Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: A GIS-Based Approach to the Study of Hominin Carcass Acquisition at Kanjera South, Kenya

人属最早成员的饮食和生存行为对于理解早期人类的行为生态学和人类进化的生态背景至关重要。由于肉类是一种高质量的资源，其在饮食中的重要性及其获取方法特别令人感兴趣。早期人属成员的肉食性增加的转变被认为是人类谱系中的一个决定性适应。然而，这是如何以及以何种方式发生的，以及由此对我们的人类祖先产生的生态和行为影响目前还不清楚。本研究提出了测试目前的竞争假设的人类生存策略和人类食肉动物的竞争，通过研究人类和食肉动物引起的修改在200万年前的考古骨骼组合从Kanjera南，肯尼亚。化石上的人类屠宰痕迹和食肉动物牙齿痕迹的模式将相对于现代的实验性骨骼组合进行评估，这些骨骼组合在受控条件下被食肉动物屠宰和喂养。通过这种比较，我们可以推断早期人类和食肉动物之间的竞争程度，以及对尸体的利用程度。为了解决生存策略如何相对于环境因素而变化，然后将该数据集与另外两个年龄大致相同但沉积在不同环境中的考古骨骼组合（FwJj 20，Koobi Fora，肯尼亚和FLK Zinj，Olduvai Gorge，坦桑尼亚）进行比较。通过评估更新世人类-食肉动物相互作用的假设和记录人类的尸体获取策略，这项研究将有助于更广泛地了解早期人类的进化适应和行为生态学。这将是迄今为止最严格的研究，通过分析在不同环境背景下形成的遗址，在比较框架中考察早期人类的行为生态学。通过这个项目创建的实验性食肉动物啃噬组合将是对越来越多的现有现实主义组合的一个特别有价值的补充，因为它将是犬科动物啃噬模式的最彻底的记录。最后，本计画将介绍一套严谨的以地理资讯系统为基础的方法，应用于人类及肉食动物骨骼改造的研究。将使用GIS图像分析方法以比以前更精确的方式量化骨修改。这项研究将是第一个应用这种方法来分析食肉动物修改组合。这里采用的新方法将为考古骨骼数据记录的更大标准化奠定基础，拟议的研究将促进与肯尼亚国家博物馆研究人员的国际合作，在那里将进行数据收集。此外，这项研究将促进女性在科学领域的发展，促进她的研究生培训，以及本科生实习生的培训。

The diet and subsistence behaviors of the earliest members of the genus Homo are central to understanding the behavioral ecology of early hominins and the ecological context of human evolution in general. Because meat is a high quality resource, its importance in the diet and its method of acquisition are of particular interest. The shift toward increased meat eating by early members of the genus Homo has been argued to be a defining adaptation in the human lineage. However, how and in what manner this occurred and the resulting ecological and behavioral repercussions for our hominin ancestors is currently not well understood. This study proposes to test current competing hypotheses of hominin subsistence strategies and hominin-carnivore competition through a study of hominin- and carnivore-induced modifications in the 2.0 million year old archaeological bone assemblage from Kanjera South, Kenya. Patterns in hominin butchery marking and carnivore tooth marking on fossils will be assessed relative to modern, experimental bone assemblages that have been butchered and fed on by carnivores under controlled conditions. This comparison will allow inferences to be made regarding the degree of competition between early hominins and carnivores as well as the extent of carcass utilization. In order to address how subsistence strategies may have varied relative to environmental factors, this dataset will then be compared to two additional archaeological bone assemblages of roughly the same age but deposited in different environmental settings (FwJj 20, Koobi Fora, Kenya and FLK Zinj, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania). Patterning in bone surface modifications will be analyzed using a GIS image-analysis method.By evaluating hypotheses of Pleistocene hominin-carnivore interactions and documenting hominin carcass acquisition strategies, this study will contribute to the broader understanding of early hominin evolutionary adaptation and behavioral ecology. This will be the most rigorous study to date examining early hominin behavioral ecology in a comparative framework through an analysis of sites formed within different environmental contexts. The experimental carnivore-gnawed assemblage created through this project will be a particularly valuable addition to the growing number of existing actualistic assemblages, as it will be the most thorough documentation of canid gnawing patterns. Finally this project will introduce a rigorous GIS-based method to the study of hominin and carnivore bone modification. A GIS image-analysis method will be used to quantify bone modifications in a more precise way than has been done previously. This study will be the first to apply this method to analyze a carnivore-modified assemblage. The new methodology employed here will lay the groundwork for development of greater standardization in archaeological bone data recording.The proposed research will foster international collaborations with researchers at the National Museums of Kenya, where data collection will be conducted. Further, this research will advance a female in science and facilitate her graduate training, as well as the training of undergraduate student interns.