Paleoanthropological Investigations in Northern Armenia

在国家科学基金会的支持下，查尔斯·埃格兰博士和一个国际同事团队将在亚美尼亚北部进行一个古人类学研究的野外季节。这项研究汇集了美国和亚美尼亚的考古学、地质学、地理信息系统和人类古生物学专家，试图确定西亚和中亚最早的人类职业。在上新世晚期和更新世早期(200万至170万年前)，早期人类从非洲向欧亚大陆广大地区的最初扩散反映了一种适应新环境的能力，从而标志着人类进化的真正分水岭。在乔治亚共和国著名的德马尼西遗址上发现了早期人类，该遗址可以追溯到180万年前，位于项目区以北仅30公里处，这表明亚美尼亚北部可能是扩大早期人类人口的主要走廊。然而，这些扩散的性质和时间仍然知之甚少，这主要是因为欧亚上更新世遗址的稀少。这项研究的最终目标是确定保存完好的大型上更新世遗址，以更细致地了解生物、技术、文化和不断变化的环境如何影响早期人类最初离开非洲的时间和方式。研究问题的性质要求进行基本的现场调查，以确定有证据表明早期人类占领的地区(骨骼化石和/或石器)。一旦确定了遗址，就可以进行更详细的挖掘，以重建遗址形成和古环境、早期人类饮食和生物学、遗址使用和石器技术等方面的信息。具体任务是：(1)绘制德贝德河和彭巴克河流域的地质剖面图；(2)在已确定的遗址完成广泛的地表材料调查和收集；(3)对遗址进行测试挖掘，以评估其完整性和潜力；(4)建立基于地理信息系统的测绘和挖掘规程；(5)分析所有收集到的文物。人类最初从非洲迁出的时间和性质是古人类学中至关重要的问题。尽管已经提出了令人信服的模型来解释早期人类离开非洲的过程，但欧亚大陆上合适年龄的遗址太少了，无法对它们进行充分的测试。这项研究的学术价值将是确定新的地点，以便更全面地了解早期人类的传播能力及其与生物、文化和环境变化的关系。现代古人类学研究在亚美尼亚的实施仍处于初级阶段，西方学者对该国以前进行的许多工作并不熟悉。在帮助向更广泛的受众传播信息方面，这项研究的更广泛影响将是与亚美尼亚国家科学院建立国际合作，后者是该国最负盛名的科学组织之一。该项目一旦建立，将为在亚美尼亚和国外培养新一代本科生和研究生提供机会。最终，项目小组将发布一个面向公众解释的网站，详细说明和更新项目的结果，并突出其国际合作性质。

With National Science Foundation support, Dr. Charles Egeland and an international team of colleagues will conduct one field season of paleoanthropological research in northern Armenia. This research brings together U.S. and Armenian specialists in archaeology, geology, geographic information systems, and human paleontology in an attempt to identify the earliest human occupations in west-central Asia. The initial dispersal of early human populations from Africa and into the wider reaches of Eurasia during the late Pliocene and early Pleistocene (between 2 and 1.7 million years ago) reflects an ability to adapt to novel environments and thus marks a true watershed in human evolution. The presence of early humans at the well-known site of Dmanisi in the Republic of Georgia, which is dated to 1.8 million years ago and lies just 30km north of the project area, indicates that northern Armenia probably served as a major corridor for expanding early human populations. However, the nature and timing of these dispersals remain poorly understood, largely because of a paucity of Eurasian Plio-Pleistocene sites. The ultimate goal of this research is to identify large, well-preserved Plio-Pleistocene sites to develop a more nuanced understanding of how biology, technology, culture, and changing environments influenced when and how early humans initially left Africa. The nature of the research questions requires basic site survey to be carried out to identify areas with evidence of early human occupation (fossilized bones and/or stone tools). Once sites are identified, more detailed excavations can be conducted to reconstruct aspects of site formation and paleoenvironment, early human diet and biology, site use, and stone tool technology. Specific tasks are (1) map geological sections in the Debed and Pambak river valleys; (2) complete extensive survey and collection of surface materials at identified sites; (3) conduct test excavations at sites to assess their integrity and potential; (4) build a GIS-based mapping and excavation protocol; (5) to analyze all collected artifacts. The timing and nature of the initial human dispersals from Africa are issues of critical importance to paleoanthropology. Although compelling models have been advanced to explain movements of early humans out of Africa, there are too few Eurasian sites of the right age to adequately test them. The intellectual merit of the research will be to identify new sites to permit a more comprehensive understanding of early human dispersal capability and its relationship to biology, culture, and environmental change.The implementation of modern-style paleoanthropological research is still in its infancy in Armenia, and much of the previous work carried out in the country is not well-known to Western scholars. In helping to disseminate information to a wider audience, the broader impacts of this study will be to establish an international collaboration with the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, which is one of the country's most prestigious scientific organizations. Once established, the project will open opportunities to train a new generation of undergraduate and graduate students in Armenia and abroad. Ultimately, the project team will publish a website geared towards public interpretation that will detail and update the results of the project and highlight its international collaborative nature.