Production, Consumption, and Political Transformation in Late Prehistoric/Early Historic South India

自从大约5000年前农业被引入以来，居住在印度南部半干旱高地的人类极大地改变了他们的自然和文化景观。随着时间的推移，由流动牧民和农民组成的小社区逐渐形成了更大的永久性社区。到公元前一千年，卡纳塔克邦中部（Bellary和Koppal地区）的Tungabhadra走廊地区的居民依靠农业盈余的生产居住在大型永久性社区中。这些等级制社区被组织成以大城镇为中心的多定居点政策，将死者埋葬在巨石纪念碑中，生产复杂的铁、陶瓷和其他手工艺品，并从事南亚内外的长途贸易关系。在国家科学基金会的支持下，“Tungabhadra走廊的早期历史景观”考古项目（由卡拉·m·Sinopoli和凯瑟琳·d·莫里森共同指导，并与卡纳塔克邦考古和博物馆部门合作进行）将研究从公元前一千年到公元初几个世纪在该地区发生的经济、社会和政治组织的巨大变化。这些变化最终导致了该地区最早的国家级社会的出现，并进入了历史记录。这个国际合作项目的重点是位于联合国教科文组织世界遗产Vijayanagara（南印度最大的历史帝国的首都）边缘的Tungabhadra河沿岸35平方公里的区域（项目主任早期研究的重点）。通过区域调查、挖掘和分析，EHLTC项目考察了大大小小的定居点和史前晚期/早期历史时期不断变化的农业景观。研究的重点是精炼考古年表，记录农业和手工业生产，当地生产和外来商品的不同消费模式，政治，意识形态和经济互动以及与北印度的关系，以及通过海上贸易与东南亚和地中海的关系。EHLTC项目将有助于了解南亚考古学和更广泛地了解复杂社会的发展。国际合作项目也为学术合作、教育和培训以及向公众传播考古知识和保护工作作出了重大贡献。项目负责人与印度考古学家和机构密切合作，并在系统的研究技术方面培训了大量印度和美国学生。在一个考古记录因人口增长和发展而迅速被破坏的地区，该项目致力于遗址的记录和当地关于遗产和保护的教育。博物馆展品将在当地学校和博物馆展出，有关该项目的网站将向更广泛的公众提供结果。

Since the introduction of agriculture some 5000 years ago, the human inhabitants of the semi-arid uplands of Southern India have dramatically transformed their physical and cultural landscapes. Over time, small communities of mobile herders and farmers settled into larger more permanent communities. By the first millennium BC, inhabitants of the Tungabhadra Corridor region of Central Karnataka (Bellary and Koppal Districts) resided in large permanent communities dependent on the production of agricultural surpluses. These hierarchical communities were organized into multi-settlement polities centered on large towns, buried their dead in megalithic stone monuments, produced sophisticated iron, ceramic, and other craft goods, and engaged in long distance trade relations across and beyond South Asia. With support from the National Science Foundation, the "Early Historic Landscapes of the Tungabhadra Corridor" archaeological project (co-directed by Carla M. Sinopoli and Kathleen D. Morrison and conducted in collaboration with the Karnataka Department of Archaeology and Museums) will examine the dramatic changes in economic, social and political organization that occurred in the region from the first millennium BCE through the early centuries AD. These changes culminated in the emergence of the region's earliest state level societies and its entry into the historical record.This international collaborative project focuses on a 35 square kilometer area along the Tungabhadra River on the edges of the UNESCO world heritage site of Vijayanagara, capital of South India's largest historic empire (the focus of the project director's earlier research). Through a program of regional survey, excavation, and analysis, the EHLTC project examines large and small settlement sites and the changing agricultural landscape of the late prehistoric/early historic period. Research focuses on refining archaeological chronologies and documenting agricultural and craft production, differential patterns of consumption of locally produced and exotic goods, and political, ideological, and economic interactions and relations with Northern India and, through maritime commerce, with Southeast Asia and the Mediterranean.The EHLTC project will contribute to knowledge on South Asian archaeology and on the development of complex societies more generally. The international collaborative project also makes significant contributions to scholarly collaboration, education and training, and to the public dissemination of archaeological knowledge and preservation efforts. Project directors work closely with Indian archaeologists and institutions, and train large numbers of Indian and American students in systematic research techniques. In a region where the archaeological record is being rapidly destroyed by population growth and development, the project is committed to both documentation of sites and local education on heritage and preservation. Museum exhibits will be established in the local school and museum and a web site on the project will make the results available to a broader public.