Description du projet
Les adhésifs dans les technologies préhistoriques complexes
Comprendre la complexité comportementale et cognitive est un élément clé de l’archéologie paléolithique, et en particulier les différences et les similitudes entre l’homme de Néandertal et l’homme moderne. Les adhésifs sont l’un des meilleurs symboles d’une technologie préhistorique complexe et conviennent parfaitement à l’étude du comportement de l’homme de Néandertal et de l’homme moderne. Le projet AncientAdhesives, financé par l’UE, envisage de créer la première méthode fiable pour comparer le développement technologique ancien et étudier les différences et les similitudes entre la technologie de l’homme de Néandertal et l’homme moderne, et la complexité comportementale. Il établira la première base de données complète sur les adhésifs, développera une nouvelle méthodologie archéologique et évaluera le processus de complexité technologique des adhésifs à travers le temps chez ces deux espèces.
Objectif
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.
Champ scientifique
Programme(s)
Thème(s)
Régime de financement
ERC-STG - Starting GrantInstitution d’accueil
2628 CN Delft
Pays-Bas