The Shala Valley Project, Northern Albania

阿尔巴尼亚北部沙拉谷项目

• 批准号: 0713730
• 负责人: Michael Galaty
• 金额: $ 7.7万
• 依托单位: Millsaps College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2007-09-15 至 2010-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0713730&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Shala; Valley; Project; Northern; Albania

With the support of the National Science Foundation, Dr. Michael Galaty and an international team of archaeologists, historians, ethnologists, and geo-scientists are studying the origins and growth of settlement and society in the Northern Albanian high mountains. The Shala Valley Project (SVP; www.millsaps.edu/svp) brings together U.S., Albanian, British, Norwegian, and Hungarian specialists and students in order to examine the relationship between cultural isolation and tribal formation in the territory of the Shala tribe (Albanian fis), one of several Northern Albanian tribes that survived intact into the 20th century. The SVP is employing archaeological survey, test excavation, ethnohistorical and architectural surveys, and ethnographic interviews in order to determine during what periods of the past the valley was occupied, how social and economic systems were organized during these periods, and how these systems affected the local mountain landscape. The working hypothesis is that the people of Shala, who are Catholic, originally sought isolation in the mountains as protection from the invading Ottoman Turks, but that the tribal system subsequently formed and evolved through complex processes of interaction and negotiation with the outside world. It is argued that such negotiations probably occurred in most times and places where indigenous people resisted incorporation by external powers.Results to date indicate that humans first entered the Shala Valley during the Middle Paleolithic (circa 100,000 year ago). The next major influx of people occurred during later periods of prehistory. In the village of Theth, in the neighborhood of Grunas, the team discovered and test excavated an extraordinary fortified settlement that dates to the transition from the Bronze to the Iron Age (a radiocarbon test returned a date of 800 BC). It is probable that the site was occupied during the summer months, and may have been an outpost of the so-called Illyrian peoples who occupied much of the Adriatic coast during this time. A long hiatus was followed by re-settlement of the valley during the Middle Medieval period, perhaps associated with Venetian activities in the area, and then major population growth in the very Late Medieval as people found refuge in the mountains.Northern Albania is the only place in Europe where tribal societies survived into modern times. These societies were disrupted and damaged by the Albanian Communist government, but some traditional practices have been retained. What remains of Shala's culture is threatened by depopulation, as villagers leave the mountains for the city. One possible solution to this problem is development of a carefully-crafted, locally-controlled cultural- and eco-tourism industry that would provide villagers supplemental income. The SVP is thus in the unique position to help local people create a tourist industry, by providing data about sites of cultural and historic value that would be of interest to foreign tourists. This will have a meaningful, positive effect on the people of Shala. Through a website and through various forms of media (e.g., television and radio), the research group is also helping to educate Albanians about the history and archaeology of Northern Albania. Finally, each year American and Albanian undergraduate students participate in the SVP thus helping to train the next generation of archaeologists in both countries.

在美国国家科学基金会的支持下，迈克尔·加拉蒂博士和一个由考古学家、历史学家、民族学家和地球科学家组成的国际团队正在研究阿尔巴尼亚北部高山地区定居点和社会的起源和发展。沙拉山谷项目（SVP; www.millsaps.edu/svp）汇集了美国、阿尔巴尼亚、英国、挪威和匈牙利的专家和学生，以研究沙拉部落（阿尔巴尼亚人）领土上的文化隔离与部落形成之间的关系，沙拉部落是几个完整地幸存到20世纪的北阿尔巴尼亚部落之一。SVP采用考古调查、测试挖掘、民族历史和建筑调查以及民族志访谈来确定山谷在过去的哪个时期被占领，这些时期的社会和经济系统是如何组织的，以及这些系统如何影响当地的山地景观。可行的假设是，信奉天主教的沙拉人最初在山区寻求隔离，以保护自己免受奥斯曼土耳其人的入侵，但部落制度随后通过与外界的互动和谈判形成并演变。有人认为，这种谈判可能发生在土著人民抵制外来势力合并的大多数时间和地点。迄今为止的结果表明，人类首次进入沙拉山谷是在旧石器时代中期（大约10万年前）。下一次大规模的人口涌入发生在史前后期。在格鲁纳斯附近的Theth村，该团队发现并测试挖掘了一个非凡的强化定居点，其历史可以追溯到青铜时代到铁器时代的过渡时期（放射性碳测试返回日期为公元前800年）。这个地方很可能是在夏季被占领的，可能是所谓的伊利里亚人的前哨站，伊利里亚人在这段时间占据了亚得里亚海海岸的大部分地区。在一段漫长的间歇期之后，在中世纪时期，人们重新定居在山谷中，这可能与威尼斯人在该地区的活动有关，然后在中世纪晚期，随着人们在山上找到避难所，人口大幅增长。阿尔巴尼亚北部是欧洲唯一一个部落社会延续到现代的地方。这些社会被阿尔巴尼亚共产党政府打乱和破坏，但一些传统习俗被保留了下来。随着村民离开山区前往城市，沙拉文化的遗存正受到人口减少的威胁。解决这个问题的一个可能的办法是发展一个精心设计的、由当地控制的文化和生态旅游业，这将为村民提供额外的收入。因此，通过提供外国游客感兴趣的具有文化和历史价值的遗址的数据，SVP在帮助当地人创建旅游业方面处于独特的地位。这将对沙拉人民产生有意义的积极影响。该研究小组还通过一个网站和各种形式的媒体（例如电视和广播），帮助阿尔巴尼亚人了解阿尔巴尼亚北部的历史和考古学。最后，美国和阿尔巴尼亚的本科生每年都参加SVP，从而帮助两国培养下一代考古学家。