Descripción del proyecto
El estudio de carnívoros carroñeros revela el comportamiento humano del Paleolítico
Las localizaciones antropogénicas suelen ser el resultado de actividades u ocupaciones concurrentes que implican procesos perturbadores. Ciertos agentes, como los carnívoros carroñeros, alteran el registro arqueológico al eliminar los huesos y no dejar indicios claros de su presencia. Esto dificulta las investigaciones arqueológicas. Sin embargo, al reproducir el comportamiento carroñero mediante programas experimentales controlados con carnívoros salvajes (lo que se conoce como neotafonomía), pueden surgir nuevas interpretaciones. El equipo del proyecto SCAVENGERS, financiado por el Consejo Europeo de Investigación, tiene por objeto supervisar recreaciones experimentales de conjuntos relacionados con la lumbre (similares a los encontrados en contextos arqueológicos) expuestos a diversas especies de carnívoros salvajes, entre ellos hienas, leones, osos, lobos y otros carnívoros de menor tamaño. Este proyecto generará datos transversales aplicables a todos los períodos históricos y zonas geográficas, lo que permitirá hacer inferencias precisas sobre el comportamiento humano en el pasado.
Objetivo
Anthropogenic sites often emerge from overlapping actions and/or occupations that include disruptive processes. Consequently, the palimpsests that arise can have a disorderly appearance, which may complicate the interpretation of such sites. The problem is worsened when some agents, such as carnivore scavengers, act on the archaeological record, causing the remains to disappear and leaving no obvious signs of their passage. Such occurrences have important consequences for archaeological studies, especially when trying to apply ethnographically-derived postulates created in high-resolution temporal contexts. However, new interpretations that are more complete can overcome this problem if the behaviour of scavengers is modelled using controlled experimental programs with wild carnivores (neo-taphonomy). SCAVENGERS consists of monitoring experimental reproductions of hearth-related assemblages (like those described in archaeological contexts) exposed to different species of wild carnivores: hyenas, lions, bears, wolves, and other smaller carnivores. The results will then be subsequently tested on different Middle Palaeolithic assemblages using Artificial Intelligence through computer techniques based on convolutional neural networks. However, the main aim is to generate cross-sectional data that can be applied to all periods and geographic areas, overcoming the limits of traditional archaeological methods to make accurate inferences about past human behaviour. The results of this project will contribute to the development of a new paradigm, changing some basic ideas about prehistory. There is a risk of generating a huge and unmanageable quantity of variables from neo-taphonomy. However, accumulated information and experience will provide valuable data and information for other areas of knowledge, such as those related to naturalistic studies, animal behaviour, and management of natural resources/parks.
Ámbito científico
Palabras clave
Programa(s)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Régimen de financiación
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC GrantsInstitución de acogida
43007 Tarragona
España