Pleistocene Palaeoecology of Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania) through the study of archaeological sediments

我的博士项目的目标是调查早更新世(1.7至1.5 Ma)气候变化对东非古人类的影响，以及这些早期人类如何与环境互动和在环境中移动。更确切地说，我想研究我们最早的人类祖先是如何在早更新世奥杜瓦伊峡谷(坦桑尼亚)不断变化的环境中茁壮成长或灭亡的。这个项目将利用考古学、古人类学和地质学的数据来了解早期人类的景观利用模式。这个项目是我为我的硕士学位论文HWKEE地质考古学所做的工作的继续，HWKEE是奥杜瓦伊峡谷的考古遗址之一。东非的这一地区尤其盛产人类遗骸和文物(即石器)。奥杜瓦伊峡谷在我们的分类学树、人类进化以及两个早期石器技术复合体--奥多万人和阿舍利人--上产生了至关重要的数据。此外，对该地区的部分研究兴趣是由于其地质框架，因为奥杜瓦伊峡谷位于东非裂谷系统内，并且非常接近恩戈罗火山高地。奥杜瓦伊峡谷考古遗址受到构造、断裂、倾斜和下沉事件的影响。此外，奥杜瓦伊峡谷的环境变化与一种干旱趋势有关。该项目的主要目标是重建奥杜瓦伊峡谷的古环境变化，并了解这些变化如何影响该地区的人类适应。为了达到这一目标，在这个项目中，我将分析整个奥杜瓦伊峡谷的湖相和湖周沉积物，重点是它们的粘土成分。粘土矿物是重要的环境标志，对粘土矿物的研究将有助于揭示该地区古环境变化的类型和持续时间。这样的研究将包括，例如，地球化学、微形态和岩相学分析；这些方法是我以前接受过培训并在我的硕士论文中使用的。然后将从这些分析中收集的信息与该地区获得的古人类学数据进行比较，以努力了解这些变化如何影响原始人群体的生活。奥杜瓦伊峡谷是人类进化研究的支柱地区。这个项目代表着对我们古老历史中一个非常重要的部分的进一步了解，特别是关于我们的属对不断变化的地形的适应能力。这不仅是当代人现在和将来面临的现实，也是一个长期受到质疑的现实，并与几个时期的原始人迁出有关。此外，该项目的重要性还取决于是否有可能揭示能人和直立人这两个人类群体在景观使用模式方面的行为差异。

The goal of my doctoral project is to investigate the effects of climate change in East African hominins during the Early Pleistocene (1.7 to 1.5 Ma), and how these early humans interacted with and moved within their environment. More precisely, I want to examine how our earliest human ancestors thrived or perished in the shifting environment of Early Pleistocene Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania). This project will draw on archaeological, palaeoanthropological and geological data to achieve an understanding of the landscape-use patterns of early humans.This project is a continuation of the work I produced for my MSc dissertation on the Geoarchaeology of HWKEE - one of Olduvai Gorge's archaeological sites. This region in East Africa is particularly rich in human remains and artefacts (namely, stone tools). Olduvai Gorge has produced crucial data on our taxonomic tree, on the evolution of hominins, and on two early stone tool technocomplexes - Oldowan and Acheulean. Moreover, part of the research interest devoted to this region is due to its geological framework, as Olduvai Gorge is situated within the East African Rift System, and located in close proximity to the Ngorongoro Volcanic Highland. Archaeological sites at Olduvai Gorge were affected by tectonic, faulting, tilting and subsidence events. Also, environmental changes witnessed at Olduvai Gorge have been associated with an aridification trend.The main goal of this project is to reconstruct palaeoenvironmental changes at Olduvai Gorge, and to understand how these influenced human adaptations in the area. To reach such a goal, in this project I will analyse sediments from lacustrine and peri-lacustrine deposits throughout Olduvai Gorge, focusing on their clayey composition. Clay minerals are important environmental markers, for which their study in this project will help shed light on the type and duration of palaeoenvironmental changes that occurred at this region. Such a study will include, for instance, geochemical, micromorphological and petrographic analyses; methods which I have previously been trained in and used in my MSc dissertation. The information gathered from these analyses will then be compared to palaeoanthropological data obtained for this area, in an effort to understand how these changes influenced the livelihood of hominin groups.Olduvai Gorge is a pillar research area in the study of human evolution. This project represents a further addition of knowledge to a very important part of our deep past, especially concerning our Genus' adaptability to changing landscapes. This is not only a reality that current generations are and will face, but it is also a reality long questioned and associated to several periods of hominin exoduses. Furthermore, the importance of this project also relies on the possibility of shedding new light on behavioural differences between two groups of hominins, Homo habilis and Homo erectus, in regards to their landscape-use patterns.