Dissertation Research: The Archaeology of Trade, Settlement, and Islam in the Banda Islands

*在道格拉斯·安德森博士的指导下，彼得·拉佩先生将为他的博士论文收集数据。在他目前在印度尼西亚班达群岛的田野工作结束时，他将参观阿姆斯特丹、伦敦和里斯本的殖民档案，以补充他收集的考古数据。这项研究的目标是重建班达群岛在欧洲接触之前的时期的社会和政治组织。早期的欧洲殖民者描述了一种伊斯兰传统占上风的情况，他们认为，在西方到来之前，这些岛屿的居民已经被纳入了不断扩大的伊斯兰势力范围。拉佩先生认为，这过于简单化了现实，错误是因为欧洲商人与伊斯兰班达居民有最多的共同点和互动。为了验证这一假设，他将对考古遗迹进行广泛的地表调查，并进行选择性挖掘。在前伊斯兰时代，猪是一种被广泛食用的食物，这种做法随着皈依伊斯兰教而终止。因此，对出土的动物遗骸的检查提供了一个很好的宗教指标。拉佩将研究伊斯兰和非伊斯兰群体的分布，并试图根据陶瓷和贸易物品来确定每一个群体的互动领域。档案研究将补充考古数据，并将其置于更广泛的背景下。人类学家很久以前就意识到，19世纪末20世纪初研究的大多数原始文化实际上远非原封不动，他们的行为实际上受到了接触的强烈影响，在某些情况下，接触持续了数百年。文化互动的模型，最重要的是沃勒斯坦·S的世界系统理论就是基于这一假设的。然而，Lape先生认为，他们过于关注西方和伊斯兰社会的殖民互动和统治，低估了土著群体之间交流和经济制度的复杂性。他认为，班达群岛就是这样一个例子，该区域的人种学和历史复杂性不能仅仅通过求助于伊斯兰和欧洲的联系来理解。本研究的目的就是检验这一命题。这项工作之所以重要，有几个原因。人类学家希望研究和理解他们观察到的周围世界的行为模式。这些行为既受历史的影响，又受适应的影响，很可能低估了历史输入的复杂性。在这方面，班达群岛提供了一个有用的案例研究。该项目还将帮助培训一位有前途的年轻研究人员。***

*** Under the direction of Dr. Douglas Anderson, Mr. Peter Lape will collect data for his doctoral dissertation. At the close of his current fieldwork in the Banda Islands of Indonesia he will visit colonial archives in Amsterdam, London and Lisbon to supplement archaeological data he has collected. The goal of the research is to reconstruct the social and political organization of the Banda Islands in the period immediately preceding European contact. Early European colonists described a situation in which an Islamic tradition prevailed and they believed that the inhabitants of the islands had been incorporated into an expanding Islamic sphere of influence before Western arrival. Mr. Lape believes that this oversimplifies reality and that the error results from the fact that European traders had most in common with and interacted most with Islamic Banda inhabitants. To test this hypothesis he will conduct extensive surface survey for archaeological remains and carry out selective excavation. In pre-Islamic times pig was a widely eaten food and this practice terminated with conversion to Islam. Thus examination of excavated faunal remains provides an excellent indicator of religion. Mr. Lape will look at the distribution of Islamic and non-Islamic groups and attempt, on the basis of ceramics and trade objects, to determine the interaction spheres of each. Archival research will compliment the archaeological data and set it into a broader context. Anthropologists long ago realized that most of the primitive cultures studied in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were in fact far from untouched and that their behavior had in fact been strongly influenced by contact which in some cases extended over hundreds of years. Models of cultural interaction, most importantly Wallerstein s world systems theory were based on this assumption. However, Mr. Lape believes, they focused too strongly on colonial interaction and domination by Western and Islamic societies and underestimate d that complexity of exchange and economic systems among indigenous groups. The Banda Islands, he believes provide just such an example and the ethnographic and historical complexities of the region can not be understood solely through recourse to Islamic and European contact. The purpose of this research is to examine this proposition. The work is important for several reasons. Anthropologists wish to examine and understand the patterns of behavior they observe in the world around them. These behaviors are affected by both history and adaptation and it is likely that the complexity of historical input is underestimated. In this context, the Banda Islands provide a useful case study. The project will also assist in training a promising young researcher. ***