Collaborative Research: Inquiry into the Origins of Modern Human Distributions

自从150多年前发现尼安德特人以来，尼安德特人吸引了科学家和普通公众的想象力。研究人员一直在试图了解它们的生活方式以及它们消失的过程。考古学和地球科学特别适合解决这一困境，因为它们都研究作用于深层时间的过程。在这一广泛的背景下，路易斯维尔大学的乔纳森·豪斯博士和北卡罗来纳大学威尔明顿大学的迈克尔·贝内代蒂博士将领导一项为期三年的尼安德特人灭绝和被解剖学上的现代人取代的研究。该项目汇集了一个国际团队，从葡萄牙中部的Lapa do Picareiro洞穴挖掘中恢复高分辨率的考古、地质和古生态记录。该项目旨在测试土地使用和饮食的差异是否允许尼安德特人在欧洲西南部生存的时间比其他任何地方都长。最终目标是确定尼安德特人灭绝并被现代人取代的原因。这个项目对整个社会的好处包括对人类进化的更深入的理解，特别是环境变化、技术和饮食选择所起的作用。该项目还为将在国际环境中加入跨学科研究团队的学生参与者提供科学参与和文化丰富。PIs和他们的机构已经表现出对本科生研究的承诺，并在之前NSF资助的项目中成功地指导了学生的研究。在过去的5年里，参与这个项目的许多学生都是第一代大学生，他们来自肯塔基州和北卡罗来纳州东部的代表性不足、贫困工作和农村人口群体。招收这些学生有两个好处，一是使现场工作人员多样化，二是丰富了学生的教育经验，否则他们可能没有机会进行国际旅行或学习。在我们之前在葡萄牙成功工作的基础上，该项目还将继续促进美国、葡萄牙和捷克大学之间的科学合作，为学生和教职员工创造新的合作学习和研究机会。Lapa do Picareiro是一个独特的遗址，拥有大约1000万个跨越5万年的沉积物。该序列包括近200万个完整的沉积物，年代为30-42,000年前，使其成为追踪尼安德特人灭绝和现代人类殖民欧洲的关键时期古环境和人类生态动力学变化的理想地点。所提出的方法使用放射性碳测年来确定年龄控制，使用石器分析来了解旧石器时代人类的决策，使用动物骨骼组合来重建古环境并了解尼安德特人和现代人的饮食，以及使用沉积学分析来推断遗址形成过程和人类占领的环境背景。总而言之，这项工作将为Lapa do Picareiro的中上旧石器时代过渡建立一个完整的古环境和地质考古年代学，提供该地区许多其他遗址所缺乏的关键背景。

Since their discovery over 150 years ago, Neanderthals have captured the imagination of scientists and the general public. Researchers have been trying to understand their life ways and the processes through which they disappeared. Archaeology and the earth sciences are particularly well placed to address this dilemma because both investigate processes that act over deep time. Within this broad context, Dr. Jonathan Haws (University of Louisville) and Dr. Michael Benedetti (University of North Carolina Wilmington) will lead a three-year study of Neanderthal extinction and replacement by anatomically modern humans . The project brings together an international team to recover high-resolution archaeological, geological and paleoecological records from the excavation of Lapa do Picareiro, a cave in central Portugal. The project is designed to test whether or not differences in land use and diet allowed Neanderthals to survive in southwestern Europe longer than anywhere else. The ultimate goal is to determine why Neanderthals went extinct and were replaced by modern humans. The benefits of this project to society at large include a deeper understanding of human evolution, particularly the role played by environmental change, technology and diet choice. The project also offers scientific engagement and cultural enrichment for student participants who will join an interdisciplinary research team in an international setting. The PIs and their institutions have shown commitment to undergraduate research and demonstrated success in mentoring student research in previous NSF-funded projects. Many of the students involved in this project over the past 5 years have been first-generation college students from under-represented, working poor, and rural demographic groups in Kentucky and eastern North Carolina. Recruiting these students has the dual benefits of diversifying the field crew and enriching the educational experience for students who may not otherwise have opportunities for international travel or study. Building on the success of our previous work in Portugal, this project will also continue to generate scientific partnerships among American, Portuguese and Czech universities, creating new collaborative learning and research opportunities for students and faculty alike.Lapa do Picareiro is a unique site, with about 10m of sediments spanning over 50,000 years. The sequence includes almost 2m of intact deposits dated between 30-42,000 years ago, making it an ideal place to track changes in paleoenvironments and human ecodynamics during the critical period of Neanderthal extinction and modern human colonization of Europe. The proposed methodology uses radiocarbon dating to establish age control, stone tool analyses to understand the decision-making of Paleolithic humans, animal bone assemblages to reconstruct paleoenvironments and understand Neanderthal and modern human diets, and sedimentological analyses to infer site formation processes and environmental context of human occupation. Taken together, the work will establish a complete paleoenvironmental and geoarchaeological chronology for the Middle-Upper Paleolithic transition at Lapa do Picareiro, providing critical context that is missing from many other sites in the region.