Luminescence Sediment Dating of Pleistocene Hominin and Tool Sites at Atapuerca, Spain

西班牙阿塔普尔卡更新世人类和工具遗址的发光沉积物测年

• 批准号: 0841059
• 负责人: Glenn Berger
• 金额: $ 12.9万
• 依托单位: Nevada System of Higher Education, Desert Research Institute
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-06-01 至 2013-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0841059&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Luminescence; Sediment; Dating; Pleistocene; Hominin

Supported by the National Science Foundation, Dr. Glenn Berger will conduct 2 weeks of field work in northern Spain with Spanish colleagues at the UNESCO World Heritage Archeological Site of Atapuerca, near Burgos. For the last 1-million-year period, this is one of the world's most important site for fossils, tools and faunal finds related to the presence of ancestors to modern humans, yet much of the timing for the deposition of the various finds at the 3-4 related sites at Atapuerca is uncertain. Understanding when human ancestors arrived in Europe and how they evolved thereafter requires knowing the ages of the fossil and stone-tool finds. Absent evidence for use of fire and pottery (none yet found at Atapuerca before the last 50,000 yrs), such stone tools are the main preserved representations of the cultural behaviors of human ancestors of such antiquity. Furthering an international collaboration begun in 1997, Berger and Spanish colleagues will collect sediment samples throughout 3 of the cave sites (Gran Dolina, Galería, Elefante) at Atapuerca. In his laboratory in Reno, Nevada, Berger will apply several variations of a sediment-dating technique that measures luminescence to be stimulated artificially from unheated mineral grains. His 2008 published report (Journal of Human Evolution) demonstrated for the first time that luminescence techniques could date sediments from 2 (Gran Dolina and Galería) of the Atapuerca cave deposits, back to about 1 million years. The current project not only will attempt to provide a better age for the old skull at Gran Dolina, but will provide the first numeric ages for stone tools from a relatively new cave site (Elefante), and more precise and accurate ages for tools from the 2 other mentioned cave sites. In a broader context, these ages will place the development of the tool styles into a numeric time series and thus permit relating these developments in the technologies of human ancestors to those from other sites around the world. Knowledge of the sequence of development of tool styles in different areas of the world is an important key to understanding human evolution. As well, such numeric time scales are essential for relating the migration and evolution of human ancestors in Europe to their likely connections to Asian-African forebears. Numeric time scales are critical for the search for causes of and effects on the evolutionary changes in regional fossil plants and animals, such as climatic changes. This project also will develop a cross-comparison of luminescence ages with the few available numeric ages from two other dating techniques (ESR and cosmogenic-nuclide dating). Such comparisons are rare in archeological studies beyond the age range of radiocarbon dating (about 35,000 yrs) in areas lacking volcanic deposits (such as much of Europe). Moreover, this project will permit undergraduate students in Reno to participate in cutting-edge laboratory research.

在国家科学基金会的支持下，格伦·贝格（Glenn Berger）博士将在西班牙北部与西班牙同事在布尔戈斯附近的阿塔普尔卡（Atapuerca）的西班牙同事进行2周的实地工作。在过去的100万年期间，这是世界上最重要的化石，工具和动物群发现与现代人类祖先有关的发现，但是在ATAPUERCA的3-4相关地点的各种发现中的存在时间尚不确定。了解人类祖先何时到达欧洲，以及他们之后如何进化，需要知道化石和石工具的年龄​​。没有使用火和陶器的证据（在最后50,000年之前尚未发现在Atapuerca），这种石材工具是这种古代祖先的文化行为的主要保留代表。贝格和西班牙同事们从1997年开始进行国际合作，将在Atapuerca收集三个洞穴遗址（Gran Dolina，Galería，Elefante）的沉积物样品。在他在内华达州里诺的实验室中，伯杰将采用多种沉积物约会技术的变化，该技术测量发光以从未加热的矿物晶粒中人为地刺激。他2008年发表的报告（《人类进化杂志》）首次证明了发光技术可以与Atapuerca洞穴沉积物的2个（Gran Dolina和Galería）的沉积物约会，回到了大约一百万年。当前的项目不仅会尝试为格兰·多利纳（Gran Dolina）的旧颅骨提供更高的年龄，而且还将为相对新的洞穴站点（Elefante）（Elefante）的石材工具提供第一个数字年龄，并从其他两个提到的洞穴站点提供更精确，更准确的工具。在更广泛的背景下，这些年龄将将工具样式的开发置于数字时间序列中，从而允许将这些发展与人类祖先的技术联系起来与来自世界其他地点的人。了解世界各个领域工具样式的开发顺序是理解人类进化的重要关键。同样，这种数字时间尺度对于将欧洲祖先的迁移和演变与他们与亚洲前辈的可能性联系起来至关重要。数字时间尺度对于寻找原因和影响区域化石动植物（例如气候变化）的进化变化的原因和影响至关重要。该项目还将开发出发光年龄的交叉比较，其中几种可用的数字年龄来自另外两种约会技术（ESR和宇宙核核测年）。在缺乏火山沉积物（例如欧洲大部分地区）的地区，这种比较在超出放射性碳年代年龄范围（约35,000年）之外的考古研究中很少见。此外，该项目将允许里诺的本科生参加尖端的实验室研究。