Neandertal Pyrotechnology and Burial: Excavations at Roc de Marsal

来自美国国家科学基金会的资金将支持在法国多尔多涅（Dordogne）的中旧石器时代遗址Roc de Marsal进行两个季节的挖掘。该遗址包含了两个极其罕见的旧石器时代中期组成部分——一个可能是尼安德特人故意埋葬的地方和保存完好的离散的壁炉——这与尼安德特人的行为和适应的本质有直接的关系。研究小组汇集了来自美国、加拿大、法国和德国的国际科学家小组，他们将共同应用广泛的复杂方法来全面记录和分析这些特征。自从150年前首次被发现以来，尼安德特人就一直深陷争议之中。关于它们与人类的分类学关系，它们对语言和符号的能力和使用，甚至它们的智力水平，这些问题仍在争论中，毫无疑问，关于它们的行为和适应，还有很多需要了解的。当然，这些争论持续的原因有很多，其中包括缺乏足够的证据。更糟糕的是，在现代挖掘和记录技术出现之前，许多现有的证据，尤其是那些罕见的、往往更有趣的行为方面的证据，都是在现代挖掘和记录技术出现之前收集的。这可能会导致严重的问题，关于我们所依赖的集合的完整性分析，有无数的例子，如何更新的恢复方法可以从根本上改变我们的解释。这就是为什么有时重访多年前挖掘的某些遗址是很重要的。Roc de Marsal是几十年前部分挖掘出来的这样一个遗址，但那里的新工作表明，它仍然有很大的潜力来解决许多关于尼安德特人行为的重要问题，包括他们使用火和对待死者的方式。虽然这个墓穴本身在几十年前就被移出了现场，但最近在该遗址的工作中发现了一个特征，似乎与它所描述的背景相似。这一特征是否也包含尼安德特人的遗骸目前尚不清楚，但无论哪种情况，对这一特征的更清晰理解都可以解决最初的埋葬是在一个故意挖的坑中发现的说法，这将对尼安德特人处理死者的方式产生重大影响。然而，这需要在这个特征的邻近区域进行更广泛的挖掘。到目前为止，这些壁炉只部分暴露出来，对于这个时代的遗址来说，它们的保存确实是例外的，它们提供了更多地了解旧石器时代中期烟火技术和尼安德特人在洞穴内使用空间的可能性。这项研究的主要目标包括：了解在Roc de Marsal埋葬尼安德特人的背景，包括埋葬坑是否是故意挖的；获得埋葬的绝对日期；调查炉台的位置、结构和用途；并研究它们发生或不发生的条件。了解他们的作用的关键是通过与Pech de l'Aze IV的比较，那里有类似的工业和壁炉，并且是由许多相同的团队成员挖掘的。这项研究的广泛影响有三个方面。首先，无论尼安德特人是否是现代人类的祖先，了解他们的行为和适应的本质对于理解人类文化进化具有明显的重要性。烟火和对死者的仪式处理都是人类文化发展的两个重要因素，对它们的深入了解将大大有助于我们更广泛地了解早期人类行为。其次，记录和分析这些发现的新方法的发展将有助于在考古研究中使用更广泛的方法。最后，国际学生参与挖掘将成为下一代旧石器时代考古学家的重要培训经验。

Funds from the National Science Foundation will support two seasons of excavation at the Middle Paleolithic site of Roc de Marsal (Dordogne, France). The site contains two exceedingly rare Middle Paleolithic components -- a potentially intentional Neandertal burial and well preserved, discrete hearths - that have direct bearing on the nature of Neandertal behavior and adaptation. The research team brings together an international group of scientists from the United States, Canada, France, and Germany who, together, will apply a wide range of sophisticated methods to fully document and analyze these features.Ever since their initial discovery 150 years ago, Neandertals have been mired in controversy. Questions regarding their taxonomic relationship to us, their capacity for, and use of, language and symbols, and even their level of intelligence are still being debated, and there is unquestionably much more to learn about their behavior and adaptation. There are, of course, many reasons why these debates continue, including a lack of sufficient evidence. To make matters worse, much of the available evidence, particularly for the rare and often more interesting aspects of behavior, was collected before modern techniques of excavation and recording. This can result in serious questions regarding the integrity of the collections that we depend on for analysis, and there are endless examples of how newer recovery methods can fundamentally change our interpretations. This is why it is sometimes important to revisit certain sites that were dug many years earlier. Roc de Marsal is one such site that was partially excavated decades ago, but new work there demonstrates that it still contains significant potential to address many important questions regarding Neandertal behavior, including their use of fire and treatment of the dead. While the burial itself was removed from the site decades ago, recent work at the site has discovered a feature in the site that appears to be analogous to the context described for it. Whether or not this feature also contains Neandertal remains is unknown at this time, but in either case a clearer understanding of this feature can address the claim that the original burial was found in a pit that was intentionally dug, which will have significant implications for Neandertal treatment of their dead. This requires, however, a much more extensive excavation in the immediate area of this feature. The hearths, which have so far only been partially exposed, are truly exceptional in their preservation for sites of this age, and they offer the possibility to learn much more about Middle Paleolithic pyrotechnology and Neandertal use of space within the cave. The major goals of the research include: to gain an understanding of the context of the Neandertal burial at Roc de Marsal including whether or not it the burial pit was intentionally dug; to obtain absolute dates for the burial; to investigate the placement, structure, and use(s) of the hearths; and to investigate the conditions under which they occur or do not occur. A major key to understanding their role will be through comparisons with Pech de l'Aze IV, where similar industries and hearths are present and which was excavated by many of the same team members. The broader impacts of this research are three-fold. First, whether or not Neandertals are ancestors of modern humans, understanding the nature of their behavior and adaptation is of clear importance for understanding human cultural evolution. Both pyrotechnology and ritual treatment of the dead are two important elements of human cultural development, and a deeper understanding of them will contribute significantly to our broader knowledge of earlier human behavior. Second, the development of new methods to document and analyze these finds will contribute to the broader methodology used in archaeological research. And finally, international student participation in the excavation will serve as an important training experience for the next generation of Paleolithic archaeologists.