Descripción del proyecto
Los adhesivos en la tecnología compleja prehistórica
La comprensión de la complejidad conductual y cognitiva es un elemento fundamental en la arqueología paleolítica, especialmente las diferencias y similitudes existentes entre los neandertales y los humanos modernos. Los adhesivos son uno de los mejores representantes de la tecnología compleja prehistórica y resultan adecuados para estudiar el comportamiento de los neandertales y de los humanos modernos. El proyecto AncientAdhesives, financiado con fondos europeos, prevé crear el primer método fiable para comparar el desarrollo tecnológico antiguo y estudiar las diferencias y similitudes en la tecnología y la complejidad conductual de los neandertales y los humanos modernos. Establecerá la primera base de datos completa sobre adhesivos, desarrollará una nueva metodología arqueológica y estimará el proceso de la complejidad tecnológica del adhesivo a lo largo del tiempo en estas dos especies.
Objetivo
AncientAdhesives addresses the most crucial problem in Palaeolithic archaeology: How to reliably infer cognitively complex behaviour in the deep past. To study the evolution of Neandertal and modern human cognitive capacities, certain find categories are taken to reflect behavioural and thus cognitive complexitye.g. Among these are art objects, personal ornaments and complex technology. Of these technology is best-suited to trace changing behavioural complexity, because 1) it is the least vulnerable to differential preservation, and 2) technological behaviours are present throughout the history of our genus. Adhesives are the oldest examples of highly complex technology. They are also known earlier from Neandertal than from modern human contexts. Understanding their technological complexity is thus essential to resolve debates on differences in cognitive complexity of both species. However, currently, there is no agreed-upon method to measure technological complexity.
The aim of AncientAdhesives is to create the first reliable method to compare the complexity of Neandertal and modern human technologies. This is achieved through three main objectives:
1. Collate the first comprehensive body of knowledge on adhesives, including ethnography, archaeology and (experimental) material properties (e.g. preservation, production).
2. Develop a new archaeological methodology by modifying industrial process modelling for archaeological applications.
3. Evaluate the development of adhesive technological complexity through time and across species using a range of explicit complexity measures.
By analysing adhesives, it is possible to measure technological complexity, to identify idiosyncratic behaviours and to track adoption and loss of complex technological know-how. This represents a step-change in debates about the development of behavioural complexity and differences/similarities between Neanderthals and modern humans.
Ámbito científico
Palabras clave
Programa(s)
Régimen de financiación
ERC-STG - Starting GrantInstitución de acogida
2628 CN Delft
Países Bajos