Using GIS and Ecological Variables to Identify High Potential Areas for Paleoanthropological Survey: An Example from Northern Armenia

The timing and nature of the initial hominid dispersals from Africa during the Plio-Pleistocene (here 2.0-1.5 million years ago [MYR]) is an issue of great interest for paleoanthropology. However, the biological, technological, and ecological context of these dispersals remains cloudy due largely to a paucity of Eurasian paleoanthropological sites dating to this time period. Indeed, there are only a handful of well-accepted Plio-Pleistocene sites from Eurasia: Dmanisi in the Republic of Georgia at 1.77-1.81 MYR (de Lumley et al. 2002), the Nihewan and Yuanmou basins of China at 1.66-1.70 MYR (Zhu et al. 2008), and the Indonesian island of Java at least 1.66 MYR (Sangiran) but perhaps as early as 1.81 MYR (Mojokerto) (Larick et al. 2001; Swisher et al. 1994). Although the Levant, given its geographic location, is the most logical extraAfrican source of dispersing hominid populations, the earliest well-accepted occupations there ('Ubeidiya in Israel) date to somewhat later in time at 1.4 MYR (Belmaker et al. 2002). Plio-Pleistocene sites are extremely rare, and sites preserved in high-integrity depositional contexts are even more so. In fact, the rich early Pleistocene component at Dmanisi was itself unearthed more-orless accidentally during the excavation of a medieval fortress (Djaparidze et al. 1989). As fortunate as this discovery was, survey efforts informed by ecologically relevant variables such as vegetation, geography, topography, and geology may not only increase the chances of finding paleoanthropological sites, but will also help place hominid occupations into a broader environmental context. Here we describe an approach to identify target areas for paleoanthropological survey. This method uses GIS to integrate data from archaeology and ecology to identify high potential areas for intensive ground survey. As an example, we present preand post-survey data from a new paleoanthropological research project in northern Armenia. FiElD notE