Paleoanthropological Investigations in Northern Armenia

在美国国家科学基金会（National Science Foundation）的支持下，查尔斯·埃格兰博士（Charles Egeland）和一个由同事组成的国际团队将在亚美尼亚北部进行一季的古人类学实地研究。这项研究汇集了美国和亚美尼亚的考古学、地质学、地理信息系统和人类古生物学专家，试图确定中亚西部最早的人类职业。在上新世晚期和更新世早期（200万至170万年前），早期人类从非洲向欧亚大陆更广阔的地区的最初分散反映了一种适应新环境的能力，因此标志着人类进化的一个真正分水岭。在格鲁吉亚共和国著名的德马尼西遗址发现了早期人类，该遗址可追溯到180万年前，位于项目区域以北30公里处，这表明亚美尼亚北部可能是早期人类扩张的主要走廊。然而，这些扩散的性质和时间仍然知之甚少，主要是因为欧亚上新世-更新世遗址的缺乏。这项研究的最终目标是确定大型的、保存完好的上新世-更新世遗址，以更细致地了解生物学、技术、文化和不断变化的环境如何影响早期人类最初离开非洲的时间和方式。研究问题的性质要求进行基本的现场调查，以确定有早期人类居住证据的地区（骨骼化石和/或石器）。一旦确定了遗址，就可以进行更详细的挖掘，以重建遗址形成和古环境、早期人类饮食和生物、遗址使用和石器技术等方面。具体工作有：(1)绘制德贝德和潘巴克河谷的地质剖面；(2)在确定的地点完成广泛的地面材料调查和收集；(3)对遗址进行试验挖掘，评估其完整性和潜力；(4)构建基于gis的测绘与挖掘协议；(5)分析所有收集到的文物。人类最初从非洲迁徙的时间和性质是古人类学中至关重要的问题。尽管已经提出了令人信服的模型来解释早期人类离开非洲的运动，但欧亚大陆上合适年代的遗址太少，无法充分验证它们。这项研究的智力价值将在于确定新的地点，以便更全面地了解早期人类的扩散能力及其与生物学、文化和环境变化的关系。在亚美尼亚，现代古人类学研究的实施仍处于起步阶段，西方学者对该国之前开展的许多工作并不了解。在帮助向更广泛的受众传播信息方面，这项研究的更广泛影响将是与亚美尼亚最负盛名的科学组织之一亚美尼亚国家科学院建立国际合作关系。一旦建立，该项目将为在亚美尼亚和国外培养新一代本科生和研究生提供机会。最后，项目团队将发布一个面向公众解释的网站，详细介绍和更新项目结果，并突出其国际合作性质。

With National Science Foundation support, Dr. Charles Egeland and an international team of colleagues will conduct one field season of paleoanthropological research in northern Armenia. This research brings together U.S. and Armenian specialists in archaeology, geology, geographic information systems, and human paleontology in an attempt to identify the earliest human occupations in west-central Asia. The initial dispersal of early human populations from Africa and into the wider reaches of Eurasia during the late Pliocene and early Pleistocene (between 2 and 1.7 million years ago) reflects an ability to adapt to novel environments and thus marks a true watershed in human evolution. The presence of early humans at the well-known site of Dmanisi in the Republic of Georgia, which is dated to 1.8 million years ago and lies just 30km north of the project area, indicates that northern Armenia probably served as a major corridor for expanding early human populations. However, the nature and timing of these dispersals remain poorly understood, largely because of a paucity of Eurasian Plio-Pleistocene sites. The ultimate goal of this research is to identify large, well-preserved Plio-Pleistocene sites to develop a more nuanced understanding of how biology, technology, culture, and changing environments influenced when and how early humans initially left Africa. The nature of the research questions requires basic site survey to be carried out to identify areas with evidence of early human occupation (fossilized bones and/or stone tools). Once sites are identified, more detailed excavations can be conducted to reconstruct aspects of site formation and paleoenvironment, early human diet and biology, site use, and stone tool technology. Specific tasks are (1) map geological sections in the Debed and Pambak river valleys; (2) complete extensive survey and collection of surface materials at identified sites; (3) conduct test excavations at sites to assess their integrity and potential; (4) build a GIS-based mapping and excavation protocol; (5) to analyze all collected artifacts. The timing and nature of the initial human dispersals from Africa are issues of critical importance to paleoanthropology. Although compelling models have been advanced to explain movements of early humans out of Africa, there are too few Eurasian sites of the right age to adequately test them. The intellectual merit of the research will be to identify new sites to permit a more comprehensive understanding of early human dispersal capability and its relationship to biology, culture, and environmental change.The implementation of modern-style paleoanthropological research is still in its infancy in Armenia, and much of the previous work carried out in the country is not well-known to Western scholars. In helping to disseminate information to a wider audience, the broader impacts of this study will be to establish an international collaboration with the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, which is one of the country's most prestigious scientific organizations. Once established, the project will open opportunities to train a new generation of undergraduate and graduate students in Armenia and abroad. Ultimately, the project team will publish a website geared towards public interpretation that will detail and update the results of the project and highlight its international collaborative nature.