Doctoral Dissertation Research: Local and Intra-Regional Competition in Early Bronze Age Upper Egypt: A Site-Based Approach

博士论文研究：早期青铜时代上埃及的地方和区域内竞争：基于场地的方法

• 批准号: 0550303
• 负责人: Josef Wegner
• 金额: --
• 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: 2005
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2005-12-01 至 2007-11-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0550303&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Local; Intra

Under the supervision of Dr. Josef Wegner, Jane A. Hill will analyze data gathered through magnetometry survey, electronic mapping and excavation in the Early Bronze Age cemetery of el-Amra in Upper Egypt. El-Amra is located in the Thinite region, home to the earliest Egyptian kings. It represents a major type site for the Predynastic and Early Dynastic periods (ca. 3900-2900 BC) when localized chiefdoms competed for dominance over larger and larger areas of the Nile Valley. As such el-Amra is a valuable testing ground for a community-level inquiry into competitive, coercive and symbolic forces at work during state formation in Egypt that remains remarkably well preserved and yet understudied.Broadly considered, this research examines the role of elite competition through mortuary practice and landscape manipulation during a period when traditional patterns of social behavior changed rapidly and the coercive power of an elite lineage backed by a powerful cosmic ideology gained ascendancy. Using targeted field techniques and correspondence analyses the investigator will examine elite competition between lineage groups at el-Amra and those documented in the Umm el-Qaab cemetery at neighboring Abydos. In the Early Dynastic Umm el-Qaab develops into Egypt's first royal mortuary precinct reserved for the king and his entourage, while el-Amra's cemetery population drops. Major potential exists for combining new data from el-Amra with published data from both el-Amra and Umm el-Qaab to examine dynamics of intra-regional competition and integration during state formation. If theories concerning the development of a royal funerary cult as one of the organizing principles of the early Egyptian state are correct, competition between elites of el-Amra and Abydos can be measured in the placement of the cemeteries within the mortuary landscape. Additionally, later restriction of private tomb construction through the imposition of the new state-sponsored "royal-style" tombs for community elites can be measured at both sites. Such questions have applications to studies of competing polities and emergent states in the American Southeast, early Mesopotamia, and Oaxaca, Mexico.While most ancient Upper Egyptian settlements remain inaccessible under modern villages, cemeteries provide the anthropologist with access to evidence of social organization and philosophical-religious factors influencing the development of the Egyptian state. However, rising water tables in Egypt are endangering archaeological sites previously thought safe because of their inhospitable locations. El-Amra is such a site, situated close enough to the cultivation to make it a target for agricultural expansion. Inspectors with Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities have attempted to preserve what remains, but lack resources for a full investigation. Cooperation with the Qena Inspectorate on this project will aid this goal of raising public awareness of the need to protect important but "monument-less" sites. Findings from this study will be submitted for publication to North American, European and Middle Eastern peer-reviewed journals and will be forwarded electronically to scholars in the region to increase awareness of emergent complexity studies and assist Egyptian archaeologists in conducting new research. Finally, the investigator and her graduate assistants will gain valuable experience in the techniques and analysis methods mentioned above.

在Josef Wegner博士的监督下，Jane A.希尔将分析通过磁力测量、电子地图和在上埃及埃尔-阿姆拉青铜时代早期墓地挖掘收集的数据。El-Amra位于Thinite地区，是最早的埃及国王的家园。它代表了前王朝和早期王朝时期的主要类型网站（约。公元前3900-2900年），当地的酋长争夺尼罗河流域越来越大的地区的统治权。因此，阿姆拉是一个有价值的试验场，可以在社区层面调查埃及国家形成过程中的竞争、胁迫和象征力量，这些力量仍然保存得非常完好，但研究得不够。本研究通过丧葬实践和景观操纵来考察精英竞争的作用，当时传统的社会行为模式迅速改变，精英血统的强制力在强大的宇宙意识形态的支持下获得了优势。 利用有针对性的实地技术和对应分析，调查人员将研究el-Amra的血统群体与邻近Abydos的Umm el-Qaab墓地中记录的血统群体之间的精英竞争。在王朝早期，乌姆卡卜发展成为埃及第一个为国王及其随从保留的皇家太平间，而阿姆拉的墓地人口下降。主要的潜力存在的新数据相结合的el-Amra和Umm el-Qaab公布的数据，以审查国家形成过程中的区域内竞争和一体化的动态。如果有关皇家葬礼崇拜的发展是早期埃及国家的组织原则之一的理论是正确的，那么阿姆拉和阿拜多斯精英之间的竞争可以从墓地在墓地景观中的位置来衡量。此外，后来通过强制实施新的国家赞助的社区精英“皇家式”坟墓来限制私人坟墓建设，这两个地点都可以测量。这些问题可以应用于对美国东南部、早期美索不达米亚和墨西哥的瓦哈卡的竞争性政治和新兴国家的研究。虽然大多数古代上埃及人的定居点在现代村庄中仍然无法进入，但墓地为人类学家提供了影响埃及国家发展的社会组织和哲学-宗教因素的证据。然而，埃及不断上升的地下水位正在危及考古遗址，这些遗址以前被认为是安全的，因为它们的位置不适合居住。El-Amra就是这样一个地方，它离种植地足够近，使其成为农业扩张的目标。埃及最高文物理事会的检查员试图保护剩下的东西，但缺乏进行全面调查的资源。与基纳监察局就这一项目开展的合作将有助于实现这一目标，即提高公众对保护重要但“无纪念碑”的遗址的必要性的认识。这项研究的结果将提交给北美，欧洲和中东同行评审期刊发表，并将以电子方式转发给该地区的学者，以提高对紧急复杂性研究的认识，并协助埃及考古学家进行新的研究。最后，研究员和她的研究生助理将获得上述技术和分析方法的宝贵经验。