Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Iron Age Archaeology in The Gambia

在卡拉·西诺波里（Carla Sinopoli）博士的指导下，劳森女士将对在西非冈比亚实地考察中发现的考古材料进行分析。劳森在1998年至2000年间对冈比亚河谷进行的田野调查，是对西非这一地区考古进行系统研究的首次尝试之一。长期以来，冈比亚河谷以其神秘的石圈和建于公元一千年和二千年早期的古坟而闻名，但人们对建造这些纪念碑的冈比亚河谷人知之甚少，这些纪念碑通常是人类墓葬的所在地。为了更全面地了解该地区的史前政治，劳森对位于石圈和古冢区的考古遗址进行了调查。超过60个村庄和相关的铁厂遗址，以及许多纪念性遗址被恢复。考古发掘工作在三个村庄遗址和一个炼铁遗址进行。国家科学基金会的资金将用于1)对挖掘过程中发现的文物进行分析，2)从挖掘过程中采集的木炭样本中获得放射性碳的年代测定。人工制品分析将集中在动物和植物遗骸上。对这些遗骸的分析将使我们更好地了解过去冈比亚河谷常见的生存方式。确定过去居民使用的物种也将有助于重建遗址占领时的自然环境；近几十年来，环境一直受到快速砍伐的影响，因此现在的环境与500年或1000年前不同。从挖掘的遗址中获得放射性碳年代将允许建立一个区域年表。放射性碳测年法是对500多年历史的考古遗址进行测年的最佳技术之一。因为冈比亚山谷的研究还很不充分，在劳森的研究之前，整个国家只有一个放射性碳测年（来自一个石圈纪念碑）。通过获得每个出土遗址的放射性碳年代，研究冈比亚山谷在过去1500年里政治和社会是如何变化的将成为可能。放射性碳定年法也将提供陶瓷组合的绝对年代；陶瓷风格的变化往往是年代敏感的。随着陶瓷组合的日期的确定，仅从表面发现就可以估计考古遗址的日期。当葡萄牙人在15世纪50年代首次到达冈比亚河时，他们发现这是一个充满活力的贸易体系的一部分，也是许多独立政体的家园。劳森在冈比亚的考古工作将有助于充实我们对冈比亚政治是如何发展的理解，以及它们在非洲区域贸易体系、跨撒哈拉贸易和后来的大西洋贸易中扮演的角色的变化。冈比亚史前的知识将增加非洲考古数据的不断增长的语料库。

Under the direction of Dr. Carla Sinopoli, Ms. Lawson will carry out analyses of archaeological materials recovered during fieldwork in The Gambia, West Africa. Lawson's fieldwork in the Gambia Valley, conducted between 1998 and 2000, represents one of the first attempts to systematically study the archaeology of this region of West Africa. Long known for its mysterious stone circle and tumulus monuments built in the first and early second millennia AD, very little is understood about the people of the Gambia Valley responsible for building these monuments, which often house human burials. In order to understand prehistoric polities in the region more fully, Lawson conducted a survey of archaeological sites located in the stone circle and tumulus zone. Over 60 village and associated iron-working sites were recovered, along with numerous monumental sites. Archaeological excavations were conducted at three of the village sites and at one iron-working site.National Science Foundation funds will be used 1) to conduct analyses of artifacts recovered during excavation and 2) to obtain radiocarbon dates from charcoal samples taken during excavation. Artifact analysis will concentrate on faunal and botanical remains. The analysis of such remains will give us a much better idea of the subsistence practices common in the Gambia Valley in the past. The identification of species utilized by past inhabitants will also help to reconstruct the natural environment at the time of site occupation; the environment has been subject to rapid deforestation in recent decades and so is different now than it was 500 or 1000 years ago. The attainment of radiocarbon dates from the excavated sites will allow for the construction of a regional chronology. Radiocarbon dating is one of the best dating techniques for archaeological sites, which are more than 500 years old. Because the Gambia Valley is so understudied, until Lawson's work only one radiocarbon date was available for the entire country (from a stone circle monument). By obtaining radiocarbon dates for each site excavated, it will be possible to study how politics and society have changed over the last 1,500 years in the Gambia Valley. Radiocarbon dating will also provide absolute dates for ceramic assemblages; changes in ceramic style are often chronologically sensitive. With the dates of ceramic assemblages firmly established, it will be possible to estimate the date of archaeological sites from surface finds alone.When the Portuguese first reached the Gambia River in the 1450's, they found it to be part of a dynamic trading system and home to many independent polities. Lawson's archaeological work in The Gambia will help to flesh out our understanding of how these Gambian polities developed and the changing roles they played in regional African trading systems, the trans-Saharan trade, and the later Atlantic trade. Knowledge of Gambian prehistory will add to the growing corpus of African archaeological data.