A geoarchaeological investigation of Middle Stone Age human response to environmental change on the shores of Lake Malawi

马拉维湖沿岸中石器时代人类对环境变化反应的地质考古调查

• 批准号: 259094795
• 负责人: Dr. Susan Mentzer, Ph.D.
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Institut für Naturwissenschaftliche Archäologie (INA)
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 德国
• 起止时间: 2013-12-31 至 2018-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/259094795?language=en
• 关键词: geoarchaeological; investigation; Middle; Stone; Age

The Middle Stone Age of Africa, generally dated between 280,000 and 30,000 years ago, is a key period in human evolution when people began exhibiting behavioral characteristics similar to our own. Recent paleoenvironmental research from Lake Malawi suggests that the time period corresponding to the Middle Stone Age was marked by extended periods of extreme drought, which may have induced changes in human foraging strategies, settlement behavior, and demography. Here we propose to investigate the influence of extreme environmental change on Middle Stone Age people by studying a well-preserved paleolandscape along the shores of Lake Malawi. Using various geoarchaeological analyses and dating methods, we will construct a detailed and chronologically robust history of site formation and landscape development that we will compare with the high-resolution lacustrine records. Our landscape development model will allow us to directly link paleoenvironmental, paleolandscape, and archaeological datasets, in order to investigate how Middle Stone Age humans responded to extreme environmental change.

非洲的中石器时代，通常在28万到3万年前之间，是人类进化的关键时期，当时人们开始表现出与我们相似的行为特征。 最近对马拉维湖的古环境研究表明，与中石器时代相对应的时期是以长期的极端干旱为标志的，这可能引起了人类觅食策略，定居行为和人口统计的变化。 在这里，我们建议调查的影响，极端环境变化中石器时代的人通过研究保存完好的古景观沿着马拉维湖沿岸。 使用各种地质考古学分析和测年方法，我们将构建一个详细的和按时间顺序的强大的网站形成和景观发展的历史，我们将与高分辨率的湖泊记录进行比较。 我们的景观发展模型将使我们能够直接将古环境，古景观和考古数据集联系起来，以研究中石器时代人类如何应对极端的环境变化。