Stability and Change in Neandertal Technology from MIS 9 to MIS 3 in Central Italy

意大利中部尼安德特人技术从 MIS 9 到 MIS 3 的稳定性和变化

• 批准号: 1118143
• 负责人: Paola Villa
• 金额: $ 14.75万
• 依托单位: University of Colorado at Boulder
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-08-01 至 2016-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1118143&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Stability; Change; Neandertal; Technology; MIS

The stability and uniformity of Neandertal (Middle Paleolithic) technology is a commonplace assumption. The development of local traditions and temporal variation has been documented only for the later phases of the Middle Paleolithic and in some regions only. Regional patterns in tool manufacture and typology may be seen as culturally determined yet the widespread assumption is that Neandertal societies and traditions were essentially uniform and static. Differences in the mental capacity of Neandertals and of modern humans might explain why Neandertals became extinct.This research will advance the debate about differences in the cognitive capacities of Neandertals and early modern humans and will help to isolate the specific capabilities which make the human species unique.Recent research has expanded the Neandertal chronological range to at least 400,000 years ago and their geographic range as far as possibly southern Siberia. Their cognitive abilities and subsistence practices have been extended to include planning of communal hunts, hafting and the use of glues that require heat treatment, long-term organization of knapping activities, the exploitation of small game and aquatic resources, the use of mineral pigments and the habitual use of fire. Yet the conventional view that Neandertals did not have a capacity to form innovative plans of action and copied technical behavior from one generation to the next, with little variation beyond adaptations to ecological conditions, persists. At present it is impossible to fully support or refute the conventional view of Neandertals. To break this impasse, these claims must be empirically tested. With National Science Foundation support, Dr. Paola Villa and an international team of colleagues will carry out technological analyses, supported by experimental replication, of lithic assemblages from three late Acheulian, eight Middle Paleolithic and three Aurignacian sites, dating from 330,000 to 30,000 years ago in a single region (Central Italy). The assemblages will be used to establish rates of stability and/or change in tool forms, use of particular knapping methods and objectives of tool production over this long time span. These assemblages are all made on exactly the same kind of flint pebbles, of high quality but very limited in the size of products. This constant eliminates one major, external, factor of variability between assemblages which makes it difficult to evaluate the inventiveness and significance of technological changes through time. There are no other sequences in Europe documenting the use of the same kind and morphology of raw material over three hundred thousand years. Comparisons with pre and post Neandertal assemblages will be made to assess Neandertal technical abilities compared to those of modern humans and of presumed pre-Neandertals. Dating by multiple techniques will be done for assemblages which lack or have insufficient radiometric dates. This research program includes Italian and French archaeologists, a geologist, a paleontologist, and three dating specialists from Australia and England. The project will bring to the international scene the rich but still incompletely known Italian prehistoric record of the Middle and Upper Pleistocene and will broaden the participation of students from multiple universities. Upon conclusion of analyses, thousands of artifacts curated and ready for other analyses will be available to other researchers.

尼安德特人（旧石器时代中期）技术的稳定性和一致性是一个普遍的假设。地方传统的发展和时间变化只在旧石器时代中期的后期和某些地区有记录。工具制造和类型学的区域模式可能被视为由文化决定的，但普遍的假设是，尼安德特人的社会和传统基本上是统一和静态的。尼安德特人和现代人在心智能力上的差异或许可以解释为什么尼安德特人会灭绝。这项研究将推进关于尼安德特人和早期现代人在认知能力上差异的辩论，并将有助于分离出使人类物种独特的特定能力。最近的研究将尼安德特人的年代范围扩大到至少400年，它们的地理范围可能远至西伯利亚南部。他们的认知能力和生存习惯已经扩大到包括规划集体狩猎、用木桩和使用需要热处理的胶水、长期组织knapping活动、开发小猎物和水产资源、使用矿物颜料和习惯性使用火。然而，传统的观点认为，尼安德特人没有能力形成创新的行动计划，并从一代复制技术行为到下一代，除了适应生态条件外，几乎没有变化。目前，不可能完全支持或反驳尼安德特人的传统观点。为了打破这一僵局，必须对这些主张进行实证检验。在国家科学基金会的支持下，保拉维拉博士和一个国际同事团队将在实验复制的支持下，对来自三个阿舍利晚期、八个旧石器时代中期和三个奥里尼亚克遗址的石器组合进行技术分析，这些石器组合的年代可以追溯到一个地区（意大利中部）33万至3万年前。装配将用于确定刀具形状的稳定性和/或变化率，使用特定的敲除方法以及在此长时间跨度内刀具生产的目标。这些组合都是在完全相同的燧石鹅卵石上制成的，质量很高，但产品的尺寸非常有限。这个常数消除了一个主要的外部因素，即组合之间的变化，这使得很难评估随着时间的推移技术变化的创造性和意义。在欧洲没有其他序列记录使用相同种类和形态的原材料超过三十万年。将与前和后尼安德特人组合进行比较，以评估尼安德特人与现代人和假定的前尼安德特人相比的技术能力。对于缺乏或没有足够的放射性测年数据的组合，将采用多种技术进行测年。该研究项目包括意大利和法国的考古学家，一名地质学家，一名古生物学家，以及来自澳大利亚和英国的三名测年专家。该项目将把丰富但尚未完全了解的意大利中更新世和上更新世史前记录带到国际舞台，并将扩大来自多所大学的学生的参与。分析结束后，数千件精心策划并准备好进行其他分析的文物将提供给其他研究人员。