Paleolithic Portuguese Landscapes

乔纳森·霍斯博士将与美国和欧洲的同事一起，在国家科学基金会的支持下，沿着葡萄牙中部海岸进行为期两年的考古调查，研究旧石器时代人类对不断变化的沿海和近岸景观和海景的适应性。其目的是检验人类住区的强度与海洋生产力的变化相对应的观点，即上升流强度随时间的波动。旧石器时代，葡萄牙海岸外的上升流强度是今天的3-7倍。这将创造一个更丰富的海洋生态系统，使海岸成为一个极具吸引力的居住地。项目团队设计了一个调查和测试程序，以发现新的地点，重建古代景观，并跟踪时间的变化。在美国国家科学基金会的支持下，一项初步调查在研究区域发现了60个新的遗址。调查区域包括Nazare镇附近400平方公里的区域。在这个区域内，该项目确定了三个特别重要的区域，以便将来进行深入的调查和测试。在接下来的两年里，研究小组将对纳扎雷北部的海岸边缘进行密集的调查，在那里，在构造过程中抬升的古代海滩沉积物中发现了两个尼安德特人的遗址。这些沉积物沿着2公里长的海岸暴露出来，并将对其他地点进行系统测试。稍往内陆，项目组将调查一个高地，那里的燧石从基岩石灰岩中露出来。初步调查已在该区域的一个小区域内确定了许多地点。来源可能是旧石器时代居住在海岸的人们使用的主要来源。此外，2006年在该地区对一个小洞穴进行了测试。这个遗址有旧石器时代的文物，应该能提供使用海洋食物的直接证据。Nazare南部的第三个区域在旧石器时代海岸附近有洞穴和岩石庇护所，这些地方将被测试以寻找人类消耗海洋资源的证据。拟议的调查将有助于了解沿海生产力与人类适应之间的关系。沿海生产力的变化肯定会通过空间和时间影响资源的可用性，史前人口的生存将需要灵活的适应。该项目有可能通过展示迄今为止未得到充分重视的人类住区的重要性，彻底改变目前对旧石器时代人类生活方式的认识。科学努力的更广泛影响，比如提议跨越国界，将来自不同文化背景的人团结在一起，共同追求知识。这个项目将把葡萄牙和美国的教师和学生聚集在一起，探讨有关人类过去的重要问题。拟议中的研究将阐明人类进化和人类行为的基本问题。鉴于全球社会的扩大，在美国和世界其他地区的学者之间建立和保持合作研究尤为重要。

Dr. Jonathan Haws, along with American and European colleagues, will conduct a National Science Foundation-supported two-year archaeological survey along the coast of central Portugal to study flexibility in human adaptations to changing coastal and near-coastal landscapes and seascapes during the Paleolithic period. The goal is to test the idea that the intensity of human settlement corresponds with changes in ocean productivity, namely fluctuations in upwelling intensity over time. During the Paleolithic, the upwelling off the coast of Portugal was 3-7 times more intense than today. This would have created an even richer marine ecosystem would have made the coast an extremely attractive place to live. The project team has designed a survey and testing program to discover new sites, reconstruct the ancient landscapes and track changes through time. An initial survey supported by the National Science Foundation resulted in the discovery of 60 new sites in the research area.The survey area encompasses a 400 km2 region near the town of Nazare. Within this area the project identified three areas of particular importance for future intensive survey and testing. In the next two years, the team will conduct intensive survey of the coastal margin north of Nazare, where two Neandertal sites were found in ancient beach sediments that have been uplifted through tectonic processes. These sediments are exposed along a 2-km stretch of coast and will be systematically tested for additional sites. Slightly, inland the project team will survey an upland zone where flint outcrops from the bedrock limestone. Initial survey has identified many sites in a small area within this zone. The source may be the primary one utilized by people inhabiting the shore during the Paleolithic. In addition, a small cave was tested in this area in 2006. This site has Paleolithic artifacts and should yield direct evidence for the use of marine foods. A third area to the south of Nazare has caves and rockshelters within a short distance to the Paleolithic shore and these will be tested to find evidence for human consumption of marine resources.The proposed survey will enable an understanding of the relationship between coastal productivity and human adaptations. Variations in coastal productivity certainly affected resource availability through space and time and the survival of prehistoric populations would have necessitated flexible adaptations. The project has the potential to revolutionize the current knowledge of Paleolithic human lifeways by demonstrating the importance of a hitherto underappreciated focus of human settlement.The broader impacts of scientific endeavors like the one proposed crosscut national boundaries to unite people from different cultural backgrounds in the common pursuit of knowledge. This project will bring together Portuguese and American faculty and students to pursue important questions regarding the human past. The proposed research will shed light on fundamental issues in human evolution and human behavior. Given the expansion of the global community, it is especially important to build and maintain collaborative research between scholars from the United States and the rest of the world.