Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Comparative Utilization Of Animal Resources In Long Term Perspective

在约翰·马斯顿博士的指导下，安娜·戈德菲尔德将进行一项研究，研究在法国西南部旧石器时代中晚期（约300- 1.2万年前），尼安德特人和解剖学上的现代人（AMH）是如何屠宰猎物尸体以提取骨髓和骨脂的。目前，关于尼安德特人的生物学、认知和文化性质，以及他们在大约4万至3.5万年前在欧洲被AMH取代，学术界几乎没有共识。饮食、狩猎行为和资源利用的差异是欧洲AMH成功的主要因素之一。人类饮食是人类史前史和进化考古研究的一个关键因素，因为它是认知和行为的一种表现，有最多的实物证据，包括作为猎物被猎杀的动物的骨骼遗骸。动物骨骼是旧石器时代生存策略的极好数据来源，因为它们在许多旧石器时代中期和晚期的考古遗址中数量丰富且保存完好。这项研究具有当代意义，因为通过与人类最近的亲戚尼安德特人进行比较，有可能深入了解我们物种的基本行为方面。这项研究解决了尼安德特人和AMH对骨髓和骨脂肪的利用，这是旧石器时代欧洲冰川时期至关重要的营养资源。Goldfield将分析两个中旧石器时代尼安德特人动物组合（约7万至5万年前），两个早期旧石器时代晚期AMH组合（约3.5万至4万年前）和一个晚期旧石器时代晚期AMH组合（约1.8万至1.2万年前）的动物骨骼。她将阐述尼安德特人和AMH如何优先考虑并从猎物的尸体中获得重要的食物资源，如肉、骨髓和骨脂。这项研究将结合传统的动物考古学分析和一个新的编码系统来表征和量化每个组合中的骨骼加工。本次研究的重点是法国西南部的佩里戈尔地区，该地区拥有丰富且文献完备的旧石器时代中晚期考古记录，以及大量保存完好的动物骨骼组合。研究中包括的每个组合中动物身体部位的类型以及这些骨头的碎片将突出尼安德特人和AMH人处理猎物的方式的差异和模式。这些差异将表明AMH是否比尼安德特人花了更多的时间和精力从个体尸体中提取骨脂肪，这种行为可能为AMH提供了进化优势。该研究使用一致的编码方法将允许重要的站点间比较，这将扩大该研究在尼安德特人和AMH已知重叠的其他地理区域的适用性。这将为探索尼安德特人和AMH资源使用的差异是普遍存在的，还是由气候或地理等其他因素驱动的提供机会。在分析过程中获得的所有原始数据将永久存储并公开访问。研究结果将通过同行评议期刊、会议论文和实地报告进行传播。最后，戈德菲尔德将把这项研究的框架纳入一本考古领域方法的插图手册，目的是吸引12-18岁的学生。

Under the supervision of Dr. John Marston, Anna Goldfield will undertake research to study how Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans (AMH) butchered prey carcasses to extract bone marrow and bone grease during the Middle and Upper Paleolithic (~300-12 thousand years ago) in southwest France. There is currently little academic consensus regarding the biological, cognitive, and cultural nature of Neanderthals and their replacement by AMH in Europe approximately 40,000-35,000 years ago. Differences in diet, hunting behavior, and resource use are among the major factors discussed as components of AMH success in Europe. Human diet is a crucial element of archaeological research into human prehistory and evolution, because it is a representation of cognition and behavior for which there is the most physical evidence, including the skeletal remains of animals hunted as prey. Animal bones are an excellent source of data for subsistence strategies in the Paleolithic because they are abundant and well preserved in many Middle and Upper Paleolithic archaeological sites. The research has contemporary significance because through comparison with the Neanderthals, human's nearest relatives, it is possible to gain insight into fundamental behaviorial aspects of our species.This study addresses Neanderthal and AMH exploitation of bone marrow and bone fat, crucial nutritional resources during glacial periods in Paleolithic Europe. Goldfield will analyze animal bones from two Middle Paleolithic Neanderthal faunal assemblages (c. 70,000-50,000 years ago), two early Upper Paleolithic AMH assemblages (c. 35,000-40,000 years ago), and one later Upper Paleolithic AMH assemblage (c. 18,000-12,000 years ago). She will address questions of how Neanderthals and AMH prioritized and obtained important food resources such as meat, bone marrow, and bone grease from the carcasses of their prey. This study will combine traditional zooarchaeological analysis with a new coding system to characterize and quantify bone processing within each assemblage.The focus of this research is the Perigord region of southwest France, which has a rich and well-documented Middle and Upper Paleolithic archaeological record, with abundant and well-preserved animal bone assemblages. The types of animal body parts in each assemblage included in the study and the fragmentation of these bones will highlight differences and patterning in the ways in which Neanderthals and AMH processed their prey. These differences will indicate whether AMH spent more time and effort extracting bone fats from individual carcasses than Neanderthals, a behavior which may have provided AMH with an evolutionary advantage. The study's use of consistent coding methods will allow important inter-site comparisons that will expand the applicability of this research into other geographical regions where Neanderthals and AMH are known to have overlapped. This will provide the opportunity to explore whether differences in Neanderthal and AMH resource use are universal, or are driven by other factors such as climate or geography. All primary data obtained during analysis will be stored permanently and made publicly accessible. Results will be disseminated through peer-review journals, conference papers, and field reports. Finally, Goldfield will incorporate the framework of this study into an illustrated handbook of archaeological field methods, with the aim of engaging students aged 12-18.