Mousterian Socioeconomic Organization in Southeastern Europe

东南欧莫斯特社会经济组织

• 批准号: 1024857
• 负责人: Robert Whallon
• 金额: $ 31.85万
• 依托单位: Regents of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-08-15 至 2016-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1024857&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Mousterian; Socioeconomic; Organization; Southeastern; Europe

One of the most interesting questions in Paleolithic archaeology today is what research in such early periods can tell us about the origins of modern human behavior and culture. With support from the National Science Foundation, Dr. Robert Whallon will lead an international team of scholars in an investigation of this question at a large and important Neanderthal site in southeastern Europe.There are currently great differences of opinion among Paleolithic archaeologists about whether the behavior and culture of our nearest biological relatives, the Neanderthals, was primitive and limited compared to us, or whether they show the beginnings of essentially modern behavior and culture. Recently, it has been proposed that the division of labor, universally characteristic of ethnographically known human hunter-gatherers, did not exist in Neanderthal societies, but was part of the socioeconomic systems of the modern human populations that spread from the eastern Mediterranean throughout Europe. It was presumably the greater effectiveness of an economic system based on the division of labor that allowed modern human populations to expand and replace the Neanderthals.This project will evaluate this proposal by investigating the organization of Neanderthal subsistence economy and society over a long sequence of changing environmental conditions. Specifically, it will test the hypothesis that Neanderthals pursued large game hunting in warmer climates by bridging gaps between successful hunts by storing meat that was preserved by smoking and drying over fire. In colder climates, with little or no forest available for fuel, Neanderthals were unable to avoid unpredictable gaps in foraging success in this way, and were therefore subject to food stress and fluctuations in population. In these conditions, Neanderthal populations would have been comparatively small and sparse.The location of this project is the site of Crvena Stijena, a large rock shelter on the western border of Montenegro. Crvena Stijena contains a sequence of undisturbed Middle Paleolithic archaeological deposits at least 9 m in depth, estimated to range in age from approximately 40,000 to 150,000 BP. This sequence probably represents the longest record of Neanderthal archaeology yet discovered in the southeastern Europe. Neanderthal economic and social organization in the occupations represented by these deposits will be reconstructed through coordinated studies of their hearths, the animal bones, the stone tools, and other remains, conducted by a series of expert specialists.The broader impacts of this project include significant components of teaching and training, especially of students in Balkan countries. American students are closely involved in this project as well, being trained in Paleolithic archaeology, and given opportunities for developing undergraduate honors theses and doctoral dissertation research. In the course of their participation, American students are also exposed to an international and multi-cultural experience that enhances their understanding of the world and of different cultures. In addition, the project will contribute significantly to the development of the research infrastructure in Montenegro, helping to build up comparative research and teaching collections in several research centers and museums.

旧石器时代考古学中最有趣的问题之一是，对这么早时期的研究可以告诉我们关于现代人类行为和文化起源的什么。在美国国家科学基金会（National Science Foundation）的支持下，罗伯特·华伦（Robert Whallon）博士将带领一个由学者组成的国际团队，在欧洲东南部一个重要的大型尼安德特人遗址对这个问题进行调查。目前，旧石器时代的考古学家们对我们最近的生物亲戚尼安德特人的行为和文化与我们相比是否原始和有限，或者他们是否显示了本质上现代行为和文化的开端，存在着巨大的分歧。最近，有人提出，在尼安德特人社会中并不存在劳动分工，这是人种学上已知的人类狩猎采集者的普遍特征，而是从地中海东部传播到欧洲的现代人类社会经济系统的一部分。大概是基于劳动分工的经济体系更有效，使得现代人人口得以扩张，并取代了尼安德特人。该项目将通过调查尼安德特人自给经济和社会在长期变化的环境条件下的组织来评估这一建议。具体来说，它将验证尼安德特人在温暖气候下狩猎大型猎物的假设，他们通过储存通过烟熏和火上干燥保存的肉来弥补成功狩猎之间的差距。在较冷的气候中，很少或根本没有森林可以提供燃料，尼安德特人无法通过这种方式避免觅食成功的不可预测的间隔，因此受到食物压力和人口波动的影响。在这种情况下，尼安德特人的数量相对较少，而且稀少。该项目位于Crvena Stijena遗址，这是黑山西部边境的一个大型岩石避难所。Crvena Stijena包含一系列未受干扰的中旧石器时代考古沉积物，深度至少为9米，估计年龄约为40,000至150,000 BP。这个序列可能代表了迄今为止在东南欧发现的最长的尼安德特人考古记录。在这些沉积物所代表的职业中，尼安德特人的经济和社会组织将通过一系列专家对他们的壁炉、动物骨骼、石器和其他遗骸进行协调研究来重建。该项目的广泛影响包括教学和培训的重要组成部分，特别是巴尔干国家的学生。美国学生也密切参与这个项目，接受旧石器时代考古学方面的培训，并有机会撰写本科荣誉论文和博士论文研究。在他们参与的过程中，美国学生也接触到国际和多元文化的体验，增强了他们对世界和不同文化的理解。此外，该项目将为发展黑山的研究基础设施作出重大贡献，帮助在几个研究中心和博物馆建立比较研究和教学收藏。