Dissertation Research: Analysis of Epipaleolithic Lithic Materials

在Geoffrey Clark博士的指导下，Michael Neeley先生将为他的博士论文收集数据。他将检查美国几所大学的考古藏品，并分析收集到的数据。他的研究重点是近东的上石器时代（距今约18000年至5000年前），他将研究该地区许多遗址的石器。他将进行一系列技术分析，注意不同地点之间的差异，并试图将这些差异与一系列变量联系起来，如原材料的可用性、当地环境的性质和史前人类对环境的利用。因为它们是如此普遍和保存完好，石制工具提供了一个重要的考古资料来源。一个多世纪以来，史前学家一直在研究这些材料，以深入了解制造者的文化。传统上，不同地点之间的组合差异被归因于“种族”或功能等因素。近年来，考古学家已经认识到其他因素，如迁移策略可以影响组合变化。这种认识导致了分析方法的发展，这可能为史前生活提供新的见解。尼利的作品继承并扩展了这一传统。这项研究之所以重要，有几个原因。它将为许多考古学家提供感兴趣的数据。它将协助发展可能广泛适用的新分析技术，并将协助培训有前途的年轻科学家。＊＊＊

9406034 Clark Under the direction of Dr. Geoffrey Clark, Mr. Michael Neeley will collect data for his doctoral dissertation. He will examine archaeological collections at several U.S. universities and analyze the collected data. His focus is on the Epipaleolithic period (from ca. 18,000 to 5,000 years ago) in the Near East and he will study stone tools from a number of sites in this region. He will conduct a number of technological analyses, note differences among sites and attempt to relate these to a series of variables such as the availability of raw material, the nature of the local environment and prehistoric peoples' use of the environment. Because they are so common and well preserved, stone tools provide an important source of archaeological data. For over a century prehistorians have examined such materials to gain insight into the culture of the makers. Traditionally, variation in assemblages between sites has been ascribed to factors such as "ethnicity" or function. In recent years archaeologists have recognized that other factors such as mobility strategy can affect assemblage variation. This realization is resulting in the development of analytic approaches which may provide new insight into prehistoric life. Mr. Neeley's work follows in, and expands on this tradition. This research is important for several reasons. It will provide data of interest to many archaeologists. It will assist in the development of new analytic techniques of potentially wide applicability and will assist in the training of a promising young scientist. ***