One of the most interesting questions in Paleolithic archaeology today is what research in such early periods can tell us about the origins of modern human behavior and culture. With support from the National Science Foundation, Dr. Robert Whallon will lead an international team of scholars in an investigation of this question at a large and important Neanderthal site in southeastern Europe.
There are currently great differences of opinion among Paleolithic archaeologists about whether the behavior and culture of our nearest biological relatives, the Neanderthals, was primitive and limited compared to us, or whether they show the beginnings of essentially modern behavior and culture. Recently, it has been proposed that the division of labor, universally characteristic of ethnographically known human hunter-gatherers, did not exist in Neanderthal societies, but was part of the socioeconomic systems of the modern human populations that spread from the eastern Mediterranean throughout Europe. It was presumably the greater effectiveness of an economic system based on the division of labor that allowed modern human populations to expand and replace the Neanderthals.
This project will evaluate this proposal by investigating the organization of Neanderthal subsistence economy and society over a long sequence of changing environmental conditions. Specifically, it will test the hypothesis that Neanderthals pursued large game hunting in warmer climates by bridging gaps between successful hunts by storing meat that was preserved by smoking and drying over fire. In colder climates, with little or no forest available for fuel, Neanderthals were unable to avoid unpredictable gaps in foraging success in this way, and were therefore subject to food stress and fluctuations in population. In these conditions, Neanderthal populations would have been comparatively small and sparse.
The location of this project is the site of Crvena Stijena, a large rock shelter on the western border of Montenegro. Crvena Stijena contains a sequence of undisturbed Middle Paleolithic archaeological deposits at least 9 m in depth, estimated to range in age from approximately 40,000 to 150,000 BP. This sequence probably represents the longest record of Neanderthal archaeology yet discovered in the southeastern Europe. Neanderthal economic and social organization in the occupations represented by these deposits will be reconstructed through coordinated studies of their hearths, the animal bones, the stone tools, and other remains, conducted by a series of expert specialists.
The broader impacts of this project include significant components of teaching and training, especially of students in Balkan countries. American students are closely involved in this project as well, being trained in Paleolithic archaeology, and given opportunities for developing undergraduate honors theses and doctoral dissertation research. In the course of their participation, American students are also exposed to an international and multi-cultural experience that enhances their understanding of the world and of different cultures. In addition, the project will contribute significantly to the development of the research infrastructure in Montenegro, helping to build up comparative research and teaching collections in several research centers and museums.
