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·戈德菲尔德将在法国西南部进行研究，研究尼安德特人和解剖学上的现代人(AMH)如何在旧石器时代中晚期(约300-12000年前)屠宰猎物以提取骨髓和骨脂。目前，对于尼安德特人的生物学、认知和文化本质以及大约40,000-35,000年前的欧洲尼安德特人被AMH取代的问题，学术界几乎没有达成共识。饮食、狩猎行为和资源使用方面的差异是AMH在欧洲成功的主要因素之一。人类饮食是考古学研究人类史前和进化的关键因素，因为它是认知和行为的一种表现，有最多的物理证据，包括作为猎物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资料来源，因为它们在许多中、晚期旧石器时代考古遗址中丰富且保存完好。这项研究具有当代意义，因为通过与人类最接近的近亲尼安德特人的比较，有可能洞察我们物种的基本行为方面。这项研究探讨了旧石器时代欧洲冰川时期尼安德特人和AMH对骨髓和骨脂的开发，这是至关重要的营养资源。戈德菲尔德将分析两个旧石器时代中期尼安德特人的动物群组合(约70,000-50,000年前)、两个旧石器时代早期的AMH组合(约35,000-40,000年前)和较晚的旧石器时代晚期的AMH组合(约18,000-12,000年前)的动物骨骼。她将讨论尼安德特人和AMH如何从猎物的身体中优先考虑和获得重要的食物资源，如肉类、骨髓和骨脂。这项研究将结合传统的动物考古分析和新的编码系统来表征和量化每个群落内的骨骼加工过程。本研究的重点是法国西南部的佩里戈德地区，那里有丰富的旧石器时代中期和晚期考古记录，以及丰富和保存完好的动物骨骼组合。研究中包括的每一组动物身体部位的类型以及这些骨骼的碎片将突出尼安德特人和AMH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身体中提取骨脂，这一行为可能为AMH提供了进化优势。这项研究使用了一致的编码方法，这将允许进行重要的地点间比较，这将把这项研究的适用性扩大到其他已知尼安德特人和AMH人重叠的地理区域。这将提供机会来探索尼安德特人和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。在分析过程中获得的所有主要数据将永久存储并向公众开放。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图文并茂的考古野外方法手册，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.