Collaborative Research: Investigating Ancient Nubian Identity and Interaction with Early African States in the Fourth Cataract Region of Sudan

古代社会之间的互动可以深入了解全球化的动态，以及人们在日益复杂的全球互动中创造和发展社会身份的方式。在美国国家科学基金会的支持下，布伦达·j·贝克博士（亚利桑那州立大学）和斯图尔特·泰森·史密斯博士（加州大学圣巴巴拉分校）将在位于非洲东北部苏丹北部尼罗河流域的第四瀑布地区共同指导两季的考古实地工作。这个项目调查了这个崎岖地区的居民与古努比亚和埃及国家的互动，以确定他们在多大程度上是自治的或融入了这些国家。在克尔曼国家（公元前4500-1500年）的形成和繁荣时期，以及梅洛伊特国家权力下放后的一段明显衰落时期（公元300-600年），人们将自己视为这些文化的成员或与这些文化不同的方式得到了探索。通过挖掘和分析来自定居点和墓地背景的物质文化和骨骼遗骸来评估其他假设。因为它包含了比以往任何记录都更上游的克尔玛时期遗址，以及第四瀑布地区唯一实质性的克尔玛定居点，我们的项目区域非常适合调查有关克尔玛州范围及其与其他国家互动的问题。麦罗后期的大量占领使我们能够在后期处理关于区域动态的类似问题。该项目将加深对国家级社会兴衰的理解，从非洲的角度提供更广泛的文化接触和中心-边缘互动的视角，并有助于记录以前未被研究过的努比亚地区。综合考古和生物考古研究将鼓励在该领域其他地方工作的埃及学和努比亚专家应用人类学方法。在第四大瀑布建造梅洛维大坝将形成一个覆盖尼罗河流域170公里的水库，最大宽度达到4公里，到2009年淹没我们的项目区。这项研究促进了与来自美国、英国、波兰、德国的救援队的国际合作，并与苏丹国家文物和博物馆公司（NCAM）合作。这项计画让当地社区成员参与，并定期向当地学童及其老师讲解我们的工作，以及所提供的有关他们祖先的资讯，借此促进美国与苏丹人民之间的关系。美国研究生将受益于实地经验，研究和出版的机会，并沉浸在努比亚文化的项目。在研究中未被充分代表的同事将进行合作，特别是凤凰城地区社区大学的一位教授，他的机构有很高的西班牙裔入学率。这项研究的结果将通过公开演讲、课程讲座、专业会议报告和人类学家、埃及学家和努比亚考古学家阅读的期刊上的出版物广泛传播。由于苏丹允许出口考古材料，该项目将提供记录良好、保存完好的骨骼和人工制品收藏，这将是本科生和研究生教育的宝贵资源，也是其他学者研究的重要比较收藏。

Interactions among ancient societies can yield insights into the dynamics of globalization and the ways that people create and develop social identities within increasingly complex worldwide interactions. With National Science Foundation support, Dr. Brenda J. Baker (Arizona State University) and Dr. Stuart Tyson Smith (University of California, Santa Barbara) will co-direct two seasons of archaeological fieldwork in the Fourth Cataract region of the Nile River valley in northern Sudan, situated in northeast Africa. This project investigates interactions of this rugged region's inhabitants with ancient Nubian and Egyptian states to determine the extent to which they were autonomous or integrated into them. The ways in which people identified themselves as members of these cultures or distinct from them are explored during the formation and fluorescence of the Kerman state (c. 4500-1500 BC) and during a period of perceived decline (c. 300-600 AD) after decentralization of the Meroitic state. Alternative hypotheses are evaluated through excavation and analysis of material culture and skeletal remains from both settlement and cemetery contexts. Because it contains Kerma period sites farther upstream than any previously recorded and the only substantial Kerma settlements in the Fourth Cataract region, our project area is uniquely suited to investigating questions concerning the extent of the Kerma state and its interactions with others. The substantial post-Meroitic occupation allows us to address similar questions about regional dynamics in a later period. This project will add to understanding of the rise and fall of state-level societies, provide a broader view of culture contact and center-periphery interaction from an African perspective, and contribute to documentation of a previously unstudied region of Nubia. The integrative archaeological and bioarchaeological research will encourage the application of anthropological approaches by Egyptological and Nubian specialists working elsewhere in this area. Construction of the Merowe dam at the Fourth Cataract will create a reservoir covering 170 kilometers of the Nile River valley, reaching a maximum width of 4 kilometers, and submerging our project area by 2009. This research fosters international collaboration with rescue teams from the US, UK, Poland, Germany, in cooperation with Sudan's National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums (NCAM). This project promotes a better relationship between the American and Sudanese people by involving community members near field sites and providing periodic tours to local school children and their teachers to explain our work and the information it provides about their ancestors. American graduate students will benefit from field experience, research and publication opportunities, and immersion in Nubian culture afforded by the project. Colleagues underrepresented in research will collaborate, specifically a Phoenix-area community college professor whose institution has high Hispanic enrollment. Results of this research will be broadly disseminated via public talks, course lectures, presentations at professional conferences, and publication in journals read by anthropologists, Egyptologists and Nubian archaeologists. Because Sudan permits export of archaeological materials, this project will provide well-documented, well-preserved skeletal and artifactual collections that will be a valuable resource for undergraduate and graduate education and an important comparative collection available to other scholars for research.