Between East and West. Social Networks and Environmental Conditions before, during and after the Last Glacial Maximum in Volhynia (Western Ukraine)

该项目旨在更好地了解自智人抵达欧洲以来最严重的人口瓶颈时期，旧石器时代狩猎采集者的大规模社会网络的发展。考古发现表明，在格拉维特时代早期（约34-29.000 calBP），从大西洋一直延伸到顿河，已经存在了长途通信网络。然而，在格拉维特晚期（约29- 24000 calBP），持续的气候恶化导致了人口的明显减少，这些网络的崩溃，以及剩余部分人口的明显区域化。从气候凉爽但稳定的末次盛冰期（约24- 19000 calBP）开始，欧洲人口的巩固和长距离网络的重新形成开始了，并在随后的时间里得到加强。这一发展的时间和年代细节仍不清楚。乌克兰西部的Volhynia地区是更好地了解有关进程的关键地区。首先，该地区位于西欧、中欧和东欧两个较大聚居区的交界处。其次，许多已知的露天遗址，可以追溯到所讨论的时期，通常具有良好的有机遗迹保存和丰富的黄土地层，为跨学科研究提供了一个有希望的档案，与地球科学，考古学，孢粉学和考古现场分析密切相关。此外，已知的岩石原料和软体动物壳化石的露头特别适合通过与邻近地区的比较来了解变化的网络结构。

The project aims at a better understanding of the development of large-scale social networks of Paleolithic hunter-gatherers around the time of the severest population bottleneck since the arrival of Homo sapiens sapiens in Europe. Archaeological findings show the existence of long-distance communication networks during the early Gravettian (ca. 34-29.000 calBP), reaching from the Atlantic up to the Don river. During the later Gravettian (ca. 29-24.000 calBP) however, a continued climatic deterioration led to a marked population decline and a breakdown of those networks along with a pronounced regionalization of the remaining parts of the population. Beginning with the climatically cool but stable Last Glacial Maximum (ca. 24-19.000 calBP) a consolidation of the European population and the renewed formation of long-distance networks started, which became intensified during the following time. The chronological and chorological details of this development remain unclear. The region of Volhynia in western Ukraine is a key-region for a better understanding of the processes in question. First, the region is located at the junction between two larger settlement areas in Western and Central Europe on the one hand and Eastern Europe on the other. Second, the numerous known open-air sites, dating to the period in question, often with excellent preservation of organic remains and ample loess stratigraphies, provide a promising archive for an interdisciplinary study with closely intertwined geo-scientific, archaeozoological, palynological and archaeological on-site analyses. Moreover, the known outcrops of lithic raw materials and fossil mollusk shells are particularly suited to gain insights into the changing network structures by comparisons with neighboring regions.