The Ahmarian Tradition of the Upper Paleolithic in Northeastern Sinai

9311368菲利普斯在国家科学基金会的支持下，詹姆斯·菲利普斯博士和布鲁斯·格拉菲尔特博士将在埃及的西奈沙漠进行为期一季的考古田野工作。他们将在约30,000至35,000年前属于艾哈迈尔传统的遗址进行小规模挖掘。他们还将把重点放在这一时期的相关沉积物上，这些沉积物可能含有花粉和其他允许进行精细环境重建的遗骸。这项工作是一个更大规模项目的第一步，在该项目中，该小组希望挖掘整个遗址，以重建具体活动，并将现场具体数据纳入更广泛的环境背景。这项研究应该揭示艾哈迈尔教派团体所采用的基本生存战略。阿姆哈里人可以追溯到近东旧石器时代早期，代表着最早的文化之一，与解剖学上的现代人有独特的联系。它之所以特别令人感兴趣，是因为它的面积分布有限。菲利普斯博士认为，阿姆哈里安人制定了生存战略，这有助于适应零散的马赛克环境，群体规模和流动最大限度地利用了各种有限的资源。他希望收集的数据将使他能够检验这一假设。这项研究之所以重要，有几个原因。它将提供许多考古学家感兴趣的数据。它还将增加我们对人类如何在简单的技术水平上适应边缘半干旱环境的理解。

9311368 Phillips With National Science Foundation support Drs. James Phillips and Bruce Gladfelter will conduct one season of archaeological fieldwork in the Sinai Desert of Egypt. They will carry out small scale excavations at sites which belong to the Ahmarian tradition and date to approximately 30,000 to 35,000 years ago. They will also focus on associated sediments from this period which are likely to contain pollen and other remains permitting fine scale environmental reconstruction. This work constitutes the first step in a larger scale project in which the team hopes to excavate entire sites to reconstruct specific activities and to integrate site specific data into a broader environmental context. The research should reveal the underlying subsistence strategies employed by Ahmarian groups. The Amharian dates to the early Upper Paleolithic period in the Near East and represents one of the earliest cultures uniquely associated with anatomically modern humans. What makes it of particular interest is its limited areal distribution. Dr. Phillips believes that Amharian peoples developed subsistence strategies which facilitated adaptation to what was a patchy mosaic environment and that group size and movement maximized use of a wide range of areal limited resources. The data he wishes to collect will allow him to examine this hypothesis. This research is important for several reasons. It will provide data of interest to many archaeologists. It will also increase our understanding of how humans at a simple level of technology adapted to a marginal semi-arid environment.