Doctoral Dissertation Research: Standardized bone tools: investigating a new technology in the Middle Paleolithic

最近几年，许多科普文章和电视节目证明，行为上的现代人在大约5万年前出现在其他多个晚更新世的古人类群体中，引起了公众的极大兴趣。旧石器时代考古学和人类学研究的一个关键焦点是研究现代人行为的起源，包括我们这个物种和我们最亲密的亲戚尼安德特人之间认知和行为的相似和差异。许多证据表明，在地理和时间上重叠的尼安德特人和现代人群体表现出相似的行为。然而，最终，现代人取代了尼安德特人，但尼安德特人灭绝背后的机制仍然是一个持续争论的主题。这个项目考虑了尼安德特人背景下标准化的骨工具技术的影响。这种特殊的技术可能是由尼安德特人创新的，通过从现代人到尼安德特人的文化适应传递，或者反过来，现代人从尼安德特人那里学习到的。从该项目收集的数据将提供一条独立的证据线，有助于讨论与技术有关的认知的性质，尼安德特人与现代人之间的关系，以及对尼安德特人灭绝的理解。该项目的重要国际合作部分将把不同的观点(更传统和更受技术驱动的方法)聚集在一起，形成一个连贯的研究计划。此外，该项目将通过结合传统的定性和创新的定量分析，为骨工具的研究建立新的方法学方法。最终，这个项目将通过对现代人类取代尼安德特人之前和之后的骨骼工具的详细分析，帮助理解古人类的行为。该项目由博士生Naomi L.Martsius(加州大学戴维斯分校)在Teresa E.Steele博士的指导下，将围绕最近描述的尼安德特人制造的骨工具Lissoir(法语中意思是“平滑”)的研究建立一个研究项目，并通过实验和比较研究来调查它们的潜在功能和创新。这一发现表明，尼安德特人能够生产标准化的骨工具，这项技术以前被认为仅限于现代人。这项研究将评估现代人造利索，以了解它们在这些工具中的功能变化的程度，从事实验和比较研究，以调查原材料的选择，肋骨是否经过预成型或使用成型，以及它们是如何通过创新的方法使用的，以研究使用过程中留下的骨骼痕迹，并试图从其他尼安德特人的组合中识别更多的碎片，以确定它们的时间跨度。尼安德特人清晰、可演示地生产和使用标准化的骨骼技术，将改变人们对他们行为的理解，以及尼安德特人与现代人之间的关系。

The emergence of behaviorally modern humans, approximately 50,000 years ago, amid multiple other Late Pleistocene hominin groups has been of great interest to the general public in recent years, as evidenced by many popular science articles and television programs. A key focus of Paleolithic archaeological and anthropological research is the study of the origin of modern human behaviors, including cognitive and behavioral similarities and differences between our species and our closest relative, the Neandertals. Much evidence suggests that the Neandertal and modern human populations that overlapped geographically and chronologically exhibited similar behaviors. Ultimately, however, modern human populations replaced Neandertals, but the mechanisms behind Neandertal extinction remain a subject of continued debate. This project considers the implications for standardized bone tool technology in Neandertal contexts. This particular technology may have been innovated by Neandertals, passed by acculturation from modern humans to Neandertals, or, conversely, learned by modern humans from Neandertals. The data collected from this project will provide an independent line of evidence that will contribute to the discussions on the nature of cognition related to technology, the relationship between Neandertals and modern humans, and the understanding of Neandertal extinction. The significant international collaborative component of this project will bring various viewpoints (more traditional and more technology-driven approaches) together to form a cohesive research program. Additionally, this project will establish new methodological approaches for research on bone tools by combining traditional qualitative with innovative quantitative analyses. Ultimately, this project will contribute to the understanding of hominin behavior through a detailed analysis of bone tools before and after the replacement of Neandertals by modern humans. This project by PhD candidate Naomi L. Martisius (University of California, Davis), under the supervision of Dr. Teresa E. Steele, will build a research program around the study of recently described Neandertal-made bone tools, called lissoirs (a French term meaning "smoothers"), and investigates their potential function and innovation through experimental and comparative research. This discovery shows that Neandertals were capable of producing standardized bone tools, a technology previously thought to have been restricted to modern humans. This research will assess modern human-made lissoirs to understand the extent of their variation in relation to function within these tools, engaging in experimental and comparative research to investigate raw material selection, if ribs were pre-shaped or shaped through use, and how they were used through an innovative approach to study the traces left on bones through use, and an attempt to identify additional pieces from other Neandertal assemblages to determine their temporal span. Clear, demonstrable production and use of standardized bone technology by Neandertals will transform understanding of their behavior and the relationship between Neandertals and modern humans.