Dissertationn Research: Fish Exploitation of the Indus Valley Civilization

在乔纳森·科诺耶博士的指导下，威廉·贝尔彻先生将为他的博士论文收集数据。他将在巴基斯坦进行一项人种学研究，并将研究结果用于分析和解释从印度河流域考古遗址发现的鱼类遗骸。哈拉帕文明从公元前2600年到公元前1900年在印度河流域发展和繁荣。它代表了史前世界晚期的伟大成就之一。那里的发展使该地区与古埃及和近东以及印加和阿兹特克帝国等新大陆国家并驾齐驱。然而，与他们的同行相比，人们对哈拉帕人的了解要少得多。考古数据表明，这种文明有很强的河水成分，鱼类构成了饮食的主要部分。然而，这种动物遗骸很难解释，贝尔彻先生希望制定有助于实现这一目标的办法。为此，他将研究同一地区的现代捕鱼做法。他将采访渔民并观察他们的工作，以确定在每年的周期中，特定物种是在什么时候、如何以及在什么环境中被捕获的。他还将观察它们是如何被屠宰、保存、运输和食用的。在它们被丢弃后，这些动物遗骸可能会经历一些破坏性的做法，例如家畜的破坏，贝尔彻先生也将对这些做法进行检查。最后，他将把他开发的解释技术应用于一系列哈拉帕考古遗迹。贝尔彻的主要兴趣不在于鱼本身，而在于哈拉潘邦的社会和经济组织。通过研究这一类数据，他希望重建它们所经过的经济体系。将重建贸易路线，并确定经济集中度。还可以检查站点之间和站点内的状态差异等问题。这项研究之所以重要，有几个原因。它将增加我们对旧世界伟大的早期文明之一是如何出现的理解。这将有助于发展动物群分析技术，这将在许多考古学背景下有用。最后，它将帮助培训一位有前途的年轻科学家。

Under the direction of Dr. Jonathan Kenoyer, Mr. William Belcher will collect data for his doctoral dissertation. He will both conduct an ethnographic study in Pakistan and apply the results to the analysis and interpretation of fish remains recovered from Indus Valley archaeological sites. The Harappan civilization developed and flourished in the Indus Valley from ca 2,600 to 1,900 B.C. It represents one of the great achievements of the late prehistoric world. Developments there rank the region with ancient Egypt and the Near East as well as New World states such as the Inca and Aztec empires. However much less is known about the Harappans than their counterparts. Archaeological data shows that this civilization had a strong riverine component and that fish constituted a major part of the diet. However such faunal remains are difficult to interpret and Mr. Belcher hopes to develop approaches which will aid in this goal. To this end, he will study modern fishing practices in the same region. He will interview fisherman and watch them at work to determine when in the yearly cycle, how, and in what environments particular species are caught. He will also observe how they are butchered, preserved, transported and consumed. After they are discarded such faunal remains may undergo a number of destructive practices such as damage by domestic animals and Mr. Belcher will examine these as well. Finally he will apply the interpretative techniques he develops to a series of Harappan archaeological remains. Mr. Belcher's primary interest lies not in fish per se, but rather in the social and economic organization of the Harappan state. By examining this one class of data, he hopes to reconstruct the economic system through which they moved. Trade routes will be reconstructed and the degree of economic centralization determined. It may also be possible to examine such issues as status difference between and within sites. This research is important for several reasons. It will increase our understanding of how one of the great early civilizations of the Old World emerged. It will help to develop techniques of faunal analysis which will be useful in many archaeological contexts. Finally it will assist in the training of a promising young scientist.