HOMINID: Assessing the Faunal and Lithic Assemblages and Chronology of the Smugglers' Cave Site

该奖项是为在摩洛哥走私者洞穴遗址进行考古实地工作的试点项目颁发的。走私者洞穴是摩洛哥最重要的莫斯特/阿特利亚遗址之一，是考古学家了解莫斯特和阿特利亚石器工业的主要参考地点。该遗址于20世纪50年代首次挖掘，最近的挖掘工作于20世纪90年代重新开始。除了大量的石器和非人类化石外，走私者洞穴还发现了许多重要的中旧石器时代人类遗骸。研究人员打算更准确地了解该遗址的真实年代和古环境背景，地层序列和地层结构，以及化石动物和工具组合。这些数据将使他们能够更好地理解古人类化石的行为，并找到这个问题的答案，“我们在什么时候完全成为现代人？”在挖掘方面，工作将集中在洞穴的内部。研究小组将结合早期发表的方法和较新的技术来分析石材。科考队还将研究动物群。总之，这些研究将提供初步的结果，使研究人员能够解释早期人类的生存策略和空间组织模式。在地质学和年代学方面，研究小组将使用光激发光和热释光测年技术研究地层和遗址形成过程。该遗址的古人类遗骸，包括新发现的莫斯特氏层儿童头骨，将通过解剖描述和同位素研究进行分析。这项工作具有重要的广泛影响，因为它将为本科生和研究生，包括来自美国和其他国家的代表性不足的学生提供强化培训机会。

This award is for a pilot project to conduct archaeological field work at the Moroccan site of Smugglers' Cave. Smugglers' Cave is one of the most important Mousterian/Aterian sites in Morocco and has served as a major reference site for archaeologists' understanding of the Mousterian and Aterian stone tool industries. This site was first excavated in the 1950s and recent excavations were started anew in the 1990s. In addition to numerous stone tools and non-human fossils, Smugglers' Cave has also yielded a number of significant Middle Paleolithic hominin remains. The researchers intend to develop a more accurate understanding of the site's true chronological and paleoenvironmental setting, its stratigraphic sequence and formation, and its fossil animal and tool assemblages. These data will allow them to better understand the behavior of fossil hominins and to get at answers to the question, "At what point did we become fully modern?"In terms of excavation, the work will focus on the interior of the cave. The research team will analyze stone materials using a combination of earlier published methodology and also newer techniques. The team will also study the faunal collections. Together, these studies will provide preliminary results to allow the researchers to interpret the subsistence strategies and patterns of spatial organization of the early hominins. With respect to the geology and chronology, the team will study the stratigraphy and site formation processes using both optically stimulated luminescence and thermoluminescence dating techniques. The hominin remains from the site, including a newly discovered skull of a child in the Mousterian levels, will be analyzed through anatomical description and isotope studies. This work has important broader impacts in that it will provide intensive training opportunities for both undergraduate and graduate students, including underrepresented students from the United States and other countries.