Excavations and Geophysical Survey at the Early Historic Town of Talapada, India

印度塔拉帕达早期历史城镇的发掘和地球物理调查

• 批准号: 1261202
• 负责人: Monica Smith
• 金额: $ 19.47万
• 依托单位: University of California-Los Angeles
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-12-01 至 2018-11-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1261202&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Excavations; Geophysical; Survey; Early; Historic

With National Science Foundation support, Dr. Monica L. Smith and a team of colleagues from the United States and India will conduct three field seasons of research at the archaeological site of Talapada in eastern India to investigate the role of towns in urbanizing environments. Talapada was occupied in the Early Historic period (4th century BC to 3rd century AD), an era marked by momentous change in the Indian subcontinent that included the development of Buddhism, the first extensive use of writing, and the emergence of cities. Talapada is a recently discovered site surrounded by a massive encircling rampart that is an exact replica, at one-quarter size, of the fortification wall at the nearby urban center of Sisupalgarh where Smith and colleagues have previously worked. Investigations at the site of Talapada present an opportunity to evaluate how towns interacted with the region's dominant center. Talapada's inhabitants clearly were engaged in some political linkages as exhibited in rampart construction. However, the variability of artifact types at the site suggests that the town was not simply a small-size version of Sisupalgarh and that the inhabitants may have generated and sustained their own distinctive economic, social, and ritual traditions. The research will particularly focus on Talapada's relationship with its larger neighbor before and after the "Kalinga War" of the third century BC in which the region was briefly conquered by a larger neighboring state. The project will be the first in India to utilize the same methods of investigation, including geophysical survey and excavations, to examine sites of different sizes in the Early Historic period. The excavations will provide data on artifacts and architecture, as well as generating a comprehensive series of radiocarbon dates to identify the stages of the site's development over time. In conjunction with the excavations, the team also will utilize non-destructive geophysical survey to trace subsurface architectural features in neighborhood-sized areas at Talapada to examine social and spatial configurations that also will be compared with Sisupalgarh. The intellectual merit of the project is encompassed in its investigation of towns as intermediate-sized population centers in an urbanizing landscape. Through survey and excavation, the project will enable the analysis of the social, economic, and political developments of South Asia's Early Historic era from the perspective of ordinary people. The data will be structured for comparison with other archaeologically known regions in which the inhabitants of long-lived towns and cities created flexible networks of interaction that enabled them to thrive even during periods of regional conflict. The broader impacts of the research project include significant international collaboration between Indian and US researchers and students; provision of data for theses and dissertations for both Indian and US students; training of students in archaeological field techniques and analysis; and provision of resources for university classes and public presentations.

在国家科学基金会的支持下，莫妮卡·史密斯（Monica L. Smith）博士和来自美国和印度的同事团队将在印度东部塔拉帕达（Talapada）的考古遗址进行三个实地研究，以调查城镇在城市化环境中的作用。 塔拉帕达（Talapada）在历史早期（公元前4世纪至公元3世纪）被占领，这个时代以印度次大陆的重大变化为标志，其中包括佛教的发展，第一次广泛使用写作和城市的出现。 塔拉帕达（Talapada）是一个最近发现的地点，周围环绕着一个巨大的环绕式城墙，它是史密斯及其同事以前工作的西苏帕尔加尔（Sisupalgarh）附近城市中心附近城市中心的防御工事墙的精确复制品。 塔拉帕达（Talapada）现场的调查为评估城镇如何与该地区的主要中心互动的机会提供了机会。 塔拉帕达（Talapada）的居民显然从Rampart Construction展出的一些政治联系。 但是，该网站上的人工制品类型的可变性表明，该镇不仅仅是Sisupalgarh的小型版本，而且居民可能已经产生并维持了自己独特的经济，社会和仪式传统。 这项研究将特别关注塔拉帕达（Talapada）在公元前三世纪的“卡林加战争”之前和之后与较大的邻居的关系，在该邻国被一个较大的邻国征服了该地区。 该项目将是印度第一个利用相同的调查方法，包括地球物理调查和发掘方法，以检查历史早期的不同大小的地点。发掘将提供有关工件和建筑的数据，并生成一系列的放射性日期，以确定随着时间的推移该站点开发的阶段。 结合发掘，该团队还将利用非破坏性地球物理调查来追踪塔拉帕达（Talapada）邻里大小的地区的地下建筑特征，以检查也将与Sisupalgarh进行比较的社交和空间配置。该项目的智力优点被涵盖在对城镇的调查中，因为中间大小的人口中心在城市化景观中。 通过调查和发掘，该项目将从普通百姓的角度来分析南亚早期历史时代的社会，经济和政治发展。 这些数据将与其他考古知名的地区进行比较，在该区域中，长期城镇和城市的居民创建了灵活的交互网络，即使在区域冲突的时期，它们也能够蓬勃发展。 研究项目的更广泛的影响包括印度和美国研究人员和学生之间的重要国际合作；为印度和美国学生提供有关本文和论文的数据；在考古领域技术和分析中培训学生；并为大学课程和公共演讲提供资源。