Survey for Pliocene Stone Tools and Fossils in North Africa: Explorations into Ain Boucherit, Beni Foudha Basin, Northeastern Algeria

北非上新世石器和化石调查：阿尔及利亚东北部贝尼富达盆地 Ain Boucherit 勘探

• 批准号: 0517984
• 负责人: Mohamed Sahnouni
• 金额: $ 2.41万
• 依托单位: Indiana University
• 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: 2005-07-01 至 2007-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0517984&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Survey; Pliocene; Stone; Tools; Fossils

With the support of the National Science Foundation, Dr. Mohamed Sahnouni and his colleagues will carry out an exploratory survey at Ain Boucherit locality in northeastern Algeria. The team is comprised of international scientists in palaeolithic archaeology, vertebrate paleontology, and geology, and will conduct one field season of fieldwork to search for Late Pliocene stone tools and fossils. Paleoanthropological studies over the past decade have shown that early human emergence and dispersal out of Africa, as well as the beginnings of stone tools in Eurasia occurred much earlier than commonly assumed. Given the geographical location of North Africa as a crossroad between Europe and Western Asia, it is fairly reasonable to posit for an early human occupation of this part of the continent prior to 2.0 million years ago (Ma). Ain Hanech documents a wealth of archaeological and paleontological sites and has already yielded the oldest stone tools in North Africa dated to 1.8 Ma. Further fieldwork provides an opportunity to investigate the Late Pliocene deposits for stone tools and fossil fauna. Located 13m below the Ain Hanech and El-Kherba Oldowan deposits (ca. 1.8 Ma), the locality of Ain Boucherit has already produced fossil animal bones and a stone artifact. Based on the faunal evidence and its position, lower in the stratigraphy, Ain Boucherit is estimated between 2.4 and 2.0 Ma. The data required to achieve the proposed research will be gathered through systematic survey and mapping of the Plio-Pleistocene deposits at Ain Boucherit and its surrounding area. The team will delineate the fossil-bearing deposits, conduct preliminary test excavations at promising localities, study their stratigraphic profiles, analyze the fauna in terms of taxonomy and phylogeny; surface modifications; and paleoecological inferences, and study the stone tool assemblages.The research proposed at Ain Boucherit has intellectual merit, because it will address the central issue of early hominin occupation in North Africa and subsequent dispersal into Europe, can provide a better understanding of the larger picture of early human evolution in Africa and early hominin dispersal to diverse regions and habitats on the continent, and contribute to knowledge on human evolution in Algeria and North Africa.The project has broader impacts, because it will: 1) encourage future launching of successive paleoanthropological expeditions into Algeria from an American based academic institution; 2) foster international collaborations involving American, European, and Algerian institutions and scientists; 3) provide, in the near future, fieldwork training to US graduate students and local archaeology and natural sciences students; 4) contribute to developing modern paleoanthropological research infrastructure in Algeria; and 5) involve Algerians including female students, all underrepresented in this field of study. Finally, the project has broader impacts because it is the first of such projects to be directed by an African, a minority in human evolutionary studies.

在国家科学基金会的支持下，穆罕默德·萨赫努尼博士和他的同事们将在阿尔及利亚东北部的艾因布切里特地区进行探索性调查。该团队由旧石器时代考古学、脊椎动物古生物学和地质学方面的国际科学家组成，将进行一个野外季节的野外工作，以寻找上新世晚期的石器和化石。过去十年的古人类学研究表明，早期人类的出现和迁出非洲，以及欧亚大陆石器的开始，都比人们通常认为的要早得多。考虑到北非作为欧洲和西亚的十字路口的地理位置，可以相当合理地假设在200万年前(Ma)之前人类就占领了这块大陆的这一部分。Ain Hanech记录了大量的考古和古生物遗址，并已经发现了北非最古老的石器，其年代为1.8 Ma。进一步的野外调查为研究上新世晚期沉积物中的石器和化石动物群提供了机会。位于Ain Hanech和El-Kherba Oldowan矿床(约1.8 Ma)下方13米处，Ain Boucherit地区已经产生了动物骨骼化石和一件石头文物。根据动物群证据及其在地层中较低的位置，估计Ain Boucherit在2.4-2.0 Ma之间。完成拟议研究所需的数据将通过对艾因布切里特及其周围地区的上更新世沉积进行系统调查和测绘来收集。该小组将圈定含有化石的沉积物，在有希望的地点进行初步试掘，研究其地层剖面，从分类学和系统发育角度分析动物群；表面修改；在艾因布切里特提出的研究具有学术价值，因为它将解决北非早期人类占领和随后扩散到欧洲的核心问题，可以更好地理解非洲早期人类进化和早期人类扩散到非洲大陆不同地区和栖息地的更大图景，并有助于了解阿尔及利亚和北非的人类进化知识。该项目具有更广泛的影响，因为它将：1)鼓励未来从美国的学术机构向阿尔及利亚发起连续的古人类学探险；2)促进涉及美国、欧洲和阿尔及利亚机构和科学家的国际合作；3)在不久的将来，为美国研究生以及当地考古学和自然科学专业的学生提供实地考察培训；4)促进阿尔及利亚现代古人类学研究基础设施的发展；5)吸收阿尔及利亚人，包括女学生，这些人在这一研究领域的代表性都很低。最后，该项目具有更广泛的影响，因为它是第一个由非洲人领导的此类项目，非洲人在人类进化研究中是少数。