Doctoral Dissertation Research: Djungar Mountains Archaeology Project: Modeling Prehistoric Pastoral Nomadism and Landscapes of Eastern Kazakhstan

博士论文研究：准噶尔山考古项目：哈萨克斯坦东部史前游牧民族和景观建模

• 批准号: 0211431
• 负责人: Fredrik Hiebert
• 金额: $ 1.19万
• 依托单位: University of Pennsylvania
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2002
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2002-04-01 至 2003-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0211431&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Djungar; Mountains

Under the direction of Dr. Fredrik Hiebert at the University of Pennsylvania, Michael Frachetti will conduct comprehensive archaeological survey and archaeological excavations in the Koksu River Valley of Eastern Kazakhstan. This work will serve as the basis for his doctoral dissertation, in which he is developing new models to explain the emergence of pastoral nomadism during the Bronze Age in Central Asia. Humans have inhabited the steppe regions of Eurasia for more than 10,000 years. In the Western Eurasian steppes, sheep, goats, cattle, and horses were domesticated by the 4th millennium BC, and nomadic pastoralism (as a distinct way of life) is thought to have emerged from settled agricultural contexts in western Eurasia during the 1st millennium BC. In contrast, the nature and evolution of mobile pastoralism during the Eneolithic and Bronze Age in the Eastern Eurasian Steppe Zone remains generally unexplained. More specifically, the ambiguity in identifying the factors that distinguish a "nomadic" adaptation from any other pastoral lifestyle in this region has resulted in a scholarly assumption that some form of nomadic pastoralism characterized the ancient political economy of the steppes, without a clear archaeological definition of "nomadism" in a prehistoric context. Thus, the primary objective of Mr. Frachetti's project is to understand the ecological and social conditions that affected the strategies of Bronze Age groups in prehistory, by formalizing a new landscape methodology for studying mobile societies. Frachetti suggests that the main stumbling block in accurately understanding prehistoric nomadism (as substantially different from ethnographic cases) is that site-based archaeological studies of nomadic camps have been unable to provide a useful framework for discerning the patterned lifeway of mobile pastoralists.The Koksu River Valley is particularly well suited for new studies of Bronze Age nomadic lifeways since it contains a rich archaeological record, as well as sharp contrasts in seasonal climate and resources. Frachetti proposes an archaeological approach that considers the habitation ecology, the geography of ritual and ideological features, and the associations between archaeological monuments, landscape manipulation, and marking of group or individual identity, as aspects of life by which nomadic pastoralism fundamentally differs from other political economies. Through detailed archaeological survey and excavation, environmental sampling, spatial analysis, and GIS simulation, landscape archaeology parses mobile pastoralism into various defining elements that are systemically related, though temporally and culturally contingent and unique. He suggests that ground-up modeling of various kinds of landscapes (ecological, ideological, political etc.) will more accurately depict the complex factors that conditioned pastoral strategies during prehistory. Conceived in this way, the landscape approach serves as the vital link between theoretical questions concerning nomadic strategies at different places and times, and the analytical techniques available to archaeologists for discerning mobile pastoralism in prehistory. The proposed Djungar Mountains Archaeology Project will make broad contributions to archaeological theory and method, as well as provide new data. Most importantly, it will provide a grounded model of the development of pastoral nomadism in Eastern Central Asia during the Bronze Age. At the broader level, Frachetti's collaborative project will foster international relationships between American and Kazakh archaeologists, and open the door for future relationships between scientists from the United States and other Central Asian republics.

Michael Frachetti将在美国宾夕法尼亚大学的Fredrik Hiebert博士的指导下，在哈萨克斯坦东部的Koksu河谷进行全面的考古调查和考古发掘。这项工作将作为他博士论文的基础，他正在开发新的模型来解释青铜时代中亚游牧民族的出现。人类已经在欧亚大陆的草原地区生活了一万多年。在欧亚大陆西部的大草原，绵羊、山羊、牛和马在公元前4千年就被驯化了，而游牧牧业（作为一种独特的生活方式）被认为是在公元前1千年从欧亚大陆西部的定居农业环境中出现的。相比之下，欧亚东部草原地区新石器时代和青铜时代流动畜牧业的性质和演变仍然无法解释。更具体地说，在识别区分“游牧”适应与该地区任何其他游牧生活方式的因素方面的模糊性导致了一种学术假设，即某种形式的游牧游牧是草原古代政治经济的特征，而在史前背景下没有明确的“游牧”考古学定义。因此，Frachetti先生项目的主要目标是通过正式确立一种研究流动社会的新景观方法，了解影响史前青铜器时代群体策略的生态和社会条件。弗拉盖蒂认为，准确理解史前游牧（与人种学案例有本质区别）的主要障碍是，基于遗址的游牧营地考古研究无法提供一个有用的框架来辨别流动牧民的生活方式模式。果宿河流域特别适合于青铜时代游牧生活方式的新研究，因为它包含丰富的考古记录，以及季节气候和资源的鲜明对比。Frachetti提出了一种考古方法，将居住生态、仪式和意识形态特征的地理、考古纪念碑、景观操纵和群体或个人身份标记之间的联系，作为游牧生活的各个方面，从根本上区别于其他政治经济。通过详细的考古调查和挖掘、环境采样、空间分析和GIS模拟，景观考古学将流动畜牧业解析为各种系统相关的定义要素，尽管这些要素在时间和文化上是偶然的和独特的。他建议，对各种景观（生态的、意识形态的、政治的等）进行自下而上的建模，将更准确地描绘出史前时期制约畜牧策略的复杂因素。以这种方式构思，景观研究方法在不同地点和时间的游牧策略理论问题和考古学家识别史前流动游牧的分析技术之间起到了重要的联系作用。拟建的准噶尔山脉考古项目将对考古理论和方法做出广泛的贡献，并提供新的资料。最重要的是，它将为青铜时代中亚东部游牧民族的发展提供一个基础模型。在更广泛的层面上，弗拉凯蒂的合作项目将促进美国和哈萨克斯坦考古学家之间的国际关系，并为美国和其他中亚共和国的科学家之间的未来关系打开大门。