Doctoral Dissertation Research: A Middle Pleistocene Landscape Archaeology Project in the Kapthurin Formation, Kenya

在Sally McBrearty博士的监督下，Cara Roure将在肯尼亚Kapthurin组挖掘三个中更新世考古遗址，以记录中更新世原始人的土地利用模式和生存行为，特别是罗德塞斯原始人。Kapthurin组位于肯尼亚裂谷巴林戈湖以西，由一系列富含文物和化石的沉积段组成，横跨中更新世的大部分时间。该地层包含许多有记录的考古和化石地点，其中一些发现了罗得西亚人的化石遗骸，被认为是现代智人的直接先驱。这个项目的重点是与原始人化石相关的时间间隔，从543到ka。在此期间对盆地进行了详细的古环境重建，确定了盐湖、淡水泉水和河流系统周围的一系列同期微生境。这些环境类型中的每一个都将被挖掘出来，以提供不同栖息地的行为样本。地理信息系统将提供一种综合格式，其中考古数据可以与环境和空间变异性相关，以创建罗得西亚群岛测距和土地利用模式的模型。然后将数据中确定的模式与非洲早更新世原始人和现代觅食者的记录进行比较。该项目对考古学和进化人类学具有多个层面的意义。理解现代智人行为适应的起源至关重要。这种适应最容易被认为是象征性行为认知能力的进化。目前的一场辩论集中在这种行为的起源上。长期以来，一种观点认为，这种能力在解剖学上的现代智人起源之后很久才突然出现，是一种“行为革命”。挑战这一点的是，一个新的假说提出，现代行为适应是逐渐出现的，但要早得多，发生在非洲的中更新世。该项目在记录非洲中更新世晚期人类的土地利用模式方面是独一无二的，并将有助于了解我们物种的起源和进化。这一结果将直接适用于正在进行的关于非洲中更新世现代智人行为适应起源的辩论。这项研究的跨学科性质强调了许多专业之间需要合作，包括地质学、考古学、古生物学、地理信息系统和博物馆研究。鲁雷的项目正在与肯尼亚国家博物馆密切合作，并将雇用博物馆工作人员。Roure将为肯尼亚挖掘机和康涅狄格大学的两名初级研究生提供实地培训。外展活动包括与位于研究地区的美国教务长学校和罗伯勒小学的学生合作，(通过课堂和教科书)更好地了解史前和进化。该项目的成果将适用于在包括考古学、进化人类学和地质学在内的几个学科的学术期刊上传播。然而，这项工作也将影响本科和中学教育，因为人们对人类的起源有着浓厚的兴趣。

Under the supervision of Dr. Sally McBrearty, Cara Roure will excavate three Middle Pleistocene archaeological sites in the Kapthurin Formation, Kenya, in order to document land use patterns and subsistence behavior of Middle Pleistocene hominids, specifically H. rhodesiensis. The Kapthurin Formation, west of Lake Baringo in the Kenya Rift Valley, consists of a succession of artifact- and fossil-rich sedimentary members that span most of the Middle Pleistocene. The formation contains many documented archaeological and fossil localities, some of which have yielded fossil remains of H. rhodesiensis, considered the direct precursor to modern H. sapiens. This project focuses on the interval associated with the hominid fossils, from 543 to ka. Detailed paleoenvironmental reconstruction of the basin during this interval has identified a range of contemporaneous microhabitats around a saline lake, a fresh water spring and a riverine system. A site from each of these environmental types will be excavated to supply a sample of behavior across varied habitats. GIS will provide an integrated format within which archaeological data can be related to environmental and spatial variability to create a model of ranging and land use patterns for H. rhodesiensis. Patterns identified in the data will then be compared to those documented for Early Pleistocene hominids and modern foragers in Africa.This project has multiple levels of significance for archaeology and evolutionary anthropology. The understanding of the origins of modern H. sapiens' behavioral adaptation is of key importance. This adaptation is most easily recognized as the evolution of the cognitive capacity for symbolic behavior. A current debate now focuses on the origins of such behavior. A long held view is that this capacity appeared suddenly and late as a "behavioral revolution," long after the origin of anatomically modern H. sapiens. Challenging this, a new hypothesis poses that the modern behavioral adaptation arose gradually but much earlier, in the Middle Pleistocene of Africa. This project is unique in its documentation of land use patterns of African later Middle Pleistocene hominids and will contribute to understanding of origin and evolution of our species. The results will be directly applicable to the ongoing debate regarding the origins of behavioral adaptation of modern H. sapiens in the African Middle Pleistocene.The interdisciplinary nature of this research emphasizes the need for collaboration between many specialties including geology, archaeology, paleontology, GIS, and museum studies. Roure's project is being run in close collaboration with the National Museums of Kenya and will employ museum staff. Roure will be providing field training for Kenyan excavators, and two junior graduate students from the University of Connecticut. Outreach includes working with students at Rectory School (USA) and Loberer Primary School, located in the study area to better understand prehistory and evolution (through classes and textbooks). Results of this project will be applicable to dissemination in academic journals over several disciplines including archaeology, evolutionary anthropology, and geology. However, this work will also impact both undergraduate and secondary education as there is an intense interest in the origins of our species.