Mousterian Socioeconomic Organization in Southeastern Europe

今天旧石器时代考古学中最有趣的问题之一是，在如此早期的研究中，我们可以告诉我们现代人类行为和文化的起源。在美国国家科学基金会的支持下，罗伯特·惠伦博士将领导一个国际学者小组，在欧洲东南部一个大型而重要的尼安德特人遗址调查这个问题。目前，旧石器时代考古学家之间存在很大的分歧，关于我们最近的生物亲戚尼安德特人的行为和文化是否与我们相比是原始和有限的，或者它们是否显示了基本上现代行为和文化的开端。最近，有人提出，人类狩猎采集者的普遍特征劳动分工在尼安德特人社会中并不存在，而是从东地中海蔓延到整个欧洲的现代人口的社会经济体系的一部分。据推测，基于劳动分工的经济体系的更高效率使现代人口得以扩大并取代尼安德特人。本项目将通过调查尼安德特人在长期变化的环境条件下的生存经济和社会组织来评估这一提议。具体来说，它将测试尼安德特人在温暖的气候中进行大型狩猎的假设，通过储存通过烟熏和烤干保存的肉类来弥合成功狩猎之间的差距。在寒冷的气候中，很少或根本没有森林可供燃料，尼安德特人无法以这种方式避免觅食成功的不可预测的差距，因此受到食物压力和人口波动的影响。在这样的条件下，尼安德特人的数量相对较少。该项目的地点是黑山西部边境的一个大型岩石避难所Crvena斯蒂耶纳。Crvena斯蒂耶纳包含一系列未受干扰的旧石器时代中期考古沉积物，深度至少为9米，估计年龄范围约为40，000至150，000 BP。这个序列可能代表了在东南欧发现的尼安德特人考古学最长的记录。通过一系列专家对这些矿藏所代表的尼安德特人的壁炉、动物骨骼、石器和其他遗迹的协调研究，将重建这些矿藏所代表的尼安德特人的经济和社会组织。该项目的更广泛影响包括教学和培训的重要组成部分，特别是对巴尔干半岛的国家的学生。美国学生也密切参与这个项目，接受旧石器时代考古学的培训，并有机会撰写本科生荣誉论文和博士论文研究。在他们的参与过程中，美国学生也接触到国际和多元文化的经验，提高他们对世界和不同文化的理解。此外，该项目将大大有助于黑山研究基础设施的发展，帮助在几个研究中心和博物馆建立比较研究和教学收藏。

One of the most interesting questions in Paleolithic archaeology today is what research in such early periods can tell us about the origins of modern human behavior and culture. With support from the National Science Foundation, Dr. Robert Whallon will lead an international team of scholars in an investigation of this question at a large and important Neanderthal site in southeastern Europe.There are currently great differences of opinion among Paleolithic archaeologists about whether the behavior and culture of our nearest biological relatives, the Neanderthals, was primitive and limited compared to us, or whether they show the beginnings of essentially modern behavior and culture. Recently, it has been proposed that the division of labor, universally characteristic of ethnographically known human hunter-gatherers, did not exist in Neanderthal societies, but was part of the socioeconomic systems of the modern human populations that spread from the eastern Mediterranean throughout Europe. It was presumably the greater effectiveness of an economic system based on the division of labor that allowed modern human populations to expand and replace the Neanderthals.This project will evaluate this proposal by investigating the organization of Neanderthal subsistence economy and society over a long sequence of changing environmental conditions. Specifically, it will test the hypothesis that Neanderthals pursued large game hunting in warmer climates by bridging gaps between successful hunts by storing meat that was preserved by smoking and drying over fire. In colder climates, with little or no forest available for fuel, Neanderthals were unable to avoid unpredictable gaps in foraging success in this way, and were therefore subject to food stress and fluctuations in population. In these conditions, Neanderthal populations would have been comparatively small and sparse.The location of this project is the site of Crvena Stijena, a large rock shelter on the western border of Montenegro. Crvena Stijena contains a sequence of undisturbed Middle Paleolithic archaeological deposits at least 9 m in depth, estimated to range in age from approximately 40,000 to 150,000 BP. This sequence probably represents the longest record of Neanderthal archaeology yet discovered in the southeastern Europe. Neanderthal economic and social organization in the occupations represented by these deposits will be reconstructed through coordinated studies of their hearths, the animal bones, the stone tools, and other remains, conducted by a series of expert specialists.The broader impacts of this project include significant components of teaching and training, especially of students in Balkan countries. American students are closely involved in this project as well, being trained in Paleolithic archaeology, and given opportunities for developing undergraduate honors theses and doctoral dissertation research. In the course of their participation, American students are also exposed to an international and multi-cultural experience that enhances their understanding of the world and of different cultures. In addition, the project will contribute significantly to the development of the research infrastructure in Montenegro, helping to build up comparative research and teaching collections in several research centers and museums.