Paleolithic Portuguese Landscapes

乔纳森·豪斯博士将与美国和欧洲的同事一起，在葡萄牙中部海岸进行一项由国家科学基金会资助的为期两年的考古调查，以研究人类对旧石器时代不断变化的沿海和近海景观和海景的适应能力。目的是检验人类聚居地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。在旧石器时代，葡萄牙海岸外的上升流比今天强烈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。该项目团队设计了一项调查和测试计划，以发现新的遗址，重建古代景观，并跟踪随时间的变化。由国家科学基金会支持的一项初步调查在研究区域发现了60个新的地点。调查区域包括纳扎尔镇附近400平方公里的区域。在这一领域内，该项目确定了今后进行密集调查和测试的三个特别重要的领域。在接下来的两年里，该小组将对纳扎尔以北的海岸边缘进行密集调查，在那里的古代海滩沉积物中发现了两个尼安德特人遗址，这些沉积物已经通过构造过程抬升。这些沉积物沿着2公里长的海岸裸露，并将为更多的地点进行系统的测试。稍向内陆，项目团队将勘察基岩石灰岩中露出打火石的高地地带。初步调查发现，在该区域内的一小块区域内有许多地点。这种水源可能是旧石器时代居住在海岸的人们所使用的主要水源。此外，2006年还在这一地区测试了一个小洞穴。这个遗址有旧石器时代的文物，应该会为海洋食物的使用提供直接证据。纳扎尔以南的第三个地区在距离旧石器时代海岸不远的地方有洞穴和避难所，这些将进行测试，以寻找人类消耗海洋资源的证据。拟议的调查将使人们能够了解沿海生产力和人类适应能力之间的关系。沿海生产力的变化肯定会在空间和时间上影响资源的可获得性，史前人口的生存需要灵活的适应。该项目有可能对旧石器时代人类生活方式的现有知识产生革命性的影响，因为它展示了迄今未得到重视的人类住区重点的重要性。科学努力的更广泛影响，如一项旨在将来自不同文化背景的人团结在共同追求知识的横切国界的科学努力。这个项目将把葡萄牙和美国的教职员工和学生聚集在一起，探讨有关人类历史的重要问题。这项拟议的研究将阐明人类进化和人类行为的基本问题。鉴于国际社会的扩大，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.