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

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小组将在坦桑尼亚的奥杜威峡谷进行两个季节的地质和考古研究。该团队汇集了美国，英国，西班牙和坦桑尼亚的地质学家和考古学家将重新访问奥杜威第二层中层和上层的经典化石和石器遗址。奥杜威的这段时间（约179 - 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、原始奥杜威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，许多奥杜威文物都是在原始或接近原始的环境中发现的，提供了有关原始人类行为的额外信息。自M.D.以来，很少对中上层II进行实地研究。尽管奥杜威第二层很重要，但挖掘地点的年代和地层位置却没有得到很好的限制。第二层顶部的年龄估计在140万年到100万年之间。这40万年的时间跨度使得我们无法将奥杜威遗址的记录与东非其他可能同时代的遗址进行时间上的比较，也使得我们很难将奥杜威遗址的大量考古数据纳入到人类进化的区域研究中。为了解决这一问题，本研究将使用创新的40 Ar/39 Ar放射性测量方法对第二层火山灰进行测年。除了为区域对比提供更好的测年外，本项目还将改善奥杜威内各地点之间的对比。该项目将研究奥杜威沉积物中的火山灰，确定每种火山灰的独特成分“指纹”，并利用这些指纹来识别不同地点的个别火山灰。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。利用这个高分辨率的框架，该项目将测试聚集在古奥杜威湖边缘的“发达的奥杜瓦”考古遗址是否与更内陆的早期阿舍利共存。使用现代组合解释的文物的重新调查将有助于测试这两个组合是否真的代表独特的行业，或者他们是否适应不同的生态settings.The智力价值的项目是建立一个新的，地球化学测试的地层框架奥杜威第二层，可以测试和完善其考古遗址的相对年龄。新的日期将为这个臭名昭著的年代不佳的时间间隔提供年龄控制，并将奥杜威记录与区域气候和技术变化记录联系起来。对第二层发育的奥杜瓦和阿舍利组合的重新研究将结合联合收割机和实验室工作，对奥杜瓦-阿舍利早期序列最初被确定的地点进行现代重新评估。这项研究的更广泛影响是，它将提高对奥杜瓦在人类进化、技术发展和气候变化记录中的年代学和考古学地位的理解。该项目将为美国，英国，该项目将帮助坦桑尼亚国家历史博物馆改善古人类学设施。

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.