Geoarchaeology of a Middle Stone Age paleo-landscape in the central interior of South Africa: paleoenvironments and foraging practices during the transition to behaviora

我们人类的生物学和行为起源于非洲，最近的研究表明，在中石器时代(大约30万到3万年前)，特别是在南部非洲，早期使用了象征性表达和早熟技术。中石器时代行为的大部分证据来自对洞穴遗址的挖掘，特别是沿南非西部和南部海岸的洞穴遗址。尽管这些洞穴遗址意义重大，但它们可以描绘出一幅有偏见的人类行为图景，因为大多数与觅食有关的活动都是在户外进行的。在这里，我们建议对以弗洛里斯巴德重要遗址为中心的南非自由州的一处石器时代的古景观进行地质考古调查。我们的目标是研究位于南非中部河流阶地和狭长地带内的三个露天地点的沉积和后沉积过程。我们将在一个详细的遗址形成模型中将这些遗址联系起来，以调查不断变化的环境和景观如何影响弗洛里斯巴德地区石器时代中期的觅食行为。

The biological and behavioral origins of our species lies in Africa, where recent research has demonstrated an early use of symbolic expression and precocious technologies during the Middle Stone Age (ca. 300,000 to 30,000 years ago), particularly in southern Africa. Much of the evidence for Middle Stone Age behavior comes from excavations of cave sites, particularly along the western and southern coasts of South Africa. Despite the significance of these cave sites, they can paint a biased picture of human behavior since most activities related to foraging were conducted in the open air. Here, we propose to conduct a geoarchaeological investigation of a Middle Stone Age paleolandscape in the Free State of South Africa, centered around the important site of Florisbad. We aim to study the depositional and post-depositional processes of three open-air sites located within the fluvial terraces and panfields of central South Africa. We will contextualize these sites within a detailed site formation model, in order to investigate how changing environments and landscapes influenced Middle Stone Age foraging practices in the region of Florisbad.