Late Pliocene Hominid Bahavior and Paleoecology at Kanjera South, Africa

在国家科学基金会的支持下，Tom Plummer博士和他的同事将在肯尼亚西南部的Kanjera South进行两个野外季节的挖掘。该团队汇集了考古学、古生物学、古生态学和地质学的专家，对形成早期考古(Oldowan)遗址的原始人的行为和古生态进行了跨学科的调查。公元250万年前奥尔多安考古遗址的出现反映了人类进化中的一次深刻的适应性转变，即将大型哺乳动物组织纳入饮食中。拟议中的项目将首次使用广泛的传统和创新方法对超过2.0 Ma的Oldowan遗址的遗址形成过程进行详细研究。1996年和1997年的开挖在坎杰拉南部裸露的约2.2 Ma的沉积物中发现了丰富的人工制品和化石。在精心控制的挖掘中收集了1000多件石器和数千件化石。70米横断面上五个地点中的两个地点的三个床上的考古密度相对较高的文件表明，原始人的活动在相当长的时间内是空间集中的。初步的实验室分析已经确定了原始人的骨髓加工和食肉动物对骨骼的破坏，以及几种人工制品的改装。古土壤碳酸盐的稳定同位素化学和高等频率表明，在一种新的(开放的)古生境中，奥尔多夫人有活动。小型未成熟哺乳动物的高比例暗示着小型哺乳动物的狩猎，而中等到非常大型的哺乳动物遗骸(包括可能被屠宰的河马)可能已经被觅食。岩屑分析表明，原始人的运输和原材料的选择性。扩大出土材料的样本将允许重建坎杰拉古生态背景下的原始人活动，并有助于与其他大型奥尔多万遗址组合进行有意义的比较，特别是来自坦桑尼亚奥杜瓦伊峡谷和肯尼亚和埃塞俄比亚图尔卡纳湖盆地的那些。动物群分析将提供有关原始人的获取和动物加工以及食肉动物活动在聚集形成中的作用的信息。岩屑分析将记录当地的技术特征和原始人的运输行为，以及硅质岩文物被用于的任务。将使用多种方法获取古环境信息。碳酸盐的肢体元素生态形态分析和同位素分析将提供关于生境结构的信息。下颌骨的生态形态分析和牙釉质中碳同位素的分析将提供古代饮食信息。牙釉质中的氧同位素将制约着S(Kanjera FM)沉积期间的古温度和季节性程度。骨水泥分析将被用来评估羚羊的死亡季节。关于坎杰拉原始人利用开放栖息地的文献可能会影响对早期原始人能力的看法，包括他们与大型食肉动物竞争的能力。该项目还应该有助于正在进行的关于动物群获取策略的辩论，因为它提供了一项关于小型哺乳动物是否被猎杀的测试。随着中型和大型哺乳动物样本的增加，有可能评估接触到大型身体的时间，从而评估原始人是被动还是主动地拾取它们。我们试图通过序列来衡量季节性的强度，以及季节性对原始人觅食动物组织的影响，这在以前从未进行过这种规模的研究，可能会为奥尔多安肉食动物的动机和频率提供有价值的信息。

With National Science Foundation support, Dr. Tom Plummer and colleagues will conduct two field seasons of excavation at Kanjera South, southwestern Kenya. The team brings together specialists in archaeology, paleontology, paleoecology and geology to conduct an interdisciplinary investigation of the behavior and paleoecology of hominids forming early archeological (Oldowan) sites. The appearance of Oldowan archeological sites at c. 2.5 million years ago (Ma) reflects a profound adaptive shift in human evolution, the incorporation of large mammal tissue into the diet. The proposed project will be the first to carry out a detailed study of site formation processes at Oldowan sites older than 2.0 Ma, using a wide range of traditional and innovative methodologies.Excavations in 1996 and 1997 located rich concentrations of artifacts and fossils in c. 2.2 Ma deposits in the Southern Exposures at Kanjera. Over 1,000 stone tools and thousands of fossils were collected in carefully controlled taphonomic excavations. Documentation of relatively high archeological densities in three beds at two of five sites along a 70m transect suggests that hominid activity was spatially focused for a considerable length of time. Preliminary lab analysis has identified hominid marrow processing and carnivore damage to bone, as well as several artifact refits. Stable isotopic chemistry of paleosol carbonates and high equid frequencies indicate Oldowan hominid activities in a novel (open) paleohabitat. A high proportion of small, immature mammals is suggestive of small mammal hunting while medium to very large mammal remains (including a potentially butchered hippopotamus) may have been scavenged. Hominid transport of artifacts and raw material selectivity is suggested by lithic analysis.Expanding the samples of excavated material will allow reconstruction of hominid activities within their paleoecological context at Kanjera and facilitate meaningful comparisons with other large Oldowan site assemblages, particularly those from Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania and the Lake Turkana basin, Kenya and Ethiopia. Faunal analysis will provide information on hominid procurement and processing of animals as well as the role of carnivore activity in assemblage formation. Lithic analysis will document local technological characteristics and hominid transport behavior as well as the tasks chert artifacts were used for. Paleoenvironmental information will be obtained using multiple methodologies. Limb element ecomorphic analyses and isotopic analysis of carbonates will provide information on habitat structure. Ecomorphic analysis of mandibles and analysis of carbon isotopes from enamel will provide paleodietary information. Oxygen isotopes in tooth enamel will constrain paleotemperatures and the degree of seasonality during Kanjera Fm (S) deposition. Cementum analysis will be used to assess antelope season of death.Documentation of hominid utilization of open habitats at Kanjera may influence views of early hominid capabilities, including their ability to compete with large carnivores. This project should also contribute to the on-going debate over faunal acquisition strategies, by providing a test of whether small mammals were hunted. As the sample of medium and larger sized mammals increases, it may be possible to assess the timing of access to larger carcasses and thus whether hominids were passively or actively scavenging them. Our attempts to measure the intensity of seasonality through the sequence, as well as the influence of seasonality on hominid foraging for animal tissue, have not been conducted on this scale before and may provide valuable information on the motivation and frequency of Oldowan carnivory.