 2.6 million years old, presently define the onset of the archaeological record. Testable hypotheses about hominid behavior prior to 2.6 million years ago can only be formulated if the hominids can be located on the ancient landscape. Cut marked bone and percussion fractured shaft fragments may provide that opportunity and could become the basis of a new paradigm from which to investigate the true onset of the archaeological record.