Khirbat al-Mudayna al Aliya: Production, Politics, and Power in an Iron Age Village

在国家科学基金会的支持下，劳特利奇博士和他的同事将在约旦卡拉克高原东部边缘的 Khirbat al-Mudayna al-`Aliya (KMA) 附近进行考古发掘和调查计划。位于死海正东 35 公里处。KMA 是一个保存得非常完好的村庄，在公元前 11 世纪下半叶（铁器时代 1b）曾短暂被占领。重要的是，这种占领紧接着该地区领土国家的出现，包括《圣经》中的摩押国家，约旦的这一部分在公元前 9 世纪被并入其中。 在约旦农业边缘地区建立并短暂占领了大量村庄，引发了有关这一重大社会变革时期经济和政治发展的许多问题。劳特利奇的研究旨在通过阐明 Khirbat al-Mudaynaal-'Aliya 及其周围铁器时代聚落系统的文化形式、政治经济和当地生态来解决这些问题。 特别是，将寻求有关过去环境变化、农作物种植实践、放牧策略和场外畜牧活动、家庭组织、与建筑变化相关的活动区域的空间分布以及家庭之间交换“路径”的证据。 这些证据不仅将阐明当地农牧业生产策略的政治经济学，还将阐明作为这些策略的社会背景的日常生活的结构实践。 这项研究要检验的一个关键思想是，强调社会关系的非洲国家形成模式相对于强调土地控制的欧亚国家模式是否适用。

With the support of the National Science Foundation, Dr. Routledgeand his colleagues will conduct a program of archaeological excavation andsurvey in the vicinity Khirbat al-Mudayna al-`Aliya (KMA) on the easternedge of Jordan's Karak Plateau, ca. 35 kilometers due east of the Dead Sea.KMA is an exceptionally well-preserved village occupied for a brief periodof time in the last half of the eleventh century BC (Iron Age Ib).Importantly, this occupation immediately precedes the emergence ofterritorial states in the region, including the biblical state of Moab intowhich this part of Jordan was incorporated in the ninth century BC. Thefounding, and brief occupation, of substantial villages in what is now anagriculturally marginal part of Jordan raises many questions about economicand political developments during this period of significant social change.Dr. Routledge's research aims to address these issues by elucidating thecultural form, political economy, and local ecology of Khirbat al-Mudaynaal-'Aliya and its surrounding Iron Age settlement system. In particular,evidence will be sought for past environmental change, crop husbandrypractices, herding strategies and off-site pastoral activities, householdorganization, the spatial distribution of activity areas in relation toarchitectural variation, and exchange "paths" between households. Thisevidence will not only shed light on the political economy of localagro-pastoral production strategies, it will also illumine the structuringpractices of everyday life that are the social context for thesestrategies. One key idea to be tested in this research is the suitabilityof African models of state formation that emphasize social relations overEurasian models that emphasize control of land.