Stone tool use and function on the margins of northern Europe, 400,000 years ago

40万年前，东安格利亚位于欧洲人族活动范围的北端。这一时期的遗址在整个大陆都很罕见，但特殊的保存条件使英格兰东部成为研究人类适应能力的国际重要地区。几十年的研究已经揭示了古环境条件的细节，人类生活的地方，他们制造了什么样的石器，但是在知识上仍然有很大的差距：这些工具是用来做什么的？自20世纪70年代以来，没有对工具使用进行功能研究，使用-磨损分析领域自这些开创性研究以来得到了很大发展。该项目通过对包括Beeches Pit和Barnham East Farm在内的东安格利亚选定地点的关键石器组合进行功能和空间分析的综合方法，解决了知识上的差距。功能将确定利用最先进的石制工具功能分析方法的当前状态。这种分析方法结合了光学和金相显微镜来评估石器边缘上典型使用磨损痕迹的形成。然后将这些痕迹与来自已知用途的实验复制工具的综合参考收集的痕迹进行比较，其分析将使用盲测试进行评估。一个高质量的参考收集支撑了解释过程的可靠性，并使使用磨损分析能够以更大的规模和精度进行。使用磨损分析将解决关于该地区两种当代工具制造传统的行为意义的长期争论。一种传统是由阿舍利工业（手斧）的对称、双面形状的工具所认可，另一种传统是由没有手斧和石片主导的克拉顿工业工具包所认可。争论围绕着这两种传统代表不同的共存文化群体的假设，而不是单一文化传统的曲目中功能不同的工具。功能分析提供了一种解决这一持续争论的方法，同时提供了有关技术在适应北方栖息地中的作用的信息。

Four hundred thousand years ago, East Anglia lay at the northern extremity of the European hominin range. Sites from this time are rare across the continent, but exceptional conditions of preservation make Eastern England a region of international importance for studying hominin adaptations. Decades of research have revealed details of palaeoenvironmental conditions, where hominins lived, what kinds of stone tools they made, but a large gap in knowledge remains: what were the tools used for? No functional studies have been undertaken since the 1970s on tool-use, and the field of use-wear analysis has developed greatly since these pioneering studies. This project addresses that gap in knowledge by applying an integrated approach of functional and spatial analysis of key stone tool assemblages from a selection of sites from East Anglia including Beeches Pit and Barnham East Farm. Functions will be determined utilising the current state of the art methods of stone tool functional analysis. The analytical approach combines optical and metallurgical microscopy to assess the formation of characteristic use-wear traces on the edges of stone tools. These traces are then compared with those from a purpose built comprehensive reference collection of experimental replica tools of known use, the analysis of which will be assessed using blind testing. A high-quality reference collection underpins the reliability of the interpretative process and enables use-wear analysis to be conducted with greater scale and precision.Use-wear analysis will address a long-running debate about the behavioural significance of two contemporary traditions of tool-making in the region. One tradition is recognised by symmetrical, bifacially shaped tools of the Acheulean Industry (handaxes) and the other, by the absence of handaxes and stone flake dominated toolkits of the Clactonian Industry. Debate revolves around the hypothesis that the two traditions represent different coexisting cultural groups, as opposed to functionally different tools in the repertoire of a single cultural tradition. Functional analyses offer a means of resolving this ongoing debate, whilst simultaneously contributing information about the role of technology in adapting to northern habitats.