New Stratigraphic and Archaeological Investigations on the Origin of the Acheulean at Olduvai Gorge

关于奥杜瓦伊峡谷阿舍利起源的新地层学和考古学调查

• 批准号: 0852292
• 负责人: Lindsay McHenry
• 金额: $ 22.35万
• 依托单位: University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-03-01 至 2012-02-29
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0852292&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: New; Stratigraphic; Archaeological; Investigations; Origin

With National Science Foundation support, Dr. Lindsay McHenry and an international team of colleagues will conduct two field seasons of geological and archaeological research at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. The team brings together U.S., U.K., Spanish, and Tanzanian geologists and archaeologists to revisit classic fossil and stone tool sites in Olduvai Middle and Upper Bed II. This interval of time (~1.79 - 1.15 million years) at Olduvai preserves evidence for critical changes in early hominid and animal fossils, stone tools, and climate, including the disappearance of Homo habilis, the emergence of Homo erectus, the end of primitive Oldowan stone tools, and the first appearance of more advanced Acheulean tools. Unlike at many other African archaeological sites, many Olduvai artifacts are found in primary or near-primary context, providing additional information on hominid behavior. Little field research has been conducted on Middle and Upper Bed II since M.D. Leakey's original studies over 40 years ago.Despite the importance of Olduvai Bed II, the age and stratigraphic position of the excavated sites is poorly constrained. Estimates for the age of the top of Bed II range from 1.4 to 1.0 million years. This 400,000-year range makes it impossible to compare the Olduvai record chronologically with other potentially contemporaneous sites in Eastern Africa, and makes it difficult to incorporate the vast amount of archaeological data from Olduvai into regional studies of hominin evolution. To address this, this study will date volcanic ashes from Bed II using innovative 40Ar/39Ar radiometric methods.In addition to providing better dates for regional correlation this project will improve site-to-site correlation within Olduvai. This project will study volcanic ashes within the Olduvai sediments, determining unique compositional "fingerprints" for each ash and using these to identify individual ashes at different sites. By analyzing ashes above and below archaeological sites, this project will construct a new stratigraphic framework for Bed II. Using this high-resolution framework this project will test whether the "Developed Oldowan" archaeological sites clustered around the margins of ancient Olduvai lake coexisted with the more inland Early Acheulean. A renewed investigation of the artifacts using modern assemblage interpretations will help test whether these two assemblages actually represent unique industries, or whether they are adaptive responses to different ecological settings.The intellectual merit of this project is the establishment of a new, geochemically tested stratigraphic framework for Olduvai Bed II that can test and refine the relative ages of its archaeological sites. New dates will provide age control for this notoriously poorly dated interval, and relate the Olduvai record to regional records of climate and technological change. The re-examination of Bed II Developed Oldowan and Acheulean assemblages will combine field and laboratory work to provide a modern reappraisal of the sites where the Oldowan - early Acheulean sequence was originally defined.The broader impact of this study is that it will improve understanding of Olduvai's chronological and archaeological place in the records of human evolution, technological development, and climate change. This project will provide training for U.S., U.K., and Tanzanian students and will help improve the paleoanthropological facilities at the Tanzanian National History Museum.

在国家科学基金会的支持下，林赛·麦克亨利博士和一个国际同事团队将在坦桑尼亚的奥杜瓦伊峡谷进行两个野外地质和考古研究季节。考古队汇集了美国、英国、西班牙和坦桑尼亚的地质学家和考古学家，重新考察了Olduvai第二中上层床的经典化石和石器遗址。在Olduvai的这段时间间隔(约179万-115万年)保存了早期人类和动物化石、石器和气候发生重大变化的证据，包括能人的消失、直立人的出现、原始奥尔多安石器的终结，以及更先进的阿舍利工具的首次出现。与许多其他非洲考古遗址不同，许多奥杜瓦伊文物是在原始或接近原始的背景下发现的，提供了关于原始人行为的额外信息。自从M.D.Leakey 40多年前进行原始研究以来，对中上第二层的野外研究很少，尽管Olduvai第二层很重要，但出土遗址的年代和地层位置限制很少。第二层顶层的年龄估计在140万到100万年之间。这种40万年的范围使得奥杜瓦伊的记录不可能按时间顺序与东非其他可能的同时代遗址进行比较，也使得将奥杜瓦伊的大量考古数据纳入对古人类进化的地区性研究变得困难。为了解决这一问题，这项研究将使用创新的40Ar/39Ar辐射测量方法测定第二层火山灰的年代。除了提供更好的区域对比日期外，该项目还将改善Olduvai内部的站点对站点的关联。该项目将研究Olduvai沉积物中的火山灰，确定每个火山灰的独特成分“指纹”，并利用这些指纹识别不同地点的单个火山灰。通过分析考古遗址上方和下方的灰烬，该项目将为第二层建立一个新的地层框架。利用这个高分辨率框架，该项目将测试聚集在古奥杜瓦湖边缘的“发达的奥多万”考古遗址是否与更内陆的早期阿舍利世共存。使用现代组合解释对文物进行重新调查将有助于测试这两个组合是否实际上代表了独特的行业，或者它们是否是对不同生态环境的适应性反应。该项目的智力价值在于为Olduvai Bed II建立了一个新的、经过地球化学测试的地层学框架，可以测试和完善其考古遗址的相对年龄。新的日期将为这一臭名昭著的年代间隔提供年龄控制，并将Olduvai的记录与气候和技术变化的地区记录联系起来。对第二层发育的奥多万和阿舍利组合的重新检查将结合野外和实验室工作，以提供对奥多万-阿舍利早期层序最初定义的遗址的现代重新评估。这项研究的更广泛影响是，它将提高对奥杜瓦伊在人类进化、技术发展和气候变化记录中的年代和考古地位的理解。该项目将为美国、英国和坦桑尼亚的学生提供培训，并将有助于改善坦桑尼亚国家历史博物馆的古人类学设施。