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，Routledge博士和他的同事将在约旦Karak高原东脊附近的Khirbat al-Mudayna al-`Aliya(KMA)进行考古挖掘和测量，KMA位于死海正东约35公里处。KMA是一个保存极为完好的村庄，在公元前11世纪下半叶(铁器时代Ib)曾短暂占领过一段时间。重要的是，这种占领紧接在该地区领土国家出现之前，包括圣经中的摩押国家，约旦这一部分在公元前9世纪并入其中。在约旦现在的农业边缘地区建立和短暂占领大量村庄，引发了许多关于这一重大社会变革时期的经济和政治发展的问题。Routledge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，将寻找过去环境变化、作物饲养做法、放牧战略和场外牧场活动、家庭组织、活动区与建筑变化相关的空间分布以及家庭之间的交流“路径”的证据。这些证据不仅将阐明当地农牧生产战略的政治经济学，还将阐明作为这些战略的社会背景的日常生活的结构化实践。这项研究中要检验的一个关键观点是，非洲强调社会关系的国家形成模式是否适合于强调土地控制的欧亚模式。

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.