Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Specialized Pastoralism and Social Stratification: Analysis of the Fauna from Chalcolithic Tel Tsaf, Israel

博士论文改进补助金：专业畜牧业和社会分层：以色列红铜时代特尔察夫的动物群分析

• 批准号: 0945021
• 负责人: Natalie Munro
• 金额: $ 1.5万
• 依托单位: University of Connecticut
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-02-01 至 2011-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0945021&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Improvement; Grant; Specialized

Under the supervision of Dr. Natalie D. Munro, Austin C. Hill will study the emergence of social complexity during the Chalcolithic period in the southern Levant. The Chalcolithic period in this area is a key transitional period between the egalitarian, village-based agricultural social systems of the Neolithic and the hierarchical, socially-stratified urban social systems of the Early Bronze Age. To date, however, few studies have examined the changes in subsistence strategies that may have triggered this fundamental shift in social organization. Social change in the Levantine Chalcolithic will be identified using a number of lines of zooarchaeological evidence for food production and consumption at the Middle Chalcolithic site of Tel Tsaf, Israel. This research will address the timing of the development of social ranking and differentiation in the Levant by examining changes in food production and management systems. Although many have argued for the presence or absence of emergent chiefdom level political systems in the Levantine Chalcolithic, there have been relatively few attempts to document the degree of social differentiation within specific sites. Similarly, no research to date has yielded conclusive answers to the question of the degree to which secondary animal products, such as dairy, wool, and labour, played a role in Chalcolithic economies. Finally, although the role that feasting can play in creating and maintaining social categories is widely agreed upon, few studies have adequately identified the presence and function of feasts at specific sites in the past. Issues of social complexity will be investigated using three independent lines of zooarchaeological evidence. First, herd production strategies will be identified to investigate the degree of centralization of production and the presence of secondary products specialization. Second, the spatial patterning of fauna will be documented across architectural features and public spaces to characterize the degree of social stratification. Finally, analysis of the fauna from individual contexts will be used to identify ritual and feasting behavior at the site. Feasting is a key social mechanism in complex societies that is often used to create and maintain individual prestige and group political boundaries. Impacts of the research include contributions to the field of anthropological archaeology by incorporating cross-disciplinary techniques, advancing understanding of the development of complex societies, and generating international collaboration. The spatial analysis portion of the study utilizes Geographic Information Systems (GIS) data collection and analysis techniques that were developed primarily in the field of geography and until a decade ago were rarely utilized in archaeology. This research is part of a slowly growing trend toward high-resolution site level spatial analyses in archaeology. The analysis of the fauna from Tel Tsaf has already and will continue to provide valuable opportunities for student training in animal bone identification. Undergraduate volunteers with sufficient experience will have the opportunity to gain experience by helping with specimen identification in the zooarchaeology laboratory at the University of Connecticut.

在 Natalie D. Munro 博士的指导下，Austin C. Hill 将研究黎凡特南部红铜时代社会复杂性的出现。该地区的红铜时代是新石器时代平等的、以村落为基础的农业社会体系向青铜时代早期等级化、社会分层的城市社会体系过渡的关键时期。 然而，迄今为止，很少有研究探讨可能引发社会组织这一根本性转变的生存策略的变化。黎凡特铜器时代的社会变迁将通过以色列特尔察夫中铜器时代遗址的一系列动物考古学证据来确定粮食生产和消费。这项研究将通过研究粮食生产和管理系统的变化来解决黎凡特社会排名和分化的发展时机。尽管许多人争论黎凡特红铜时代是否存在新兴的酋邦级别的政治制度，但记录特定地点内社会分化程度的尝试相对较少。同样，对于次要动物产品（例如乳制品、羊毛和劳动力）在红铜时代经济中发挥作用的程度这一问题，迄今为止还没有任何研究得出结论性答案。最后，尽管宴会在创造和维持社会类别方面所发挥的作用已得到广泛认同，但很少有研究能够充分确定过去特定地点宴会的存在和功能。将使用三个独立的动物考古证据来调查社会复杂性问题。首先，将确定畜群生产策略，以调查生产的集中程度和次级产品专业化的存在。其次，动物群的空间格局将被记录在建筑特征和公共空间中，以表征社会分层的程度。最后，对个体背景下的动物群进行分析将用于识别该地点的仪式和盛宴行为。宴席是复杂社会中的一种关键社会机制，通常被用来创造和维持个人威望和群体政治界限。该研究的影响包括通过结合跨学科技术、增进对复杂社会发展的理解以及产生国际合作对人类考古学领域做出贡献。该研究的空间分析部分利用了地理信息系统（GIS）数据收集和分析技术，这些技术主要在地理学领域开发，直到十年前还很少在考古学中使用。这项研究是考古学中高分辨率遗址级空间分析缓慢增长趋势的一部分。 Tel Tsaf 对动物群的分析已经并将继续为学生进行动物骨骼识别培训提供宝贵的机会。具有足够经验的本科生志愿者将有机会通过在康涅狄格大学动物考古学实验室帮助进行标本鉴定来获得经验。