The Prehistory of the Osmore Basin

Aldenderfer博士将在位于秘鲁南部的Osmore盆地继续他的考古研究。三个地点，两个位于岩石掩蔽处，一个在露天，将被挖掘。所有这些都位于海平面以上，并在不同的高海拔地区取样。所有这些都可以追溯到中古时期和早期形成时期，大约在距今8000年到3500年之间。Aldenderfer博士和他的同事们将挖掘这些遗址的大片区域，以识别建筑遗迹，并恢复人工制品、动物和植物遗迹。随后的分析将使他能够追踪随时间变化的定居模式、饮食和社会组织。在调查期间，奥斯莫尔地区似乎发生了定居化进程。随着驯化植物和动物的出现，人口规模和密度、生存条件以及社会复杂程度似乎也发生了相应的变化。正是在这一时期和整个地区，骆驼和安第斯块茎被驯化。虽然这个过程的大致轮廓是已知的，但这些不同的因素是如何相互作用的，以及哪个起了主要的因果作用，仍然不清楚。这项研究的目的就是要回答这些问题。奥斯莫尔盆地记录的这种变化几乎同时发生在旧世界和新世界的许多地方。因此，奥斯莫尔盆地的研究可能会为这一更广泛的过程提供见解。由于该地区是植物和动物驯化的中心，而且初步工作表明，这些遗址中动物和植物的遗骸保存得非常完好，因此该地区为研究这一问题提供了极好的背景。这项工作将使我们深入了解导致像我们这样的复杂社会发展的过程的早期阶段。

Dr. Aldenderfer will continue his archaeological research in the Osmore basin which is located in far southern Peru. Three sites, two situated in rockshelters and one in open air, will be excavated. All are located well above sea level and sample different high altitude zones. All date from the Middle Archaic and Early Formative periods which extend from approximately 8,000 to 3,500 years before the present. Dr. Aldenderfer and his colleagues will excavate large areas of these sites to identify architectural remains and to recover artifactual, faunal, and floral remains. Subsequent analysis will allow him to trace changing settlement patterns, diet, and social organization over time. During the time period under investigation, a sedentarization process appears to have taken place in the Osmore region. Coincident changes in population size and density, in subsistence - with the emergence of domesticated plants and animals - and in degree of social complexity also seem to have occurred. It was during this period and general area that camelids and Andean tubers were domesticated. Although the general outlines of the process are known, it is still not clear how these different factors interacted and which played the primary causal role. The goal of this research is to answer these questions. The shift documented in the Osmore basin occurred at roughly the same time in many parts of both the Old and New Worlds. Thus, the Osmore basin research may provide insight into this broader process. Because the region was a center for both plant and animal domestication and because preliminary work has shown that faunal and floral remains are extremely well preserved at these sites, the region provides an excellent context to examine this issue. The work will provide insight into the early stages of the process which led to the development of complex societies such as our own.