Collaborative Research; The Role Of Function In Traditional Weapon Design

这个项目的目标是了解功能在传统武器设计中的作用。它将调查冰河时代石器武器的演变，可追溯到13,500年至12,500年，狩猎采集者在北美殖民地使用。这些武器是由石头尖和长矛连接而成的，考古学家称之为“克洛维斯尖”，用燧石敲成标本，两边平行，略凸，底部凹陷，有剥落的疤痕，称为“长笛”。“这些凹槽出现在一个或两个面上，平均从基部延伸到尖端的三分之一。这些点遍布北美，以前所未有的速度广泛而迅速地传播。在这种跨越空间、时间和不同环境的扩张过程中，克洛维斯点的大小和形状发生了显著变化。考古学家知道，文化的漂移促成了这种变异，但有没有可能仅仅是这一个来源就能如此迅速地产生如此多的变异呢？或者，文化漂移+功能变化等多种来源是如此迅速地产生这种多样性所必需的吗？如果在不同形式的克洛维斯点之间发现功能差异，那么可以得出结论，不同时间和地点的克洛维斯人可能选择了特定的属性，为他们提供了选择性的功能优势。该项目将有助于全面了解武器在小型、移动的、孤立的人类群体中是如何和为何演变的;这是一个具有广泛考古学和人种学意义的基本人类学问题，也与当今的许多情况有关。此外，由于美洲的人口是更新世晚期人类从非洲向外扩散的一部分，该项目最终将促进对行为和技术适应的理解，这些适应决定了我们的物种如何成功地殖民地球。研究人员将检查不同大小和形状的克洛维斯点是否具有任何功能优势或劣势。通过一系列与现实狩猎相关的实验以及一系列受控工程实验，研究人员将确定猎物的穿透能力，空气动力学，耐久性，断裂力学和不同形式的复制克洛维斯点的切割效率。

The goal of this project is to understand the role that function plays in traditional weaponry design. It will investigate the evolution of Ice Age stone tool weaponry, dated to13,500 to 12,500 years, used by hunter-gatherers in the colonization of North America. The weapons, stone point tips attached to spears and called "Clovis points" by archaeologists, were flintknapped into specimens with parallel to slightly convex sides, a concave base, and flake-removal scars; termed "flutes." These flutes occur on one or both faces and on average extend from the base to about a third of the way to the tip. These points are found across North America, having spread widely and rapidly at an unprecedented rate. During this expansion over space, across time, and in different environments the size and shape of Clovis points changed significantly. Archaeologists know that cultural drift contributed to this variation, but is it possible that this single source could alone generate so much variation so quickly? Or are multiple sources, for example cultural drift + functional changes, necessary to so rapidly give rise to such variety? If functional differences are found among different forms of Clovis points, it follows that Clovis people in different times and places may have chosen specific attributes to provide them with a selective functional advantage. The project will contribute to the overall understanding of how and why weapons evolve among small, mobile, isolated groups of humans ; a fundamental anthropological question of broad archaeological and ethnographic relevance, as well as to many situations in the present day. Furthermore, since the peopling of the Americas was part of the broader late Pleistocene global dispersal of human out of Africa, this project will ultimately advance the understanding of the behavioral and technological adaptations that determined how our species came to so successfully colonize the planet. The investigators will examine whether different sizes and shapes of Clovis points possess any functional advantages or disadvantages. Through a series of realistic hunting-related experiments in conjunction with a series of controlled engineering experiments, the researchers will determine the prey penetration-ability, aerodynamics, durability, fracture mechanics, and cutting-efficiency of replica Clovis points of varying forms.