Kadowaki Seiji, Omori Takayuki, Nishiaki Yoshihiro
Nagoya University Museum, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, 464-8601, Japan.
The University Museum, The University of Tokyo, Hongo 7-3-1, Bunkyo, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan.
J Hum Evol. 2015 May;82:67-87. doi: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2015.02.017.
This paper re-examines lithic technological variability of the Early Ahmarian, one of the early Upper Palaeolithic cultural entities in the Levant, which has often been regarded as a precursor of the Protoaurignacian (the early Upper Palaeolithic in Europe) in arguments for the occurrence of a cultural spread in association with the dispersal of Homo sapiens from the Levant to Europe. Using quantitative data on several lithic techno-typological attributes, we demonstrate that there is a significant degree of variability in the Early Ahmarian between the northern and southern Levant, as previously pointed out by several researchers. In addition, we suggest that the technology similar to the southern Early Ahmarian also existed in the northern Levant, i.e., the Ksar Akil Phase 4 group (the KA 4 group), by introducing new Upper Palaeolithic assemblages from Wadi Kharar 16R, inland Syria. We then review currently available stratigraphic records and radiocarbon dates (including a new date from Wadi Kharar 16R), with special attention to their methodological background. As a result, we propose alternative chronological scenarios, including one that postulates that the southern Early Ahmarian and the KA 4 group appeared later than the northern Early Ahmarian with little or no overlap. On the basis of the alternative scenarios of chronological/geographical patterns of the Early Ahmarian variability, we propose four possible relationships between the Protoaurignacian and the Early Ahmarian, including a new scenario that the appearance of the Protoaurignacian preceded those of similar technological entities in the Levant, i.e., the southern Early Ahmarian and the KA 4 group. If the last hypothesis is substantiated, it requires us to reconsider the model of a Levantine origin of the Protoaurignacian and its palaeoanthropological implications.
本文重新审视了阿马尔早期文化的石器技术变异性，阿马尔早期文化是黎凡特地区旧石器时代晚期早期的文化实体之一，在关于与智人从黎凡特向欧洲扩散相关的文化传播出现的争论中，它常被视为原奥瑞纳文化（欧洲旧石器时代晚期早期文化）的前身。利用关于几种石器技术类型学属性的定量数据，我们证明，正如几位研究人员之前所指出的，黎凡特北部和南部的阿马尔早期文化存在显著程度的变异性。此外，通过引入叙利亚内陆瓦迪·哈拉尔16R的新的旧石器时代晚期组合，我们认为黎凡特北部也存在与南部阿马尔早期文化相似的技术，即克萨尔·阿基尔第4阶段组（KA 4组）。然后，我们回顾了目前可用的地层记录和放射性碳测年数据（包括来自瓦迪·哈拉尔16R的一个新数据），特别关注其方法学背景。结果，我们提出了替代的年代学方案，包括一种假设，即南部阿马尔早期文化和KA 4组出现的时间比北部阿马尔早期文化晚，且几乎没有重叠或完全没有重叠。基于阿马尔早期文化变异性的年代学/地理模式的替代方案，我们提出了原奥瑞纳文化与阿马尔早期文化之间的四种可能关系，包括一种新的方案，即原奥瑞纳文化的出现先于黎凡特地区类似技术实体的出现，即南部阿马尔早期文化和KA 4组。如果最后一个假设得到证实，这将要求我们重新考虑原奥瑞纳文化起源于黎凡特地区的模式及其古人类学意义。
