Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Pastoral Neolithic of East Afica Revisited through a New Chronology for the Emergence of Pastoralism from Tsavo National Park, Kenya

博士论文研究：通过新的年代学重新审视东非新石器时代田园主义从肯尼亚察沃国家公园出现的田园主义

• 批准号: 0352681
• 负责人: Chapurukha Kusimba
• 金额: $ 1.19万
• 依托单位: University of Illinois at Chicago
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2003
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2003-12-01 至 2004-11-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0352681&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Pastoral; Neolithic

Under the supervision of Dr. Chapurukha M. Kusimba, David Wright will undertake archaeological excavations and analysis at the site of Mtembea kwa Barafu in Tsavo, Kenya. Mtembea kwa Barafu is located on the banks of the Galana River within Tsavo East National Park and was a large, prehistoric village that dates to at least 2,000 BC. There is evidence that the village was inhabited many times over thousands of years based on the discovery of distinct layers of pottery, animal bones and stone tools eroding from separate river terraces at the site. The earliest dated occupation of the site occurs at during the time when people in East Africa were changing their subsistence patterns from one that was based solely on hunting and gathering to one that revolved around domesticated food products. Wright's excavations have great potential to enhance general understandings of the environmental and social factors that played a role in the transition from foraging to domestication. Archaeologists have long been interested in determining how, when and why people decided to adopt domesticates. For millions of years, hominids successfully hunted and gathered their food, but only in the last 10,000 years has domestication of plants and animals occurred. Domestication is recognized as an important social transition-one that allowed for the development of densely populated urban centers, surplus economies and political power vested in small groups of individuals rather than spread throughout a community. Understanding the environmental conditions present during the origins of domesticated plants and animals can answer whether or not extreme climatic stimuli may have played a part in encouraging people to adopt domesticates. In order to answer important questions regarding incipient domestication processes high precision dating methods such as Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon analysis and Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) will provide an accurate chronology of when people settled at Mtembea kwa Barafu. These methods will also assist in interpreting river aggrading and downcutting for the last several thousand years, which is an important indicator of general environmental conditions in the area. Coupled with advances in the Quaternary sciences that are providing detailed regional and global understandings of past environments, these data will be important for framing occupations of Mtembea kwa Barafu in a specific environmental context.As a result of this work, archaeologists will have a clearer picture from the perspective of one site that can elucidate general motivations behind altering human subsistence patterns that functioned uninterrupted for millions of years. These data will also assist in developing a sustainable future for modern African pastoralists, who are challenged by restricted land allocations for grazing and watering their animals. By looking at successful land-use strategies of the past, the laws that regulate the distribution of grazing land and restrict the use of resources can be more effectively targeted to meet the needs of herding people today as well as preserve the ecosystem for future generations. The Tsavo research agenda is long term and will eventually solicit the assistance of local community leaders in presenting data of past and current pastoral lifeways to the international donors and government officials who design land management policies. However, funds for the current project will be used to build the dataset of prehistoric pastoral adaptations and will be presented in Wright's upcoming doctoral dissertation, peer-reviewed journals and conferences. Future efforts to broaden the scope of presentation to the American and international public will be augmented by the research undertaken in this year's project.

在Chapurukha M. Kusimba博士的监督下，David Wright将在肯尼亚Tsavo的Mtembea Kwa Barafu地点进行考古发掘和分析。 Mtembea Kwa Barafu位于Tsavo East National Park内的Galana河两岸，是一个史前大型村庄，可追溯至至少2000 BC。 有证据表明，基于发现不同层的陶器，动物骨头和石材工具，该村庄数千年来居住了数千年，这些村庄从该地点的不同河水露台上侵蚀了。 该地点的最早占用日期是在东非的人们将其生存模式从仅基于狩猎和聚集到围绕家居食品的狩猎和聚会的一种时代改变。 赖特（Wright）的发掘具有巨大的潜力，可以增强对从觅食到驯化的过渡中发挥作用的环境和社会因素的一般理解。长期以来，考古学家一直对确定人们如何，何时以及为什么决定采用驯养的人感兴趣。 数百万年来，人类成功地狩猎并收集了食物，但在过去的10，000年中，发生了植物和动物的驯化。 驯化被认为是一个重要的社会过渡 - 允许建立人口稠密的城市中心，盈余经济和政治权力，这些经济体和政治权力属于一小群个人，而不是在整个社区中传播。 了解驯化动植物的起源期间存在的环境状况可以回答极端气候刺激是否可能在鼓励人们采用家居中发挥作用。 为了回答有关初始驯化过程的重要问题，高精度约会方法，例如加速器质谱法（AMS）放射性碳分析和光刺激的发光（OSL）将提供准确的年表，即人们定居在mtembea kwa kwa barafu上。 这些方法还将有助于解释过去几千年来的河流繁琐和下调，这是该地区一般环境条件的重要指标。 再加上季季科学的进步，这些科学提供了对过去环境的详细区域和全球理解，这些数据对于在特定的环境环境中的Mtembea kwa barafu的框架职业至关重要 这些数据还将有助于为现代非洲牧民发展可持续的未来，他们受到限制土地分配的挑战，以放牧和浇水。 通过查看过去的成功土地利用策略，可以更有效地针对放牧土地和限制资源的使用法律，以满足当今人们的放牧需求，并为子孙后代保留生态系统。 沙沃研究议程是长期的，最终将征求当地社区领导人的协助，向设计土地管理政策的国际捐助者和政府官员提供过去和当前的牧师生命数据。 但是，当前项目的资金将用于构建史前的田园改编数据集，并将在赖特即将到来的博士学位论文，同行评审的期刊和会议中介绍。 今年项目中所进行的研究将增强未来扩大向美国和国际公众介绍范围的努力。