Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Iron Age Archaeology in The Gambia

在Carla Sinopoli博士的指导下，Lawson女士将对西非冈比亚实地考察期间发现的考古材料进行分析。劳森于1998年至2000年在冈比亚谷进行的实地考察是系统研究西非这一地区考古学的首次尝试之一。长期以来以其神秘的石圈和建于公元第一和第二个千年早期的古墓纪念碑而闻名，很少有人了解冈比亚山谷负责建造这些纪念碑的人，这些纪念碑通常是人类墓葬。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墓区的考古遗址进行了调查。60多个村庄和相关的炼铁场被收复，沿着还有许多纪念性遗址。在三个村庄遗址和一个炼铁场进行了考古发掘，国家科学基金会的资金将用于：（1）对发掘期间发现的文物进行分析;（2）从发掘期间采集的木炭样品中获取放射性碳年代。考古分析将集中于动物和植物遗迹。对这些遗骸的分析将使我们更好地了解冈比亚谷过去常见的生存习俗。确定过去居民使用的物种也将有助于重建遗址占用时的自然环境;近几十年来，环境受到迅速砍伐森林的影响，因此现在与500年或1000年前不同。从挖掘地点获得放射性碳年代测定结果将有助于建立区域年表。放射性碳测年是考古遗址最好的测年技术之一，这些遗址有500多年的历史。由于冈比亚山谷是如此不足的研究，直到劳森的工作只有一个放射性碳日期是可用于整个国家（从一个石圈纪念碑）。通过获得每个挖掘地点的放射性碳年代，将有可能研究冈比亚山谷过去1,500年来的政治和社会变化。放射性碳测年法也将为陶瓷组合提供绝对的年代;陶瓷风格的变化通常在时间上敏感。随着陶瓷组合年代的确定，仅从表面发现就可以估计考古遗址的年代。当葡萄牙人在15世纪50年代首次到达冈比亚河时，他们发现它是一个充满活力的贸易体系的一部分，也是许多独立政治体的所在地。劳森在冈比亚的考古工作将有助于充实我们对这些冈比亚政体如何发展的理解，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所扮演的不断变化的角色。冈比亚史前史的知识将增加非洲考古数据的不断增长。

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.