Archaeology: When did humans conquer high mountains? The making of a tropical alpine human environment

在RU 2358的第一阶段，考古项目P1可以验证贝尔山脉的晚更新世定居点，这是世界上最早的人类正常居住在高海拔地区的证据。这些中石器时代的狩猎采集者发展出了独特的行为和文化适应能力，以适应非洲高山环境，这显然有别于自更新世末期和全新世大部分时间以来定居在该地区的石器时代晚期的继承者。相比之下，贝尔山脉经历了较晚的放牧社会和家畜的引入。虽然聚落历史的重建和人类与环境相互作用的历时性调查仍然是首要目标，但在第二阶段，更多的重点将放在对这些不同占领事件的特征的研究上。这还包括更详细地挖掘吸引人们来到这个高海拔地区的拉动因素，获得更高的定居点时间和空间分辨率，并在第二阶段创建健全的数据集。我们自己的一系列地质考古方法旨在了解所调查的考古岩石掩体遗址的形成过程，P2将通过比较数据和对这些遗址前定居事件的强度和年表的见解进行补充。为了将史前聚落的时空格局及其文化表现置于大背景下，联合解释模型将考虑前气候（P5、P7）、冰川（P6、P7）以及生态（P3、P4、C2）条件。此外，C2/P4计划对晚更新世考古材料（沉积物，巨型鼹鼠动物遗骸）进行aDNA分析。

During Phase 1 of RU 2358, the archeological project P1 could verify a Late Pleistocene settlement in the Bale Mountains which represents the worldwide earliest evidence of regular high altitude occupations by humans. These Middle Stone Age hunter-gatherers developed unique behavioral and cultural adaptations to the afro-alpine environments, clearly to be distinguished from those of their Later Stone Age successors settling the area since the terminal Pleistocene and throughout much of the Holocene. In contrast, the Bale Mountains experienced a late introduction of herding societies and domestic livestock.While the reconstruction of the settlement history and the diachronic investigation of the human-environment interaction remain overarching goals, in Phase 2 more emphasis will be placed on the examination of the character of these different occupation events. This also includes carving out in more detail the pull-factors that attracted people to this high-altitude region, acquiring higher chronological as well as spatial resolution of the settlements and creating sound data sets within the Phase 2. Our own spectrum of geo-archeological methods geared towards an understanding of the formation processes at the investigated archeological rock shelter sites will be complemented by P2 with comparative data and insights into the intensity and chronology of former settlement events at these sites. To contextualize the spatial and temporal prehistoric settlement patterns and its cultural manifestations, joint explanatory models will consider former climate (results of P5, P7) and glacial (P6, P7) as well as ecological (P3, P4, C2) conditions. Also with C2/P4, aDNA analyses of Late Pleistocene archeological material (sediments, Giant Molerat faunal remains) are planned.