Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award: Mechanical Implications of Agricultural Specialization

博士论文改进奖：农业专业化的机械意义

• 批准号: 2330607
• 负责人: Steven Kuhn
• 金额: $ 1.37万
• 依托单位: University of Arizona
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-09-01 至 2024-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2330607&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Improvement; Award; Mechanical

This project focuses on economic and technical specialization with the adoption of agriculture in a Neolithic society between 12,000 and 8,000 years ago. The origins and spread of agriculture is arguably the most important economic transition in human history. It is widely believed that one consequence of the development of agricultural economies is the elaboration of economic specialization and division of labor, two central aspects of modern economies. This specialization is thought to be reflected in technology, leading to a proliferation of special purpose tools used for the processing of agricultural products such as grains. However, in some cases when agriculture is adopted there is a great deal of continuity in artifact forms between hunting and gathering cultures and succeeding farming groups: the tools used by early farmers are very similar to the ones used by their hunter-gatherer forebears, suggesting that assumptions about specialization may need to be modified. Archaeology is well placed to provide insight of this topic because it can trace technological and functional changes through time to reveal changes in social and economic organization associated with major economic transitions. This research provides new information relevant to local community interests in understanding the history of traditional food systems, and for teaching courses on local history and world prehistory.This project investigates whether economic and technological specialization is inevitably associated with adoption of food production, or whether it was simply what happened in the few areas. The investigators are examining how a range of stone tools were actually used before and after the transition of agriculture. The data comes from a site which documents this transition. This locality is particularly suitable for the project because it was the center of early millet agriculture, and because the site contains cultural components dating to before and after the transition, in the same locality. Artifact functions are investigated using two independent sources of evidence. One is use-wear, microscopic traces of damage to ancient artifacts. Such physical alteration provides insight into the motions involved in artifact use, as well as about the physical properties of the materials contacted. The other source of clues is minute residues of starch grains adhering to working parts of artifacts. Starches can provide direct evidence of the kinds of plants that people were cutting, grinding and scraping with the stone artifacts. By examining evidence for artifact function directly, the project can determine whether in fact artifacts were used in more specialized ways over time, even while the forms stayed the same, or whether one needs to rethink assumptions about specialization and the origins of agricultural economies.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该项目着重于经济和技术专业，在12,000至8，000年前的新石器时代社会中采用农业。农业的起源和传播可以说是人类历史上最重要的经济转变。人们普遍认为，农业经济发展的发展是对经济专业和劳动分工的阐述，这是现代经济的两个核心方面。该专业被认为反映在技术中，从而导致用于处理农产品（例如谷物）的特殊用途工具的扩散。但是，在某些情况下，当采用农业时，狩猎和收集文化和随后的农业群体之间的人工制品形式存在很大的连续性：早期农民使用的工具与他们的猎人 - 采集者的前辈使用的工具非常相似，这表明可能需要修改有关专业化的假设。考古学非常适合洞悉该主题，因为它可以随着时间的流逝追踪技术和功能变化，以揭示与主要经济转型相关的社会和经济组织的变化。这项研究提供了与当地社区利益相关的新信息，以了解传统粮食系统的历史，以及有关当地历史和世界史前历史的教学课程。该项目调查了经济和技术专业化是否与采用粮食生产的采用或仅仅是少数地区发生的事情不可避免地与之相关。研究人员正在研究农业过渡之前和之后如何实际使用一系列石材工具。数据来自记录此过渡的网站。该地区特别适合该项目，因为它是早期农业的中心，并且由于该地点包含在过渡前后相同地区的文化组成部分。使用两个独立的证据来源研究伪影功能。一种是对古代文物的使用件，微观痕迹。这种物理变化提供了对伪影使用所涉及的动作以及所联系材料的物理特性的见解。线索的另一个来源是淀粉颗粒的微小残留物，这些残留粘在工件的工作部分。淀粉可以直接证明人们正在用石材伪影切割，磨碎和刮擦的植物种类。通过直接检查伪像功能的证据，该项目可以确定是否会随着时间的推移以更专业的方式使用伪像，即使这些形式保持不变，或者是否需要重新思考有关专业化的假设和农业经济的起源。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并通过评估了基金会的范围来反映出支持符合基金会和宽广的基金会的支持。