Dissertation Research: Development of Early Neolithic; Use-wear Analysis

在Ofer Bar-Yosef博士的指导下，Sho Yamada先生将为他的博士论文收集数据。他的研究目标是了解人类史前史中最基本的转变之一：新石器时代的革命，标志着从狩猎和采集到农耕和放牧的生活方式的转变。正是这种转变奠定了生存基础，世界许多地方的文明就是从这个基础上产生的。本项目通过研究黎凡特南部（以色列和约旦）早期农业社会的发展来探讨这一问题，该地区是植物驯化的第一个发生地。山田先生将使用石器使用磨损分析，对石器的边缘磨损进行微观研究。不同的活动-砍柴、刮皮、割草-在石器边缘留下不同的显微痕迹，通过对这些痕迹的检查，可以推断出使用特定种类石器的任务。一旦知道了特定的任务及其频率，就有可能重建生存技术，深入了解社会组织，并了解这些组织如何随着时间的推移而变化。将对来自19个地点的一系列主要工具类型进行检查。这些遗址来自林地和草原地带，因此将使山田先生能够确定环境对这种文化转变的影响。 在使用磨损研究中，有必要检查当地原材料并通过实验确定各种活动导致的磨损。为了实现这一目标，山田先生将让一名以色列燧石工人用适当的原材料复制考古学上已知的工具类型。然后，这些将在严格控制的情况下用于各种目的。这项实验计划包括在不同条件下用各种镰刀收割野生谷物和其他植物，剪羊毛和屠宰，挖掘土壤和各种家务。山田先生将通过计算机图像处理对磨损变化进行定量分析。然后将结果应用于一系列考古材料。 这项研究之所以重要，有几个原因。它将使人们深入了解近东农业和畜牧业社会的发展。这也将有助于完善使用磨损分析考古工具.最后，它将帮助培养一个有前途的年轻科学家。

Under the direction of Dr. Ofer Bar-Yosef, Mr. Sho Yamada will collect data for his doctoral dissertation. The goal of his research is to understand one of the most basic transitions in human prehistory: the Neolithic revolution which marks the change from a hunting and gathering to a farming and herding way of life. It was this shift which established the subsistence base from which civilizations in many parts of the world arose. This project approaches the issue through examination of the developmental of early agricultural society in the southern Levant (Israel and Jordan), the region where plant domestication first took place. Mr. Yamada will use lithic use-wear analysis, the microscopic study of edge wear on stone tools. Different activities - cutting wood, scraping skins, harvesting grasses - leave different microscopic traces on stone tool edges and through their examination it is possible to infer the tasks for which particular kinds of stone tools were used. Once specific tasks and their frequencies are known it is then possible to reconstruct subsistence technology, gain insight into social organization and see how these changed over time. A series of major tool types from 19 sites will be examined. The sites derive from both woodland and steppe zones and thus will allow Mr. Yamada to determine the effect of environment on this cultural transformation. In use wear studies, it is necessary to examine local raw materials and experimentally determine the wear which results from a variety of activities. To accomplish this goal, Mr. Yamada will have an Israeli flintworker duplicate archaeologically known tool types from appropriate raw materials. These will then be used for a variety of purposes in a carefully controlled context. This experimental program includes harvesting wild grains and other plants under varying conditions with a number of sickle blade types, sheep shearing and butchering, soil digging and a various of domestic tasks. Mr. Yamada will conduct quantitative analysis of wear change through the use of computer image processing. The results will then be applied to a range of archaeological materials. This research is important for several reasons. It will provide insight into the development of agricultural and pastoral societies in the Near East. It will also help to refine use wear analysis an archaeological tool. Finally it will assist in training a promising young scientist.