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将在肯尼亚北部的Koobi Fora进行广泛的实地调查和挖掘200万年前的沉积物。本博士论文项目旨在识别、描述和描述考古事件，主要通过原始人类（早期人类）改良的化石骨骼来展示肉类消费和石器使用的证据。用石器加工肉和骨髓的胴体会在新鲜骨头上产生独特的修饰痕迹（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，在北部的埃塞俄比亚和西部不远的肯尼亚的Lokalalei，已经发现了这种新的肉类消费行为模式的证据（石器工具和切割的有标记的化石骨）。然而，在Koobi Fora，从上Burgi（220 - 190万年前）出土的三十多具原始人（南猿属）化石遗骸，实际上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Koobi Fora进行的广泛的古生物学和考古学研究并没有把重点放在上布吉时期的考古痕迹上；这是人类进化的关键时期。Koobi Fora的面积超过3000平方公里。大约1000平方公里的地方暴露着过去400万年的古代沉积物。由于其独特的性质和广阔的横向暴露范围，沉积物中可以识别出种类繁多的古代景观和栖息地。选择广泛分离的调查区域，利用改良的骨和石器工具作为景观标记，有可能发展出这一时期人类活动和运动的区域视图。认识到这些标记在广泛不同的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，以及饮食和行为的变化，这些问题在人类进化的早期阶段没有在其他地方得到解决。值得注意的是，这项研究超越了考古痕迹的发现和初步描述，并研究了使石器适应一种新的人类行为（食肉）的环境，这种行为最终成为习惯。预计这项研究将成为一项长期的全盆地比较研究的一部分，该研究将解决图尔卡纳盆地最早考古记录随时间变化的性质。从更广泛的角度来看，这个项目有可能证实改良骨化石作为石器工具使用的明确代理的有用性。如果在地质记录中发现带有原始人类活动特征的骨骼化石碎片，那么在没有石器证据（传统考古记录）的地方，识别原始人类的存在和行为模式将成为可能。来自埃塞俄比亚戈纳的石器，距今260万年前，目前定义了考古记录的开端。关于260万年前的原始人行为的可检验的假设，只有在原始人被发现在古代地貌上的情况下才能形成。切割的有标记的骨头和敲击破碎的轴碎片可能提供这种机会，并可能成为研究考古记录真正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.