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

从公众对人类进化和现代人类起源讲座的反应可以清楚地看出，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位置的含义。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。在非洲南部，中石器时代（MSA； ~4万-25万年前）是本研究的重点，因为在这一时期，所有现代人类都起源于非洲，而这些完全现代人类的一部分在大约5万年前走出了非洲。在MSA内，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发展的核心，因为它们都展示了独特的和创新的石头技术，以及一些最早的符号表达形式的证据，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不清楚。在美国国家科学基金会的支持下，特丽莎·斯蒂尔博士和一个来自南非、澳大利亚、德国和美国的国际团队将继续挖掘Varsche Rivier (VR) 003，这是一个新发现的MSA遗址，位于南非西开普省南纳马夸兰的Knersvlakte。VR003提供了一个特殊的机会来研究现代人类起源这一关键阶段的人类行为进化。该遗址的初步工作揭示了一系列石制工业，以及动物骨骼、鸵鸟蛋壳和陆地蜗牛。然而，这个序列只能通过两个小窗口看到，但该遗址保存了更多。在VR003的持续工作将促进对MSA期间人类行为进化的认识，因为该地点(1)是少数保存上述组合序列的地点之一；2)位于与其他长序列站点和其他MSA站点不同的环境区域；3)位于保存了复杂人类行为证据的遗址的空间范围内，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可靠的年表，并使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、德国和澳大利亚的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，将有多名研究生参加。结果将广泛传播，不仅作为在会议上发表的研究论文和在同行评议的期刊上发表，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VR003）的技术、行为和环境数据集结合起来，并使其他人可以访问这些数据集。此外，还将通过正式教学、当地社区公开讲座以及美国和南非的教育推广项目分享成果。我们的所有作品都将在开普敦的Iziko南非博物馆展出。

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.