Blumenschine R J, Peters C R
Department of Anthropology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08901-1414, USA.
J Hum Evol. 1998 Jun;34(6):565-607. doi: 10.1006/jhev.1998.0216.
We present a preliminary predictive model of Oldowan stone artefact and scavenged larger mammal bone assemblages for 11 landscape facets modeled earlier to occur across a large portion (> 300 km2) of the paleo-Olduvai Basin during lowermost Bed II times. This second phase of model-building is based on our earlier characterizations of the basin's landscape ecostructure and the inter-facet distribution of key resources and hazards probably encountered by Late Pliocene hominids (Peters & Blumenschine, 1995, 1996). Our current extension of the model of hominid-landscape interactions specifies additional theoretical components, including: (1) the assumed capabilities of Oldowan hominids (presumably Homo habilis, primarily); (2) the landscape-facet-specific tasks they carried out; (3) the immediate stone and bone task residues they produced; and (4) the predicted composition, condition, density, and clustering of stone artefact and butchered and unbutchered bone assemblages for each facet. We develop ecological linkages between these new and formerly reported modeling components, the most fundamental of which is the facet-specific degree of tree/shrub cover abundance, and the correlated degree of competition among larger carnivores and hominids for scavengeable larger mammal carcasses. These factors condition variability among landscape facets in scavenging opportunities encountered by hominids, which in our model is the major predictor of bone and stone artefact assemblage composition. The predictive value of scavenging reflects the bias of paleoanthropological traces toward technology and butchery in their landscape context, but the model is surprisingly insensitive to what are usually thought to be critical social components of hominid land use. The predictions for the traces of hominid-landscape interactions modeled herein can be tested in the future against the landscape archaeological sample being excavated from lowermost Bed II by the Olduvai Landscape Paleoanthropology Project.
我们针对11个景观要素提出了奥杜威石器和拾荒大型哺乳动物骨骼组合的初步预测模型，这些景观要素在早更新世奥杜威盆地最底层第II层时期分布于该盆地大部分区域（超过300平方公里）。模型构建的第二阶段基于我们早期对该盆地景观生态结构以及上新世晚期人类（彼得斯和布卢门施泰因，1995年、1996年）可能遇到的关键资源和危险的面间分布的描述。我们目前对人类 - 景观相互作用模型的扩展规定了额外的理论组成部分，包括：（1）奥杜威人类（主要推测为能人）的假定能力；（2）他们执行的特定景观要素任务；（3）他们产生的直接石器和骨骼任务残留物；以及（4）每个景观要素的石器、屠宰和未屠宰骨骼组合的预测组成、状况、密度和聚类情况。我们在这些新的和先前报告的建模组成部分之间建立生态联系，其中最基本的是特定景观要素的树木/灌木覆盖丰度程度，以及大型食肉动物和人类在可拾荒大型哺乳动物尸体方面的相关竞争程度。这些因素决定了人类在拾荒机会方面景观要素之间的变异性，在我们的模型中，这是骨骼和石器组合组成的主要预测指标。拾荒的预测价值反映了古人类学遗迹在其景观背景下对技术和屠宰的偏向，但该模型对通常被认为是人类土地利用关键社会组成部分的因素出奇地不敏感。本文中模拟的人类 - 景观相互作用痕迹的预测未来可通过奥杜威景观古人类学项目从最底层第II层挖掘出的景观考古样本进行检验。
