Ecogeographic Variation in Neandertal Diet: Evidence from Occlusal Microwear

尼安德特人饮食的生态地理变化：来自咬合微磨损的证据

• 批准号: 0452155
• 负责人: Frederick Grine
• 金额: $ 1.2万
• 依托单位: SUNY at Stony Brook
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2005
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2005-03-15 至 2007-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0452155&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Ecogeographic; Variation; Neandertal; Diet; Evidence

For over 100,000 years, the Neandertals inhabited a variety of ecological zones across western Eurasia, between glacial and interglacial times. To elucidate the still poorly understood effects of climatic change and variability versus competition on Neandertal subsistence patterns, this study will employ occlusal microwear analysis to reconstruct the dietary habits of Neandertal groups from numerous widely dispersed sites in Europe and the Middle East. These wear patterns will be compared to those of Pre-Neandertal and early Upper Paleolithic groups from the same regions. The microwear signatures of modern hunter-gatherer populations with known and diverse dietary habits will be used for comparative and interpretive purposes. This project is significant because it will shed light on the controversial issues concerning aspects of Neandertal behavior and fate. This project will have broader impacts in that it will result in the assembly of a large collection of high-resolution casts of Neandertal and early Upper Paleolithic dentitions. Because these fossils are scattered throughout Europe and parts of the Middle East and are often inaccessible, this collection, which will be housed at Stony Brook University, will provide an invaluable resource to a broad range of researchers interested in the Paleolithic. In addition, this project entails collaboration with scientists and graduate students at other universities and institutions in both the United States and Europe, and all molar microwear images and data resulting from this project will be made broadly available through a website maintained at Stony Brook University. This project will integrate research and education by involving undergraduate students in the data collection and analysis process. Finally, the proposed activity promotes the participation of under-represented groups in paleoanthropological research inasmuch as the co-PI is a Lebanese woman.

十万多年来，尼安德特人居住在欧亚大陆西部冰川期和间冰期之间的各种生态区。为了阐明气候变化和变异与竞争对尼安德特人生存模式的影响仍然知之甚少，本研究将采用咬合微磨损分析来重建欧洲和中东众多分散地点的尼安德特人群体的饮食习惯。这些磨损模式将与来自同一地区的前尼安德特人和旧石器时代早期群体的磨损模式进行比较。具有已知和多样化饮食习惯的现代狩猎采集人群的微穿戴特征将用于比较和解释目的。该项目意义重大，因为它将揭示有关尼安德特人行为和命运方面的争议问题。该项目将产生更广泛的影响，因为它将组装大量高分辨率的尼安德特人和旧石器时代晚期牙列模型。由于这些化石散布在欧洲和中东部分地区，而且往往难以接近，因此该收藏品将存放在石溪大学，将为广大对旧石器时代感兴趣的研究人员提供宝贵的资源。此外，该项目需要与美国和欧洲其他大学和机构的科学家和研究生合作，该项目产生的所有臼齿微磨损图像和数据将通过石溪大学维护的网站广泛提供。 该项目将通过让本科生参与数据收集和分析过程来整合研究和教育。最后，拟议的活动促进了代表性不足的群体参与古人类学研究，因为联合首席研究员是一名黎巴嫩妇女。