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

在美国国家科学基金会的支持下，劳特利奇博士和他的同事们将在约旦卡拉克高原东部边缘的Khirbat al- mudayna al- ' Aliya （KMA）附近进行考古挖掘和调查，该地区位于死海正东约35公里处。KMA是一个保存非常完好的村庄，在公元前11世纪下半叶（铁器时代Ib）的一小段时间内被占领。重要的是，这一占领立即先于该地区领土国家的出现，包括圣经中的摩押国，约旦的这一部分在公元前9世纪被并入摩押国。在约旦目前处于农业边缘的地区，大量村庄的建立和短暂占领引发了许多关于这一重大社会变革时期经济和政治发展的问题。劳特利奇的研究旨在通过阐明Khirbat al-Mudaynaal- Aliya及其周围的铁器时代定居系统的文化形式、政治经济和当地生态来解决这些问题。特别是，将寻找过去的环境变化、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的空间分布以及家庭之间的交换“路径”的证据。这一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实践。本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模式的适用性。

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.