Excavations at Abri Castanet

二十世纪头几十年，一位法国教师在位于法国多尔多涅地区的岩石庇护所Abri Castanet遗址进行了考古发掘。尽管这些结果只是以粗略的方式发表，但他在那里发现的材料在定义奥里格纳工业方面发挥了核心作用。奥里尼纳工业现在被认为是欧洲最古老的旧石器时代晚期文化。尽管年代较早，但该遗址包含了大量的石灰岩雕刻块形式的艺术品，是欧洲已知的最早的图形表示之一。Peyrony在该地点被占领的时候，在距离大西洋海岸约200公里的地方发现了数百个穿孔的贝壳。阿布里·卡斯塔内出产了丰富的骨骼和鹿角工具和武器样品，以及数百颗象牙和肥皂石珠子和穿孔的动物牙齿。这些是已知的人类最早使用的个人装饰品之一。在国家科学基金会的支持下，兰迪·怀特博士将在该遗址进行新的大规模挖掘。尽管佩罗尼的工作在当时是开创性的，但它没有达到现代标准，例如，从他挖掘过程中移走的背部泥土中找到了大量的石器。在他自己的初步实地考察中，怀特博士已经找到并清理了佩罗尼的战壕，并确定仍有大量完好无损的沉积物。他还发现，最初的挖掘没有到达基岩，还没有达到奥里尼亚奇的最低水平。怀特博士将进行大规模挖掘，以找回文化和动物遗骸。该地点的多个Aurignation职业仍未确定日期，将收集放射性碳样本。由于要暴露的区域很大，因此有可能解决空间模式的问题，并获得关于社会组织的信息。大约40,000年前，在解剖学和行为学上，现代人取代了居住在欧洲超过10万年的尼安德特人。人类学家希望了解这些新人类带来了什么适应，使他们能够更有效地适应这种恶劣的冰川环境，因此应特别关注这一过程的最早部分。Abri Castanet很重要，因为它代表了这段时间。尽管许多Aurignacian遗址都有经过加工的骨骼和艺术品，但Abri Castanet在所代表的物品的数量和种类上都是独一无二的。怀特博士的发掘将提供许多考古学家感兴趣的数据，并为欧洲最早的现代人提供新的线索。

In the early decades of the twentieth century Denis Peyrony, a French school teacher conducted archaeological excavations at the site of Abri Castanet, a rock shelter located in the Dordogne region of France. Although the results were published in only cursory fashion, the material he found there played a central role in defining the Aurignacian industry, now recognized as the oldest Upper Paleolithic culture in Europe. Despite its early date, the site contained and abundance of art objects in the form of engraved limestone blocks, among the earliest known graphic representations in Europe. Peyrony discovered hundreds of pierced seashells from the Atlantic shore some 200 km distant at the time the site was occupied. Abri Castanet yielded a rich sample of tools and weapons in bone and antler as well as several hundred ivory and soapstone beads and pierced animal teeth. These are among the earliest known personal ornaments employed by humans. With National Science Foundation support Dr. Randy White will undertake a new large scale excavation at the site. Although Peyrony's work was pathbreaking at the time it was conducted, it does not meet modern standards and large numbers of stone artifacts, for example, have been recovered from the back dirt removed during his excavations. During his own preliminary fieldwork Dr. White has located and cleaned the Peyrony's trenches and determined that a significant amount of intact deposit still remains. He has also discovered that the original excavation did not reach bedrock and the lowest Aurignacian levels have not yet been reached. Dr. White will conduct large scale excavation to recover both cultural and faunal remains. The multiple Aurignation occupations at the site remain undated and radiocarbon samples will be collected. Because of the large areas to be exposed, it will be possible to address issues of spatial patterning and to obtain information on social organization. Approximately 40,000 years ago anatomically and behaviorally modern peoples replaced Neanderthals who had inhabited Europe for over 100,000 years. Anthropologists wish to understand what adaptations these new people brought which allowed them to adapt more effectively to this harsh glacial environment and therefore particular attention should be focused on the earliest part of this process. Abri Castanet is important because it represents just this time period. Although many Aurignacian sites contain worked bone and art objects, Abri Castanet is unique both for the number and variety of objects represented. Dr. White's excavations will provide data of interest to many archaeologists and shed new light on the earliest modern human peoples in Europe.