Aurignacian economy and social organisation under extreme conditions: systematic lithic refitting and spatial analysis at the open-air site of Breitenbach (Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany)

奥里尼亚克时期的特点是社会实践结构的增加，反映在定居点内空间的分化，可能反映了亲属，性别，年龄，技能或社会地位的隔离。虽然了解网站内的空间组织是至关重要的，我们了解个人之间的相互作用和奥里尼亚克社会组织和，研究这个方向往往受到考古记录的时间分辨率低。此外，对奥里尼亚克人行为的重建主要集中在考古学丰富的地区，如阿基坦盆地和斯瓦比亚汝拉，以及洞穴遗址，这是迄今为止发现的奥里尼亚克人职业最常见的环境。拟议的项目将提供一个新的角度对奥里尼亚克社会的基础上，一个大规模的，特别保存露天网站- Breitenbach -位于寒冷的苔原环境，特点是北方德国在末次冰期中期。拟议项目的目标是了解该网站的社会和空间组织的基础上，可以重建从石制品改装和三维绘图的事件的时间性。石质人工制品改装形式的最基本的方法论基础，其中最好的时间分辨率的水平可以在考古学的背景下实现。此外，改装有助于了解原材料经济性和技术可变性等方面。与其他发现类别的绘图一起，这些方法学工具能够动态和高分辨率地重建随着时间的推移而变化的场地使用。与其他网站的比较将允许一个大型网站的功能分化相对于占用时间的细化模型的发展。有鉴于此，该项目将大大有助于补充我们目前对人类历史上这一关键时期的知识，迄今为止，这些知识主要来自对洞穴和岩石庇护所的研究。此外，该遗址的地理环境将首次有助于了解奥里尼亚克社会组织，该地区远离奥里尼亚克“枢纽”，其特点是极端的环境条件。此外，拟议项目的方法目标是制定一个新的标准协议，用于记录、分析和比较石器工艺品的改装序列，以提高石器组合的相互可比性，从而大大提高改装学科的进步。

The Aurignacian period is characterised by an increased structuring of social practices, mirrored by an increased differentiation of space within settlements, possibly reflecting segregation of activities by kin, gender, age, skills or social status. Although the understanding of intra-site spatial organisation is crucial for our understanding the interactions among individuals and of Aurignacian social organisation and, research into this direction is often hampered by the low temporal resolution of the archaeological record. In addition, the reconstruction of Aurignacian behaviour mostly focused on archaeologically rich areas, such as the Aquitaine Basin, and the Swabian Jura and on cave sites, the most common contexts where Aurignacian occupations have been so far retrieved. The proposed project will provide a new angle on Aurignacian societies based on a large-scale, exceptionally preserved open-air site – Breitenbach – located in the cold tundra environment that characterised northern Germany during the middle of the Last Glacial Period. The proposed project targets at understanding the social and spatial organisation of the site based on the temporality of events that can be reconstructed from lithic artefact refittings and their three dimensional plotting. Lithic artefact refits form the most basic methodological fundament with which the finest possible level of temporal resolution can be achieved in an archaeological context. Furthermore, refits contribute to understanding aspects such as raw material economy and technical variability. Together with the plotting of other find categories these methodological tools enable a dynamic and high resolution reconstruction of site use, changing through time. Comparisons with other sites will allow the development of a refined model of a large site’s functional differentiation relative to occupation time. Given this, the project will substantially contribute to complement our present-day knowledge of this crucial period in human history that is so far derived mostly from studies on caves and rock shelters. The site’s geographic setting will in addition and for the first time contribute to the understanding of Aurignacian social organisation in a region remote from the Aurignacian “hubs” that was characterised by extreme environmental conditions. In addition, the proposed project has the methodological goal of developing a new standard protocol for documenting, analysing, and comparing refitted sequences of lithic artefacts, in order to enhance inter-comparability of lithic assemblages and – therewith – significantly add to the advancement of the refitting discipline.