Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Huangtucheng Regional Archaeological Survey

在史蒂芬·科瓦列夫斯基博士的指导下，任新宇将以黄土城古镇(公元前3000年-2000年)为中心进行为期六个月的考古研究。在淮河中游地区。淮河流域是一个丰富的交错带，也是中国南北的主要地理分界线。然而，由于淮河地区自身的文化发展以及它在研究得更好的黄河和长江地区之间的互动中所扮演的角色，该地区在考古学上很少受到关注。关于淮河地区的国家和文明起源，人们知之甚少。这个项目将提供有关过去人类住区和文物的新信息，这些数据将帮助我们了解中国如何以及何时出现复杂的社会。中国关于国家形成的大多数想法来自历史文献，并集中在黄河沿岸假定的核心区。然而，最近，国家形成的新方法来自核心区以外的研究，来自较早时期的研究，以及新的考古方法，包括考古表面测量，在这种方法中，系统地行走给定地区的所有土地，并记录每个时期的每个地点。最近在淮河中游地区的考古发现，包括早在公元前5300年的文字记号和雕像，都表明这一地区是寻找国家起源的重要地方。本研究将使用新的方法(全覆盖调查、地理信息系统)和新的理论方法来研究不断变化的聚落模式。通过确定聚落的根本变化，这项调查将回答一个基本问题：黄土城是如何以及何时形成的城墙城镇？它是周围农村城镇和村庄的中心，还是几乎没有人住在城墙外，可能是因为战争？还是农村地区的用途随着时间的推移发生了变化？这项拟议的研究将是淮河地区第一次全面覆盖的考古调查。任新宇和她训练有素的调查人员将对黄土城半径7公里范围内的每一个可见考古遗址进行测绘、描述、收集和年代测定。她的项目将产生新的数据和对中国中部年代和文物分布的见解。这将是第一次描述该地区人类住区的悠久历史的研究。它将帮助我们了解文明是如何在不同的环境中产生的。这里的文明和国家是不是像更著名的黄河和长江流域一样早就出现了？或者淮河是中国南北沿海的边缘或边界？或者，随着时间的推移，它的角色发生了变化？此外，该项目还将为与世界其他重要地区进行比较研究提供案例研究。就其更广泛的影响而言，这一研究将为中国的国家形成研究带来新的人类学视角。这项实地研究的成果将以中英文形式在网站、通讯和科学期刊等多种形式上发表。它将架起中国考古学和北美考古学研究方法和理论之间的桥梁，加强中国考古机构(河南省文物考古研究所和武汉大学)与美国考古委员会主办机构之间的交流。对于不熟悉这些方法的考古学家来说，这个项目将作为最先进的全面覆盖和地理信息系统的示范而产生影响。研究生助理和其他合作的专业考古学家将接受这些方法的培训。更重要的是，这将有助于中英公众更多地了解中国这个重要地区的历史。

Under the supervision of Dr. Stephen Kowalewski, Xinyu Ren will conduct six months of archaeological research centering on an ancient walled town, Huangtucheng (3000-2000 B.C.) in the Middle Huai River region. The Huai River valley is a rich ecotone and it is also a major geographic boundary between northern and southern China. However, the Huai River region receives little archaeological attention for its own cultural development and its role in the interaction between the better-studied Yellow River and Yangtze River regions. Little is known about the origins of state and civilization in the Huai River region. This project will provide new information on past human settlements and artifacts, and these data will help us understand how and when complex societies arose in China.Most ideas about state formation in China have been drawn from historical texts and have been focused on presumed core zones along the Yellow River. Recently, however, new approaches to state formation have come from studies outside core zones, from earlier time periods, and from new archaeological methods, including archaeological surface survey, in which all the land in a given area is walked systematically and every site from every time period is recorded. Recent archaeological excavation findings in the middle Huai River region, including writing marks and statues as early as 5300 B.C., have shown that this area is an important place to search for the origin of the state. This study will use new methods (full-coverage survey, Geographic Information Systems) and new theoretical approaches to study the changing settlement pattern. By identifying the fundamental changes in settlements, this survey will answer one of the basic questions: how and when did Huangtucheng arise as a walled town? Was it a center for surrounding rural towns and villages or did few people, live outside the walls, perhaps because of warfare? Or did the use of the rural area change over time? This proposed study will be the first full-coverage archaeological survey in the Huai River region. Xinyu Ren and her trained survey crew will map, describe, collect and date every visible archaeological site in an area within a 7 km radius of Huangtucheng. Her project will produce new data and insights into chronology and artifact distributions in Central China. This will be the first study to describe the long history of human settlements in this region. It will help us understand how civilization arose in different environments. Did civilization and the state emerge here as early as it did in the more famous Yellow and Yangtze River valleys? Or was the Huai River a periphery or border between North, South and Coastal China? Or did its role change over time? In addition, this project will provide a case study for comparative studies with other important regions in the world. In terms of its broader impact, this research will bring new anthropological perspectives to the study of state formation in China. The results of this field research will be published both in Chinese and English in various forms, including website, newsletter and scientific journal. It will bridge the gap between the research methods and theories in Chinese archaeology and North American archaeology and enhance the communication between Chinese archaeological institutes (Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and Wuhan University) and the Co-PI's host institution in the United States. This project will be influential as a demonstration of state-of-the-art full-coverage and GIS for archaeologists who are unfamiliar with these methods. Graduate assistants and other cooperative professional archaeologists will get training in these methods. More important, it will help the Chinese and English public to know more about the history of this important region of China.