Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Middle Paleolithic Lithic Technology and Behavior in the Hrazdan River Gorge, Armenia.

在丹尼尔·s·阿德勒博士的指导下，贝弗利·a·施密特将对卢萨克特1号和埃里温1号的洞穴遗址进行技术分析，这些遗址位于亚美尼亚赫拉兹丹峡谷，相距25公里，可追溯到6万到4万年前。这两个地点都位于相对较浅的、自然形成的柱状玄武岩洞穴中，靠近许多高质量的黑曜岩来源。卢萨克特1号是亚美尼亚这一时期唯一的洞穴遗址，使用现代方法恢复了保存完好的考古材料的分层沉积物，而埃里温1号传统上被用作南高加索石制工业的基准组合。然而，关于这两个地点的少数出版物对早期人类技术行为的性质、地点占用和持续时间、流动性和土地利用提出了相互矛盾的解释。因此，更重要的是通过彻底和详细的分析来证实或拒绝先前的解释。施密特女士的研究首次提供了在该地区进行各种技术和行为研究的机会，这些研究可以与邻近地区发表的研究相媲美。亚美尼亚在我们对高加索地区的石器技术和行为的了解方面存在差距，高加索地区位于黑海和里海之间，包括俄罗斯、格鲁吉亚、亚美尼亚、伊朗、阿塞拜疆和土耳其等地区。在石器组合中识别技术和风格的变化可以被解释为文化传统和创新的标志。由于原材料质量和可用性、觅食方式、移动范围和成本效益决策对石器技术的影响，有可能推断人类在薄片生产、减少、资源获取和开发、规划和管理、经济效率、区域网络和物质运输模式方面的行为模式。施密特女士项目的主要目标是扩大对南高加索地区早期人类行为的有限了解，并测试与技术、行为、遗址占用和持续时间、活动范围和原材料经济有关的假设，建立一个数据集，与已经公布的遗址进行比较。这项研究还将以学术出版物、会议报告和网站图形、区域信息、地图和网站报告的在线可用性的形式，促进高加索地区内部和邻近地区之间的学术信息交流。通过施密特女士的研究建立的合作和学术关系将继续促进亚美尼亚的考古实地研究和技术分析，特别是埃里温州立大学、埃里温考古和人种学研究所、亚美尼亚国家历史博物馆和美国康涅狄格大学之间正在进行的合作。

Under the guidance of Dr. Daniel S. Adler, Beverly A. Schmidt will conduct a technological analysis of curated and recently excavated lithic assemblages from the cave sites of Lusakert I and Yerevan I, located 25km apart in the Hrazdan Gorge, Armenia, dating to between 60,000 and 40,000 BP. Both sites are located within relatively shallow, naturally-formed columnar basalt caves in close proximity to numerous high-quality obsidian sources. Lusakert I is the only cave site from this time period in Armenia with stratified deposits of well-preserved archaeological material recovered using modern methods, while Yerevan I has traditionally been used as a benchmark assemblage for southern Caucasus lithic industries. However, the few available publications for the two sites present conflicting interpretations regarding the nature of early human technological behavior, site occupation and duration, mobility, and land-use. Therefore, it is even more important to substantiate or reject prior interpretations with a thorough and detailed analysis. Ms. Schmidt's research provides the first opportunity to conduct a variety of technical and behavioral studies in the area that would be comparable to published studies from neighboring regions. Armenia presents a gap in our knowledge of lithic technologies and behaviors in the Caucasus region, which is situated between the Black Sea and Caspian Sea, incorporating areas of Russia, Georgia, Armenia, Iran, Azerbaijan, and Turkey. The identification of technological and stylistic variants in a lithic assemblage can be interpreted as markers of cultural traditions and innovations. Due to the influence on lithic technologies by raw material quality and availability, foraging practices, mobility range, and cost-benefit decision-making, it is possible to infer human behavioral patterns in flake production, reduction, resource acquisition and exploitation, planning and curation, economic efficiency, regional networks, and material transportation patterns. The main goal of Ms. Schmidt's project is to expand the limited knowledge of early human behavior in the southern Caucasus and to test hypotheses related to technology, behavior, site occupation and duration, mobility range, and raw material economy, establishing a dataset for comparisons with already published sites. This research will also contribute to the exchange of scholarly information both within the Caucasus, and between adjacent regions, in the form of academic publications, conference presentations, and online availability of site graphics, regional information, maps, and site reports. The collaboration and academic relationships established through Ms. Schmidt's research will continue to promote archaeological field research and technological analysis in Armenia, specifically the ongoing cooperation between Yerevan State University, the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography and the Armenian National History Museum in Yerevan, and the University of Connecticut in the US.