Early Humans in Britain: Cultural Adaptations from Coastal to Inland Occupation

英国的早期人类：从沿海占领到内陆占领的文化适应

• 批准号: 2434090
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Reading
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2020 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2434090
• 关键词: Early; Humans; Britain; Cultural; Adaptations

This project will examine the technologies and habitats of the first human occupants of northern Europe between over 800,000 to 500,000 years ago primarily through existing stone tool collections. Due to recently discovered sites on the coast of East Anglia (dating to over 800,000 years ago) two key questions have emerged:Was initial colonisation dependent on the more oceanic climates and wider, collectable food resources (e.g. shellfish) found in coastal areas?Was inland occupation dependent on more advanced technologies (e.g. clothing, shelter, fire), better food acquisition techniques (e.g. hunting), and implicitly improved social cooperation?The questions can be addressed by examining the age of the earliest inland sites, and by determining whether they are associated with a simple core and flake technology (as found on coastal sites) or correspond with the introduction of handaxes. The latter have been argued to reflect not only a suite of new technological systems, but also more complex social behaviours.To address the questions, the student will study the area between Reading and Beaconsfield that contains former courses of the River Thames, from which there are good museum collections of stone artefacts. The former river courses date to over 500,000 years ago and can be placed in stratigraphic order, providing an ideal location to examine the stratigraphic context and age of the earliest collections and identify the introduction of handaxe technology.The project will use four main methods:Record and study existing museum artefact collections from the older river courses.Examine archives and historic mapping to improve the contextual information for the artefact collections.Use existing geological borehole data to reassess the mapping of the older river courses.Excavate sections in the older river courses and establish artefact presence/absence and if present, type(s) of technology.The project will be managed by a strong supervisory team, all of whom have worked together on past projects, including a successful CDA collaboration (2 PhDs) between the University of Reading, the BM and Queen Mary University of London (The Solent Palaeolithic Project). The methods that were used on the Solent project have been tried and tested, and are ideal for the proposed research.An important aspect of the proposal is the career development of the student. Skills will be developed in: lithic analysis; borehole data and mapping; field recording and sampling techniques; laboratory analyses as well as the use of software packages such as GIS and Rockworks. These will be complemented by broader training programmes organised for doctoral students at the University of Reading and the BM, including developing written and verbal communication to both specialist and non-specialist audiences through conference and poster presentations and outreach programmes.

该项目将主要通过现有的石器收藏来研究80多万至50多万年前北方欧洲第一批人类居住者的技术和生境。由于最近在东安格利亚海岸发现的遗址（可追溯到80多万年前），出现了两个关键问题：最初的殖民是否依赖于沿海地区更多的海洋性气候和更广泛的可收集食物资源（例如贝类）？内陆的占领是否依赖于更先进的技术（如衣服、住所、火）、更好的食物获取技术（如狩猎）以及隐含的社会合作的改善？这些问题可以通过研究最早的内陆遗址的年龄来解决，并确定它们是否与简单的核心和薄片技术（如在沿海遗址中发现的）有关，或者与手斧的引入相对应。后者被认为不仅反映了一套新的技术系统，而且反映了更复杂的社会行为。为了解决这些问题，学生将研究阅读和比肯斯菲尔德之间的地区，该地区包含泰晤士河的前河道，那里有很好的博物馆收藏的石制品。以前的河道可以追溯到50多万年前，可以按照地层顺序排列，为研究最早的收藏品的地层背景和年龄以及确定手斧技术的引入提供了理想的位置。该项目将使用四种主要方法：记录和研究现有的博物馆文物收藏从旧河道。检查档案和历史地图，以改善文物收藏的背景信息。使用现有的地质钻孔数据，以重新评估绘制旧河道的地图。在旧河道中挖掘部分，并确定人工制品存在/不存在，如果存在，技术类型。该项目将由一个强大的监督团队管理，所有人都曾在过去的项目中合作，包括阅读大学，BM和伦敦的玛丽皇后大学（索伦特旧石器时代项目）。Solent项目中使用的方法已经过尝试和测试，并且非常适合拟议的研究。该提案的一个重要方面是学生的职业发展。将在以下方面培养技能：岩性分析;钻孔数据和绘图;实地记录和取样技术;实验室分析以及使用GIS和Rockworks等软件包。这些将通过为阅读大学和BM的博士生组织的更广泛的培训计划进行补充，包括通过会议和海报展示以及外展计划与专业和非专业观众进行书面和口头沟通。