Dissertation Research: Archaeological Occurrences at East Turkana

在约翰·哈里斯博士的指导下，迈克尔·罗杰斯先生将为他的博士论文收集数据。他将在肯尼亚图尔卡纳湖以东地区进行考古调查和挖掘。他将把注意力集中在一个被称为Okote成员的地质地层上，这个地层可以追溯到大约164万到139万年前。先前的工作已经恢复了石器和相关的动物遗骸，从而证明这个地区居住着早期的原始人类。然而，我们对这些早期人类的行为知之甚少。通过研究不同种类的石器遗迹在空间上的分布，以及它们与动物遗迹之间的联系，罗杰斯先生应该能够深入了解活动是如何在景观上分布的。这项研究之所以重要，有几个原因。首先，它将增加我们对现代人类出现的理解。很明显，行为和行为改变在我们物种的发展中发挥了重要作用，但对于这一过程的早期阶段，我们所知的相对较少。罗杰斯先生的研究将有助于填补这一空白。其次，这项研究将有助于发展和完善考古分析技术。罗杰斯先生将使用的方法可能适用于世界上许多时期和许多地区。最后，这笔拨款将帮助培养一位极有前途的年轻科学家。

Under the direction of Dr. John Harris, Mr. Michael Rogers will collect data for his doctoral dissertation. He will conduct archaeological survey and excavation in the region East of Lake Turkana in Kenya. He will focus his attention on a geological stratum known as the Okote Member and which dates to ca. 1.64-1.39 million years ago. Previous work has recovered both stone tools and associated faunal remains and thus demonstrated that this region was inhabited by early hominids. However little is known about the behavior of these early humans. Through a study both of the distribution of different kinds of lithic remains over space and of their association with faunal remains and each other, Mr. Rogers should gain insight into how activities were spaced over the landscape. This research is important for several reasons. First, it will increase our understanding of the emergence of modern humans. It is clear that behavior, and behavioral changes have played a major role in the development of our species yet for the earlier stages of this process, relatively little is known. Mr. Rogers' research will help to fill this gap. Secondly, this research will help to develop and refine techniques of archaeological analysis. The methods Mr. Rogers will use may be applicable in many time periods and many regions of the world. Finally this grant will help to train an extremely promising young scientist.