Excavations at the Middle Paleoithic Site of La Quina (Charente), France

在国家科学基金会的支持下，亚瑟·耶利内克博士将在法国夏朗特地区的拉奎纳遗址进行为期三个季节的考古研究。这一重要的穆斯特尔遗址几年来一直是该小组的重点，到目前为止的结果很好地证明了继续挖掘的合理性。遗址本身包含一系列层状沉积物，其中蕴藏着极其丰富的动物和文化遗迹。人类骨骼材料也已被发现。到目前为止，大约有6,000件石器和11,000块骨头被编目。在接下来的三个野外赛季，该团队将扩大所有级别的挖掘。将尝试几种方法来提供每个级别的绝对日期，并将对考古材料进行分析，以深入了解穆斯特尔人的文化和生存习俗。莫斯特尔文化可以追溯到更新世晚期(冰河时代)，并与尼安德特人联系在一起，尼安德特人是现代人的前身。近年来，这些尼安德特人一直是考古学激烈辩论的主题。一些人认为，这个群体的行为方式与后来的旧石器时代晚期群体截然不同，缺乏现代文化的能力。其他人则认为，莫斯特式的产业及其所反映的行为相当复杂。不幸的是，几乎没有充分收集的数据来审查这一问题，在这方面，拉奎纳遗址特别重要，因为它包含丰富的文化材料。大型动物群应该可以重建鼠的狩猎技术，并展示这些技术是如何随着时间的推移而变化和发展的。这项研究之所以重要，有几个原因。它将产生一大批考古学家感兴趣的数据。它将提供对现代人出现的背景的洞察，并阐明导致这一发展的过程。因为耶利内克博士在这个项目中包括了很多学生，它应该有助于科学的招募。

With National Science Foundation support, Dr. Arthur Jelinek will conduct three seasons of archaeological research at the site of La Quina which is located in the Charente region of France. This important Mousterian site has been the focus of this group for several years and the results to date well justify continued excavation. The site itself contains a series of stratified deposits which are extremely rich in both faunal and cultural remains. Human skeletal material has also been recovered. To date, approximately 6,000 lithic objects and 11,000 bones have been catalogued. Over the next three field seasons, the team will expand the excavations in all levels. Several approaches will be attempted to provide absolute dates for each level and archaeological materials will be analyzed to shed insight into Mousterian cultural and subsistence practices. Mousterian culture dates from the most recent part of the Pleistocene (Ice Age) and is associated with Neanderthal peoples who were the immediate predecessors to modern humans. In recent years, these Neanderthals have been the subject of intense archaeological debate. Some have argued that this group acted in ways significantly different from the succeeding Upper Paleolithic groups and lacked the capacity for modern culture. Others argue that Mousterian industries and the behaviors they reflect are quite complex. Unfortunately, little well collected data exists to permit examination of the issue and in this context the site of La Quina is particularly important because of the rich cultural materials it contains. The large faunal assemblage should permit reconstruction of Mousterian hunting techniques and demonstrate how these changed and developed over time. This research is important for several reasons. It will yield data of interest to a large group of archaeologists. It will provide insight into the background from which physically modern humans emerged and shed light on the process which led to this development. Because Dr. Jelinek includes many students in this project, it should aid in the scientific recruitment.