Archeological Investigations of Medieval Settlements

布恩博士和他的同事们将在葡萄牙南部的下阿伦特霍和Serra do Algarve地区进行考古田野工作。该项目包括对一个可以追溯到伊斯兰时期的废弃村庄进行测绘和系统挖掘，很可能很快就被遗弃了。还将在另外两个村庄进行地物测绘和有限的水深测量。这项初步的小规模工作将为更大的项目提供基础。布恩博士希望解决的根本问题是，农村社区如何在社会和经济上对与继任的征服和管理制度相关的经济和人口增长和下降周期作出反应。在葡萄牙，这些人包括罗马人、西哥特人、穆斯林和基督徒，时间大约在公元100年至1500年。一个需要解决的附带问题是居住在伊比利亚半岛干旱、高地地区的中世纪居民的种族和社会组织问题，那里不可能进行灌溉。众所周知，这些种群有别于灌溉较好地区的种群。这项研究很重要，因为它将为城市和农村之间的关系如何发展和随着时间的推移而变化提供洞察。中世纪葡萄牙的情况今天仍然适用于第三世界的许多地区，农村居民和统治城市精英(他们往往在文化上截然不同)之间存在的复杂关系使区域政治和发展努力复杂化。因此，这项工作可能具有实际意义。考古学在这类研究中做出了独特的贡献，因为它可以在很长一段时间内检查这种关系。

Dr. Boone and colleagues will conduct archaeological fieldwork in the Lower Alentejo and Serra do Algarve region of Southern Portugal. The project includes mapping and systematic excavation in a deserted village which dates to the Islamic period and was probably abandoned soon after. Mapping of surface features and limited soundings will also be carried out in two additional villages. This preliminary small scale work will provide the basis for a larger project. The fundamental question Dr. Boone wishes to address is how rural communities respond socially and economically to cycles of economic and demographic growth and decline associated with succeeding regimes of conquest and administration. In Portugal these include the Romans, Visigoths, Muslims and Christians and cover the period from approximately 100 to 1500 A.D. An ancillary issue to be addressed is the problem of ethnicity and the social organization of medieval populations inhabiting the dry, upland areas of the Iberian Peninsula where irrigation was impossible. These populations are known to have been distinct from groups in better watered regions. This research is important because it will provide insight into how relationships develop and are changed over time between urban and rural areas. The conditions which held in medieval Portugal still apply today to many areas in the Third World and the complex relationships which exist between rural inhabitants and the ruling urban elite (who are often culturally distinct) complicate regional politics and development efforts. Thus the work may have practical relevance. Archaeology has a unique contribution to make in such studies because it can examine such relations over long spans of time.