古人类对赭石的利用行为在其演化中的意义

长期以来赭石利用行为被视为人类行为现代性的标志之一,受到国内外考古学界的普遍关注。本文回溯和梳理了全球背景下赭石利用的起源、发展及其与人类演化史的关系。在现代人广泛分布于全球之后,赭石利用行为更加丰富和多样化地出现在各地,然而现有考古证据表明该行为并不是解剖学意义上的现代人突变性的发明。赭石利用不能被单纯地定义为现代人行为,而应是有着长久演化积累的现代性行为之一。在长期传播与演化过程中,赭石的功能从意识形态、艺术表达等逐渐扩展到作为矿物成分被用于实际生产生活。赭石的利用历史可追溯到中更新世中期,但其广泛分布仍与晚更新世以来现代人的广泛扩散直接相关,对于理解现代人的意识形态、社会组织方式以及艺术表达、精神文化发展都具有重要的意义。国内目前所发表的相关考古学证据相对较少,以下马碑遗址为代表的材料,也恰处于现代人在全球广泛扩散的窗口期,并伴有进步的细小石器镶嵌使用的证据,成为认识东亚现代人行为的关键性考古证据。

Significance of modern human exploration of ochre in its evolution

The ochre using has been long featured centrally in debates about the origins of symbolic and cognitively modern human behavior. In this paper, we reviewed the ochre using archaeological evidence internationally to clarify its origin, developmental process and its relationship with modern human evolution. Though the ochre using could be dated back to the Middle Pleistocene and also could happened to some archaic hominins, such as Neanderthals, it is deeply related to the origin and dispersal of modern human. We also reviewed the current archaeological evidence related to the ochre exploration in China. It is quite evident that the ochre using behaviors were clear recorded 40,000 years ago, at the time window modern human arrived at North China indicated by fossil and DNA evidence.