Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award: Reconstruction of Social Organization Through Analysis of Material Remains

在康涅狄格大学Sally McBrearty博士的指导下，Alison Mant-Melville将研究中石器时代(MSA，300-40ka)的可变性，以测试潜在的行为模式和影响技术趋势的因素。MSA涵盖了行为复杂性的出现、智人的进化、现代人物种的现代人取代，以及非洲内外的扩散。先前的研究表明，MSA行为变化的模式和速度在地区内和地区之间有所不同。在东非，技术模式是模棱两可的，新的行为在时间和空间上都是零散的。目前尚不清楚石器行为在多大程度上代表了群体之间不断变化的社会网络，或对波动的气候条件、原材料和还原差异、机会或这些因素之间的某种交互作用的反应。研究人员将应用一种新颖和定量的方法来研究东非MSA集合体之间共享的物质文化程度，并为形成空间和时间上的技术变异性的模式和过程提供新的见解。解开这些问题对于回答为什么、何时以及在哪里现代人类物种开始表现出构成“人类”的复杂和多样化的行为是至关重要的。作为数量众多、分布广泛且经久不衰的文物，石器组合非常适合研究这些行为变化，因为它们代表了跨越几代人的重复、累积和平均时间的技术行为。该项目将支持Co-Pi(Alison Mant-Melville)的博士培训和东非学生的博物馆培训。该方法强调可比性和可重复性，这将有助于将开放获取的数据与其他时间段和区域的研究相结合。考虑到公众对现代人类起源的兴趣，研究结果也将通过会议演讲、期刊文章和公开演讲广泛分享。该项目借鉴稳健的中级理论和指节实验的见解，将指节行为与技术知识的社会传播联系起来。来自埃塞俄比亚和肯尼亚四个分区域的15个露天采集地的岩芯、薄片和工具的多元统计方法，将确定在砍伐序列的不同阶段做出的类似技术决定的“集群”。结果将根据模型对不同来源的可变性的影响的预期进行评估。模型的古环境和气候数据将来自已公布的湖芯和现场沉积环境。对技术行为在群体之间的文化传播进行建模可以作为群体之间社会互动程度的通用代理。系统地展示这种关系是对行为变化的任何整体分析以及评估MSA种群的扩散、收缩和进化关系的重要组成部分。

Under the supervision of Dr. Sally McBrearty at the University of Connecticut, Alison Mant-Melville will study variability in Middle Stone Age (MSA, 300-40 ka) stone tool technology to test for underlying behavioural patterning and the factors influencing technological trends. The MSA spans the emergence of behavioral complexity, the evolution of Homo sapiens, modern human replacement of contemporary hominin species, and dispersals within and out of Africa. Previous research shows the pattern and pace of MSA behavioural change to vary within and between regions. In East Africa, technological patterning is ambiguous and novel behaviors are temporally and spatially patchy. It is unclear to what extent stone tool behaviors represent changing social networks between groups or responses to fluctuating climate conditions, raw material and reduction differences, chance, or some interaction among these factors. The researchers will apply a novel and quantitative approach to studying the degree of shared material culture among East African MSA assemblages and to provide new insight into the patterns and processes shaping technological variability in space and time. Unravelling these issues is fundamental to answering questions of why, when, and where the modern human species began to display the complex and diverse behaviors that constitutes "humanity." As numerous, widespread, and enduring artefacts, stone tool assemblages are well placed to investigate these behavioral changes as they represent repeated, cumulative, and time-averaged technological behaviors that transcend generations. This project will support the doctoral training of the Co-PI (Alison Mant-Melville) and museum training for East African students. The methodology emphasizes comparability and reproducibility, which will facilitate the integration of the open-access data with studies in other time periods and regions. Given the public interest in modern human origins, the results will also be shared widely through conference presentations, journal articles, and public lectures.The project draws from robust middle-range theory and insights from knapping experiments to connect knapping behaviors with the social transmission of technical knowledge. Multivariate statistical methods on cores, flakes, and tools from 15 open-air assemblages in a range landscape contexts and from four sub-regions of Ethiopia and Kenya will identify "clusters" of similar technological decisions at different stages of the knapping sequence. The results will be assessed against model expectations for the effects of different sources of variability. Paleoenvironmental and climatic data for the models will be sourced from published lake cores and site sedimentary contexts. Modelling cultural transmission of technological behaviors between assemblages can serve as a generalized proxy for the degree of social interaction between groups. Systematically demonstrating such relationships is an essential component in any holistic analyses of behavioral change and for assessing the dispersals, contractions, and evolutionary relationships of MSA populations.