Doctoral Dissertation Research: Lithic Raw Material Exploitation Patterns in the Wadi al-Hasa, West-Central Jordan

在Harold Dibble博士和Deborah Olszewski博士的指导下，Maire Crowley女士将为她关于Wadi al？哈萨，约旦。 她将分析从七个地点的石器组合，跨越从中/上旧石器时代过渡到新石器时代的时间范围，并进行了一项调查的燧石轴承形成，将扩大（无论是在细节和地区覆盖）在2000年进行的调查东部铝？Hasa晚更新世项目：有两种主要模式主导着对黎凡特晚更新世人类行为的解释，即基于内盖夫中部高地研究的循环/辐射模式和基于约旦南部研究的季节性迁移模式。 然而，这些模型的基础上研究的行为反应非常不同的环境和/或地形条件的湖泊/沼泽生态系统中存在的瓦迪人？哈萨在晚更新世。 克劳利女士将测试和完善专门为这种类型的湖泊/沼泽环境开发的行为移动模型。 这个模型将提供一个有用的替代两个占主导地位的模型，并帮助我们了解史前的行为模式，在其他地区的黎凡特类似的湖泊/沼泽环境存在，例如Azraq和Jafr Basins.Raw材料的可用性已被证明是最重要的因素之一，影响形态和技术模式的石器组合。 由于高品质的原材料在黎凡特地区随处可见，因此在黎凡特石器研究中普遍存在一种假设，即原材料可以被视为常数。 在世界其他地区，如欧洲，那里的原材料是不太广泛，研究表明，随着时间的推移，原材料来源的枯竭是一个重要的因素，必须考虑到考察历时组合的变化。 克劳利女士还将探讨是否耗尽是一个因素，需要考虑在研究的历时变化时，在黎凡特石器组合，质疑以前没有受到挑战的假设，在这方面的原材料的可用性可能被视为一个常数。识别史前flintknapper使用的原材料来源的困难已在文献中经常指出。 然而，克劳利女士将开发和完善程序，以结合各种视觉标准，这将使大量的文物进行有效和廉价的分析，这应该有可能缩小来源，其中收集的原始材料数据的主体可能被用来测试行为模型。 这项研究也很重要，因为它将产生一个庞大而详细的采购和原材料利用数据的计算机化数据库。 该数据库将为其他旧石器时代石器研究人员提供有用的资源来检验各种假设。 这项研究也将为培养一个有前途的旧石器时代考古学家作出重大贡献。

Under the direction of Dr. Harold Dibble and Dr. Deborah Olszewski, Ms. Maire Crowley will collect data for her doctoral dissertation on lithic raw material exploitation patterns in the Wadi al?Hasa, Jordan. She will analyze lithic assemblages from seven sites which span a time range from the Middle/Upper Paleolithic transition through to the Neolithic, and conduct a survey of chert bearing formations which will expand (both in detail and areas covered) a survey conducted in 2000 by the Eastern al?Hasa Late Pleistocene Project.There are two principal models which dominate interpretations of Late Pleistocene human behavior in the Levant, the circulating/radiating model, based on research in the Central Negev Highlands, and the transhumance model, based on research in southern Jordan. However, these models are based on the study of behavioral responses to very different environmental and/or topographical conditions from the lake/marsh ecological system which existed in the Wadi al?Hasa in the Late Pleistocene. Ms. Crowley will be testing and refining a model of behavioral mobility developed specifically for this type of lake/marsh environment. This model will provide a useful alternative to the two dominant models and aid our understanding of prehistoric behavior patterns in other areas of the Levant where similar lake/marsh environments existed, for example the Azraq and Jafr Basins.Raw material availability has been shown to be one of the most important factors influencing morphological and technological patterns in lithic assemblages. Because high quality raw material is widely available in the Levant, an assumption pervades much Levantine lithic research that raw material can be treated as a constant. Research in other regions of the world, such as Europe, where raw material is much less widely available, has shown that depletion of raw material sources over time is a significant factor which must be taken into account when examining diachronic assemblage variability. Ms. Crowley will also examine whether depletion is a factor that needs to be considered when studying diachronic variability in Levantine lithic assemblages, questioning the previously unchallenged assumption that in this area raw material availability may be treated as a constant.The difficulty of identifying raw material sources utilized by prehistoric flintknappers has frequently been noted in the literature. However, Ms. Crowley will be developing and refining procedures for combining a variety of visual criteria which will enable large numbers of artifacts to be analyzed efficiently and inexpensively and which should make it possible to narrow sources down to where the body of raw material data collected may be used to test behavioral models.Sourcing studies have rarely been performed in the Levant. This research is also important because it will generate a large and detailed computerized database of sourcing and raw material utilization data. This database will provide a useful resource for other paleolithic lithic researchers to draw on to test a variety of hypotheses. This research will also make a significant contribution to the training of a promising paleolithic archaeologist.