Investigation of Early Neolithic Adaptive Strategies in Southern Jordan

在美国国家科学基金会的支持下，唐纳德·亨利博士和他的同事们将在约旦南部沙漠瓦迪·希斯马地区进行两个季节的考古实地考察。此前在该地区的考古工作已经揭示了一个大型前陶器新石器时代B （PPNB）遗址的存在，根据类型学的依据，它可能有9000年的历史。该遗址名为Ain Abu Nekheileh，由一系列曲线石墙结构组成，这些结构暴露在一个小冲积扇的表面上，面积约为2250平方米。根据房屋形式的变化，可能存在多达五个建筑阶段，因此该场地可能包含一个重要的时期。相关的沉积物分层精细，由于干燥的条件，保存了大量的文化材料，包括大量保存完好的骨头。亨利博士和他的同事将在现场进行广泛的挖掘，收集文化和环境信息，以重建PPNB的社会和生存模式，并将其置于更广泛的生态背景下。他将特别关注丰富的动物遗迹，因为它们提供了对遗址被占领的季节和有目的地操纵caprid物种（绵羊和山羊）的程度的见解。近东是文明的摇篮之一，达到这种复杂程度所必需的动植物驯化发生在该地区。来自许多地点的优秀数据提供了对国内小麦和大麦从当地野生祖先进化的深入了解。资料还表明，直到大约1000年后，才出现了家养绵羊和山羊的考古记录。然而，后一种转变的历史及其背后的过程是未知的。尽管许多遗址都是在水源较好的近东地区挖掘出来的，但人们对边缘沙漠地区的了解相对较少，而亨利博士正是把注意力集中在这样一个地区。由于野生卡普里德祖先的存在，亨利博士认为在艾因阿布尼赫勒的工作可能会提供相关的数据。这项研究将提供一个未被充分研究的地区的基本信息，其结果将引起许多考古学家的兴趣。希望它能给人类文化的重大转变之一带来新的启示。该项目包括一些研究生，他们将在该领域与亨利博士一起工作，因此将进行重要的培训。

With National Science Foundation support Dr. Donald Henry and his colleagues will conduct two seasons of archaeological fieldwork in the desertic Wadi Hisma region of southern Jordan. Previous archaeological work in this area has revealed the presence of a large Pre Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) site which, on typological grounds, may be as much as 9,000 years old. The site, Ain Abu Nekheileh, consists of a constellation of curvilinear stone-walled structures exposed on the surface of a small alluvial fan over an area of ca. 2,250 square meters. Based on variation in house form, as many as five building phases may be present and thus the site may encompass a significant period of time. Associated sediments are finely stratified and, because of the dry conditions, preserve an abundance of cultural materials including large numbers of well preserved bones. Dr. Henry and his colleagues will conduct extensive excavation at the site and collect both cultural and environmental information to reconstruct PPNB social and subsistence patterns and set these into a broader ecological context. In particular he will focus on the wealth of faunal remains because they provide insight both into the season in the site was occupied and the extent to which purposeful manipulation of caprid species (sheep and goat) took place. The Near East is one of the cradles of civilization and the domestication of plants and animals necessary to achieve this level of complexity took place in this region. Excellent data from many sites have provided insight into the evolution of domestic wheat and barley from their local wild progenitors. Data also indicate that not until ca. 1,000 years later do domestic sheep and goat appear in the archaeological record. However the history of this latter transformation and the processes which underlie it are unknown. Although many sites have been excavated in better watered regions of the Near East, relatively little is known about marginal desert regions and Dr. Henry has focused his attention in just such an area. Because wild caprid ancestors were present, Dr. Henry believes that work at Ain Abu Nekheileh may provide relevant data. This research will provide basic information about an understudied region and the results will be of interest to many archaeologists. It will, hopefully, shed new light on one of the major transformations of human culture. The project includes a number of graduate students who will work with Dr. Henry in the field and thus important training will take place.