Varsche Rivier 003: a new Middle Stone Age site (Namaqualand, South Africa)

Varsche Rivier 003：一个新的中石器时代遗址（南非纳马夸兰）

• 批准号: 1324719
• 负责人: Teresa Steele
• 金额: $ 15.01万
• 依托单位: University of California-Davis
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-08-01 至 2020-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1324719&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Varsche; Rivier; 003; new; Middle

As is clear from responses to public lectures about human evolution and modern human origins, humans are especially interested in knowing their origin and the implications for how they have arrived to where they are today. Following this, scientific inquiry into the origins of distinctively human behaviors is a cornerstone issue in modern paleoanthropological and archaeological research. In southern Africa, the Middle Stone Age (MSA; ~40,000-250,000 years ago) provides the focus of this research, because during this time, all modern humans originated in Africa and a subset of these fully modern humans expanded out of Africa approximately 50,000 years ago. Within the MSA, the Still Bay and Howiesons Poort industries have become central to understanding of the development of this evolving human behavioral complexity, because both exhibit distinctive and innovate stone technologies as well as several of the earliest forms of evidence for symbolic expression, including the production of engravings and the use of ornaments. However, the specific contexts that stimulated these innovations remain unclear. With National Science Foundation support, Dr. Teresa Steele and an international team from South Africa, Australia, Germany, and the USA will contribute significant new information by continuing excavation at Varsche Rivier (VR) 003, a newly discovered MSA site in the Knersvlakte of southern Namaqualand, Western Cape Province, South Africa. VR003 provides an exceptional opportunity to investigate human behavioral evolution during this critical phase of modern human origins. Preliminary work at the site has revealed a series of stone industries, along with animal bones, ostrich eggshells and landsnails. However, this sequence is visible only through two small windows into the deposit, but the site preserves much more. Continuing work at VR003 will advance knowledge of the evolution of human behavior during the MSA because the site 1) is one of only very few to preserve the above sequence of assemblages; 2) is located in an environmental zone that is distinct from other long-sequence sites and other MSA sites in general; 3) is situated within the spatial range of sites that preserve evidence of complex human behaviors, such as engraved ostrich eggshell and ochre, and therefore allows the testing of the ubiquity of these behaviors during the MSA; and 4) provides the opportunity to develop a robust chronology for these industries and to test previous models using independent laboratories and methods.This project provides opportunities for strengthening existing collaborations with American, South African, German, and Australian colleagues and institutions. To train the next generation of researchers, multiple graduate students will participate. Results will be disseminated widely, not only as research papers presented at conferences and published in peer-reviewed journals, but also as raw datasets. The research group is participating in an INQUA HAB COMM Project, which aims to combine technological, behavioural, and environmental datasets from multiple Southern African research projects (including VR003) and make them accessible to others. In addition, results will be shared through formal teaching, local community public lectures, and educational outreach programs in the Unites States and South Africa. All materials that result from our work will be curated and accessible at Iziko South African Museum, Cape Town.

从对关于人类进化和现代人类起源的公开讲座的回应中可以清楚地看出，人类特别感兴趣的是了解他们的起源以及他们如何到达今天的意义。在此之后，对人类独特行为起源的科学探究是现代古人类学和考古学研究的基石问题。在南部非洲，中石器时代（MSA;约40，000 - 250，000年前）提供了这项研究的重点，因为在此期间，所有现代人类都起源于非洲，这些完全现代人类的一个子集在大约50，000年前从非洲扩展出来。在MSA中，Still Bay和Howiesons Poort工业已经成为理解这种不断演变的人类行为复杂性的发展的核心，因为它们都展示了独特和创新的石头技术以及象征表达的几种最早形式的证据，包括雕刻的生产和装饰品的使用。然而，刺激这些创新的具体背景仍然不清楚。在国家科学基金会的支持下，Teresa Steele博士和来自南非、澳大利亚、德国和美国的国际团队将继续在Varsche Rivier（VR）003进行挖掘，为南非西开普省纳马夸兰南部Knersvlakte新发现的MSA遗址提供重要的新信息。VR 003为研究现代人类起源的这一关键阶段的人类行为进化提供了一个难得的机会。遗址的初步工作揭示了一系列的石材工业，沿着有动物骨头，鸵鸟蛋壳和陆蜗牛。然而，这一序列只能通过两个小窗口看到存款，但该网站保留更多。在VR 003的继续工作将推进对MSA期间人类行为进化的认识，因为该地点1）是仅有的几个保留上述组合序列的地点之一; 2）位于与其他长序列地点和其他MSA地点不同的环境区; 3）位于保存复杂人类行为证据的地点的空间范围内，例如雕刻的鸵鸟蛋壳和赭石，因此可以在MSA期间测试这些行为的普遍性; 4）为这些行业提供了一个强大的年表，并利用独立的实验室和方法测试以前的模型。该项目为加强与美国，南非，德国和澳大利亚同事和机构的现有合作提供了机会。为了培养下一代研究人员，多名研究生将参加。结果将广泛传播，不仅作为在会议上提出的研究论文和在同行评审的期刊上发表，而且作为原始数据集。该研究小组正在参与一个INQUA HAB COMM项目，该项目旨在将来自多个南部非洲研究项目（包括VR 003）的技术、行为和环境数据集联合收割机结合起来，并使其他人能够获得这些数据集。此外，还将通过美国和南非的正式教学、当地社区公开讲座和教育推广计划分享成果。我们工作的所有材料将在开普敦的Iziko南非博物馆进行策划和访问。

项目成果

Varsche Rivier 003: A Middle and Later Stone Age Site with Still Bay and Howiesons Poort Assemblages in Southern Namaqualand, South Africa

Varsche Rivier 003：南非纳马夸兰南部的中石器时代遗址，包括斯蒂尔湾和 Howiesons Poort 组合

• 发表时间: 2016
• 期刊: Paleoanthropology
• 作者: Steele, Teresa E;Mackay, Alex;Fitzsimmons, Kathryn E.;Igreja, Marina;Marwick, Ben;Orton, Jayson;Schwortz, Steve;Stahlschmidt, Mareike C.
• 通讯作者: Stahlschmidt, Mareike C.