Archaeology: When did humans conquer high mountains? The making of a tropical alpine human environment

在RU2358的第一阶段，考古项目P1可能会核实贝尔山脉的一个晚更新世定居点，这是世界上最早的证据，表明人类经常在高海拔地区活动。这些中石器时代的狩猎-采集者发展了对非洲高山环境的独特行为和文化适应，显然与他们自更新世末期以来定居在该地区和整个全新世大部分地区的石器时代晚期继承人的行为和文化适应不同。相比之下，贝尔山区引入放牧社会和家畜的时间较晚，虽然重建聚落历史和历时调查人与环境的相互作用仍然是首要目标，但在第二阶段将更加重视对这些不同占领事件的性质的审查。这还包括更详细地挖掘吸引人们来到这一高海拔地区的拉动因素，获得更高的定居点时间和空间分辨率，并在第二阶段内创建可靠的数据集。我们自己的地质考古学方法旨在了解所调查的考古避难所遗址的形成过程，P2将补充这些遗址以前定居点事件的比较数据和洞察力。为了将史前聚落的空间和时间模式及其文化表现联系起来，联合解释模型将考虑以前的气候(P5、P7的结果)和冰川(P6、P7)以及生态(P3、P4、C2)条件。此外，还计划与C2/P4一起对晚更新世考古材料(沉积物、巨型莫拉特动物群遗骸)进行aDNA分析。

During Phase 1 of RU 2358, the archeological project P1 could verify a Late Pleistocene settlement in the Bale Mountains which represents the worldwide earliest evidence of regular high altitude occupations by humans. These Middle Stone Age hunter-gatherers developed unique behavioral and cultural adaptations to the afro-alpine environments, clearly to be distinguished from those of their Later Stone Age successors settling the area since the terminal Pleistocene and throughout much of the Holocene. In contrast, the Bale Mountains experienced a late introduction of herding societies and domestic livestock.While the reconstruction of the settlement history and the diachronic investigation of the human-environment interaction remain overarching goals, in Phase 2 more emphasis will be placed on the examination of the character of these different occupation events. This also includes carving out in more detail the pull-factors that attracted people to this high-altitude region, acquiring higher chronological as well as spatial resolution of the settlements and creating sound data sets within the Phase 2. Our own spectrum of geo-archeological methods geared towards an understanding of the formation processes at the investigated archeological rock shelter sites will be complemented by P2 with comparative data and insights into the intensity and chronology of former settlement events at these sites. To contextualize the spatial and temporal prehistoric settlement patterns and its cultural manifestations, joint explanatory models will consider former climate (results of P5, P7) and glacial (P6, P7) as well as ecological (P3, P4, C2) conditions. Also with C2/P4, aDNA analyses of Late Pleistocene archeological material (sediments, Giant Molerat faunal remains) are planned.