Paleolithic Portuguese Landscapes

Jonathan Haws博士与美国和欧洲的同事沿着，将在葡萄牙中部海岸沿着进行一项由国家科学基金会支持的为期两年的考古调查，以研究旧石器时代人类适应不断变化的沿海和近沿海景观和海景的灵活性。 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想法，即上升流强度随时间的波动。 在旧石器时代，葡萄牙海岸的上升流比今天强3-7倍。 这将创造一个更加丰富的海洋生态系统，使海岸成为一个非常有吸引力的居住地。 项目团队设计了一个调查和测试计划，以发现新的遗址，重建古代景观并跟踪时间的变化。 由美国国家科学基金会支持的初步调查在研究区域发现了60个新地点。调查区域包括纳扎雷镇附近400平方公里的区域。 在这一领域内，该项目确定了三个对今后深入调查和测试特别重要的领域。 在未来两年内，该团队将对纳扎雷以北的海岸边缘进行密集调查，在那里，在通过构造过程被抬升的古代海滩沉积物中发现了两个尼安德特人遗址。 这些沉积物沿沿着2公里长的海岸暴露，并将在其他地点进行系统测试。 稍微往内陆一点，项目小组将调查一块高地，那里燧石从基岩石灰岩中露出。 初步调查已在该区域内的一个小区域内确定了许多地点。该水源可能是旧石器时代居住在海岸的人们利用的主要水源。 此外，2006年在该地区测试了一个小洞穴。 这个遗址有旧石器时代的文物，应该能提供使用海洋食物的直接证据。 Nazare以南的第三个地区有洞穴和岩石掩体，距离旧石器时代的海岸不远，将对这些洞穴和岩石掩体进行测试，以找到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与人类适应能力之间的关系。 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被充分重视的人类住区的重要性来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，如提出跨越国界，将来自不同文化背景的人们团结起来共同追求知识。该项目将汇集葡萄牙和美国的教师和学生追求有关人类过去的重要问题。这项研究将揭示人类进化和人类行为的基本问题。鉴于全球社会的扩大，建立和保持美国和世界其他地区学者之间的合作研究尤为重要。

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.