HOMINID: Assessing the Faunal and Lithic Assemblages and Chronology of the Smugglers' Cave Site

University Of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA

Investigators

Abstract

This award is for a pilot project to conduct archaeological field work at the Moroccan site of Smugglers' Cave. Smugglers' Cave is one of the most important Mousterian/Aterian sites in Morocco and has served as a major reference site for archaeologists' understanding of the Mousterian and Aterian stone tool industries. This site was first excavated in the 1950s and recent excavations were started anew in the 1990s. In addition to numerous stone tools and non-human fossils, Smugglers' Cave has also yielded a number of significant Middle Paleolithic hominin remains. The researchers intend to develop a more accurate understanding of the site's true chronological and paleoenvironmental setting, its stratigraphic sequence and formation, and its fossil animal and tool assemblages. These data will allow them to better understand the behavior of fossil hominins and to get at answers to the question, "At what point did we become fully modern?" In terms of excavation, the work will focus on the interior of the cave. The research team will analyze stone materials using a combination of earlier published methodology and also newer techniques. The team will also study the faunal collections. Together, these studies will provide preliminary results to allow the researchers to interpret the subsistence strategies and patterns of spatial organization of the early hominins. With respect to the geology and chronology, the team will study the stratigraphy and site formation processes using both optically stimulated luminescence and thermoluminescence dating techniques. The hominin remains from the site, including a newly discovered skull of a child in the Mousterian levels, will be analyzed through anatomical description and isotope studies. This work has important broader impacts in that it will provide intensive training opportunities for both undergraduate and graduate students, including underrepresented students from the United States and other countries.