Doctoral Dissertation Research: Rodent Commensals of Maasai Settlements: Ethnoarchaeology of Pastoral Mobility

博士论文研究：马赛定居点的啮齿动物共生：田园流动的民族考古学

• 批准号: 0536507
• 负责人: Fiona Marshall
• 金额: $ 1.2万
• 依托单位: Washington University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2005
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2005-09-01 至 2006-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0536507&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Rodent; Commensals

Under the direction of Dr. Fiona Marshall, Mr. Lior Weissbrod will collect data for his doctoral dissertation. He will study small rodent faunas in contemporary Maasai pastoralist villages to determine the relationship between faunal composition and the degree of sedentism. The Maasai are a pastoral people dependent on herds of cattle, sheep and goats for food. Based on the degree of seasonal change in the immediate environment, some groups can maintain year round residence in a single location while others must move seasonally. Through comparison of the rodent populations both across villages and between villages and the surrounding area Mr. Weissbrod will determine the relationship between mobility and species specific rodent population structure. The goal is to develop an archaeologically applicable tool which will permit archaeologists to reconstruct degree of prehistoric human mobility based on excavated rodent remains. Since bias can result through differential preservation and burial, and excavated remains may only indirect reflect the prior living population, Mr. Weissbrod will also conduct excavations in Maasai villages to determine the relationship between observed living and buried skeletal populations. He will then test his methods on collections from an excavated archaeological site.Mobile pastoralists were the earliest food producers in Africa. There was considerable variation in subsistence and in the organization of relations within and among prehistoric pastoral groups. An important underlying goal of the current research is to understand how varying social, economic and political factors contributed to these patterns and to the development and spread of food production in Africa. Mobility is an essential strategy used by pastoralists to cope with unpredictable resources in arid lands and with changing economic and political circumstances. Reconstructing the dimensions of mobility of prehistoric pastoral groups, including length of occupation and group size is central to understanding the nature of variability in social, economic and political organization and Mr. Weissbrod's research will provide a tool to help in this process. This award will also further the academic and intellectual development of a promising young scientist.

在Fiona Marshall博士的指导下，Lior Weissbrod先生将为他的博士论文收集数据。他将研究当代马赛游牧村庄的小型啮齿动物群，以确定动物群组成与定居程度之间的关系。马赛人是游牧民族，以成群的牛、绵羊和山羊为食。根据周围环境的季节变化程度，一些群体可以全年居住在一个地方，而另一些群体则必须季节性迁移。Weissbrod先生将通过比较村庄间和村庄与周边地区的啮齿动物种群，确定流动性与物种特定啮齿动物种群结构之间的关系。目标是开发一种考古学上适用的工具，使考古学家能够根据挖掘出的啮齿动物遗骸重建史前人类活动的程度。由于不同的保存和埋葬方式可能导致偏见，而挖掘出来的遗骸可能只是间接地反映了以前的生活人口，韦斯布罗德先生还将在马赛村庄进行挖掘，以确定观察到的生活人口和埋葬的骨骼人口之间的关系。然后，他将在发掘的考古遗址的藏品上测试他的方法。流动的牧民是非洲最早的粮食生产者。史前游牧群体内部和之间的生存和关系组织存在相当大的差异。当前研究的一个重要潜在目标是了解不同的社会、经济和政治因素如何促成这些模式以及非洲粮食生产的发展和传播。流动是牧民用来应对干旱地区不可预测的资源以及不断变化的经济和政治环境的基本策略。重建史前游牧群体的流动性维度，包括职业长度和群体规模，是理解社会、经济和政治组织可变性本质的核心，Weissbrod先生的研究将为这一过程提供帮助。该奖项还将进一步促进一位有前途的青年科学家的学术和智力发展。