Holocene Land Use Dynamics in the Western Mediterranean: a Regional Approach to Domestication Economies

在国家科学基金会的支持下，迈克尔·巴顿博士和他的国际合作者团队将在西班牙阿尔钱特省的一个主要排水系统--里奥蛇河的高地山谷中挖掘四个史前(中石器时代和新石器时代)定居点。这项工作的目标是了解从狩猎和采集向农业生存模式的转变，该项目建立在近十年的先前研究的基础上，主要是以密集的、以景观为导向的考古调查的形式。挖掘将在两个夏季田野季节进行，每个季节都侧重于一个狩猎和采集(中石器时代)和一个农业(新石器时代)遗址。每个地点都将被网格化，并系统地收集地表文物。将利用地面人工制品的密度和特征来制定取样设计和综合实地战略，使用螺旋取心、反铲挖沟和手工挖掘，以获取有关文化材料(包括人工制品、植物和动物遗骸)特征、古环境指标和放射性碳样品的密度和分布信息。将开发地理信息系统数据库。结合区域数据，这些信息将被用来重建生存、社会和空间组织随时间的变化。研究小组还将研究这些行为变化对景观的影响。从狩猎和采集到农业的转变是人类历史上最重要的转变之一，其影响至今仍能感受到。随着农业经济的到来，人类开始经历广泛的封建主义、城市生活和社会复杂性，并产生了多重影响：社会等级和阶层划分、职业专业化、中央集权和有组织的战争。只有在人类变得依赖农业经济之后，人类对环境的影响才会导致植被群落的大规模、长期或永久性的变化、剥蚀和人为土壤变化。虽然这种过渡长期以来一直是考古学研究的重点，但其背后的因素仍然知之甚少。这项研究应该会带来更多的启发。

With National Science Foundation support Dr. Michael Barton and his team of international collaborators will excavate four prehistoric (Mesolithic and Neolithic) settlements in upland valleys of the Rio Serpis, a major drainage system in Alciante province of Spain. The goal of the work is to understand the transition from a hunting and gathering to an agricultural subsistence mode and the project builds on nearly a decade of prior research, primarily in the form of intensive, landscape oriented archaeological survey. Excavations will take place over the course of two summer field seasons, each focusing on one hunting and gathering (Mesolithic) and one agricultural (Neolithic) site. Each site will be grided and surface artifacts systematically collected. Surface artifact densities and features will be used to create a sampling design and an integrated field strategy using auger coring, backhoe trenching and hand excavation will be employed to acquire information about the density and distribution of cultural materials (including artifacts, floral and faunal remains) features, paleoenvironmental indicators and radiocarbon samples. GIS databases will be developed. In conjunction with regional data this information will be used to reconstruct changes in subsistence, social and spatial organization over time. The team will also examine the effect of these behavioral changes on the landscape.The transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture is one of the most significant in the human past, and its repercussions are still felt today. With the advent of agricultural economies, humans began to experience widespread sedentism, urban life, and social complexity with multiple ramifications: social ranking and stratification, occupational specialization, centralized political power and organized warfare. Only after humans become dependent on agricultural economies did the human impact on the environment result in massive, long term or permanent changes in vegetation communities, denudation and anthropogenic soil changes. While this transition has long been a focus for archaeological research, the factors which underlie it are still poorly understood. This research should shed additional light.