Early Epipaleolithic in the Western Highlands of Jordan

约旦西部高地的旧石器时代早期

• 批准号: 0917660
• 负责人: Deborah Olszewski
• 金额: $ 22.65万
• 依托单位: University of Pennsylvania
• 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: 2009-08-01 至 2016-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0917660&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Early; Epipaleolithic; Western; Highlands; Jordan

With support from the National Science Foundation, Drs. Deborah I. Olszewski and Maysoon al-Nahar will lead an international team on a three-year project investigating late Pleistocene hunter-gatherer adaptations in the Jordanian Western Highlands (Transjordanian Plateau). During this period, changes in behavioral strategies used to exploit landscape resources led to long-term processes that resulted in one of the key economic transitions in prehistory, the origins of agriculture, which in turn fueled the development of civilizations and state-based societies. This Western Highlands project focuses on Early Epipaleolithic (ca. 25,000 to 18,000 calibrated years BP) hunter-gatherer strategies during a period of major climatic change, including the Last Glacial Maximum and a climatic amelioration, all of which impacted plant and animal communities. Previous research at Ohalo II, Sea of Galilee, which dates to the Last Glacial Maximum, documented extensive use of wild cereals (barley). What is not clear, however, is the extent to which intensive use of wild cereals was a strategic economic pattern for these groups across the region and whether this strategy persisted through time or was reintroduced just prior to the onset of food production economies.Much of the Jordanian landscape is currently under-explored from this perspective. To this end, the Western Highlands project will investigate three sites that are situated in different ecological zones - Mediterranean forest, Irano-Turanian steppe, and open parkland - covering the Late Glacial Maximum and the succeeding climatic rebound. Specific tasks include 1) mapping sites with a Total Station; 2) point proveniencing all cultural materials (stone artifacts, fauna, shell, etc.) and samples recovered during excavations with the Total Station for accurate locations and to examine site taphonomy; 3) specialist analysis of fauna and samples for pollen, phytoliths, macrobotanical remains, radiocarbon dating, and geoarchaeology, which will yield data on subsistence, chronology, and landscape use; 4) field analyzing stone artifacts which will inform about site activities and mobility; 5) labeling and properly curating all cultural materials; and, 6) storing all project data, including images, in databases, as well as making this information available on a project website which will include a public-oriented component (including a section in Arabic). Understanding Early Epipaleolithic decisions and strategy options regarding food resource use in different habitats is the primary intellectual merit of this project and a crucial step that will provide new and important data relevant to how hunter-gatherer settlement and subsistence strategies are modified in the face of climatic and paleoenvironmental changes, leading to more informed insight into how domestication economies may have originated.In terms of its broader impacts, the Western Highlands project is designed as an international partnership between Jordanian and non-Jordanian (U.S., France, Croatia, U.K.) participants at all levels from the Principal Investigators to the student members. In particular, each Jordanian student will be paired with a non-Jordanian student; this will facilitate learning different archaeological methods from each other, as well as result in enhanced cultural understanding. All student participants will be trained in Total Station use, lithic analysis, excavation techniques, and Jordanian prehistory prior to the advent of agriculture. Additionally, the PIs and specialists will offer opportunities for students to use the project materials for theses, and encourage the students to collaborate as co-authors on project publications.

在国家科学基金会的支持下，Deborah I.Olszewski博士和Mayon al-Nahar博士将领导一个国际小组开展一个为期三年的项目，调查约旦西部高地(外约旦河高原)晚更新世狩猎采集适应情况。在此期间，用于开发景观资源的行为战略的变化导致了长期的过程，导致了史前关键的经济转型之一--农业的起源，而农业的起源反过来又推动了文明和以国家为基础的社会的发展。这一西部高地项目的重点是在重大气候变化时期(包括末次冰期盛期和气候改善)的早期(约25,000至18,000年前)狩猎-采集战略，所有这些都影响了动植物群落。先前在加利利海Ohalo II进行的研究，可以追溯到最后一次冰川盛期，记录了野生谷物(大麦)的广泛使用。然而，不清楚的是，集约使用野生谷物在多大程度上是整个区域这些群体的一种战略经济模式，以及这一战略是持续了一段时间，还是在粮食生产经济开始之前重新引入的。约旦的许多景观目前都没有从这个角度进行充分的探索。为此，西部高地项目将调查位于不同生态区的三个地点--地中海森林、伊朗-图拉尼亚草原和开阔的公园--涵盖冰川晚期和随后的气候反弹。具体任务包括1)用全站仪测绘遗址；2)点出所有文化材料(石器、动物、贝壳等)。这些活动包括：1)利用全站仪进行挖掘，确定准确的地点，并检查遗址的分类；3)对动物和花粉、植物硅石、大型植物遗骸、放射性碳测年和地质考古进行专门分析，这将产生关于生存、年表和景观用途的数据；4)实地分析石器制品，为遗址的活动和流动性提供信息；5)对所有文化材料进行标记和适当收藏；以及6)将所有项目数据，包括图像，存储在数据库中，并在项目网站上提供这些信息，其中将包括一个面向公众的部分(包括一个阿拉伯语部分)。了解早期旧石器时代关于不同栖息地食物资源利用的决策和战略选择是该项目的主要智力价值，也是关键的一步，它将提供与如何在气候和古环境变化中修改狩猎-采集定居点和生存战略相关的新的重要数据，从而更深入地了解驯化经济可能是如何起源的。就其更广泛的影响而言，西部高地项目旨在成为约旦人和非约旦人(美国、法国、克罗地亚、英国)之间的国际伙伴关系。所有级别的参与者，从首席调查员到学生成员。特别是，每个约旦学生将与一名非约旦学生配对；这将有助于相互学习不同的考古方法，并增进文化理解。在农业出现之前，所有的学生都将接受全站仪使用、岩石分析、挖掘技术和约旦史前技术方面的培训。此外，PIs和专家将为学生提供使用论文项目材料的机会，并鼓励学生作为项目出版物的共同作者进行合作。