Earliest Middle Paleolithic Humans in the Levant: Final Two Years of Research at Hayonim Cave Israel.

在国家科学基金会的支持下，Ofer Bar-Yosef博士和一大批多国合作者将继续支持位于以色列的Hayonim洞穴遗址的考古研究。哈奥尼姆拥有丰富的岩屑和动物群遗骸--以及人类骨骼的碎片--跨越了大约20万-8万年前的时间范围。在该项目的最后两年，清理和分析工作将围绕一系列相关目标展开。由于E层的广泛暴露，遗址的最低层将允许记录和检查壁炉以及人工制品和骨骼的空间分布。这将显著增加样本大小。我们将对其中的每一类进行分析。研究人员将重建用于工具制造的岩屑操作序列，并将进行微磨损分析以确定工具功能。将对动物群进行研究，以重建生存战略以及场地占用强度。将综合沉积物矿物学和成岩作用成果，用于岩屑和动物群物质的分布分析。来自许多来源的数据表明，从解剖学和行为学上讲，现代人最早出现在大约20万年前的非洲，然后依次传播到世界其他地区。近东作为非洲的门户，可能会提供有关这一扩张的重要信息。到目前为止的研究表明，在很长一段时间里，现代人和早期的‘尼安德特人’形态要么共存，要么交替存在。然而，第一批现代人到达的确切时间是未知的，巴尔·约瑟夫博士的研究直接检查了可能的时期。哈奥尼姆洞穴值得共同研究，因为它的沉积不仅覆盖了这一时间范围，而且还包含了保存完好的动物群和岩屑遗迹。这项研究之所以重要，有几个原因。它将提供大量人类学家感兴趣的数据。它将阐明现代人的出现，并增加我们对一段鲜为人知的时间的了解。1

With support from the National Science Foundation, Dr. Ofer Bar- Yosef and a large multinational group of collaborators will continue National Science Foundation supported archaeological research at the site of Hayonim Cave located in Israel. Hayonim contains deposits rich in lithics and faunal remains - as well as fragmentary human skeletal material - which span the time range of ca 200,000 - 80,000 years ago. In this final two years of the project, xcavation and analysis will proceed with a series of related goals. Extensive exposure of layer E, the lowest level of the site will permit recording and examination of hearths and spatial distributions of artifacts and bones. It will significantly increase samples sizes. Each of these classes will be analyzed. Reseachers will reconstruct the lithic operational sequences employed for tool manufacture and microwear analysis will be conducted to determine tool function. Fauna will be studied to reconstruct subsistence strategies as well as the intensity of site occupation. Results of sediment mineralogy and diagenesis will be synthesized and applied to distributional analysis of lithic and faunal material. Data from a number of sources suggest that anatomically and behaviorally modern humans first appeared in Africa perhaps 200,000 years ago and spread sequentially to other parts of the world. The Near East, as the gateway from Africa may provide essential information on this expansion. Work to date indicates that for a long span of time both modern humans and earlier `Neanderthal` forms either coexisted or alternated presence in the area. Just when the first modern humans arrived however is unknown and Dr. Bar Yosef's research directly examines the suspected period. Hayonim cave is worthy of concerted research because its deposits not only cover this time range but also contain well preserved faunal and lithic remains. This research is important for several reasons. It will provide data of interest to a large number of anthropologists. It will shed light on the emergence of modern humans and increase our knowledge of a little understood period of time. 1