Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: The Archaeology of Culture Contact on the Kalahari's Fringe, Botswana

在玛格丽特·w·康基博士的监督下，大卫·科恩将进行考古发掘，并分析博特哈诺费拉遗址的文物和数据。Botlhano Fela位于博茨瓦纳东南部的一个山顶上，位于卡拉哈里沙漠边缘的Thamaga村。Botlhano Fela在不同时期,不同的团体,占领了最后的铁器时代村庄的职业可以追溯到公元1600年左右,但尚未未标明日期的早些时候抢劫者的职业跨度回石器时代以后,可能就直接地区其他网站,这个网站可以追溯到公元前2300年,结合材料出土的科恩和这个地区的其他六个其他网站,将显示生活的变化的食物采集者,牧民,随着时间的推移，这些群体之间的接触越来越多，生活在该地区的农民也越来越多，并在该地区建立了更广泛的社会和政治网络。围绕喀拉哈里沙漠和更远地区的人类学和考古学研究一直受到两极分化的争论的影响和主导，这些争论集中在大约2000年前开始的土著采集者与移民农牧民之间发展的关系上。争论集中在群体互动和参与社会、政治和贸易网络的性质和强度上，并受到少数民族文化群体的统治和隶属于班图语群体的历史观察的影响，这种观察一直持续到现在。该项目旨在考察这些群体关系的发展或缺乏，以了解它们是如何发展的，并且可能与近期历史中观察到的不同。通过检查日常经济和社会活动的物质遗迹，群体生活方式的变化将讲述人们如何根据他们所生活的不断变化的社会景观来应对和修改他们的日常生活的故事。简单的考古遗迹，如陶瓷、个人装饰品、石头和金属工具，以及其他人类日常活动的文物，对于观察文化变迁非常有用，在这个项目的范围内，将有助于了解人类行为的可变性和该地区的变化，文化持久性的各个方面，以及为世界其他地区的研究提供一个例子。除了这项研究对社会科学和历史研究的重要贡献之外，它的目的是产生更广泛的影响。在这项研究的早期阶段和当前阶段，已经努力提高公众对考古实践和科学的兴趣和理解水平，以及管理和保护文化遗产的重要性，在紧邻的Thamaga村。这包括张贴关于该项目的研究进展和结果的海报，参加社区会议，与学童交谈，以及由村里感兴趣的人发起的非正式对话。在Thamaga之外，该项目已经并将继续成为博茨瓦纳大学本科生的研究和培训经验，因为外国研究人员在获得研究许可的国家为技能和机会的发展做出贡献非常重要。科恩还在博茨瓦纳国家博物馆举办的公开讲座上分享了这项研究早期阶段的研究成果。最后，除了对博茨瓦纳境内的学生进行培训外，加州大学伯克利分校的本科生也将继续参与此次发掘中考古材料的分析，为他们提供考古定量和定性方面的实践经验和培训。最后，本研究的一个目标是促进和改善生活在博茨瓦纳境内的不同群体之间的文化理解，并有助于认识到所有群体历史、声音和对人类贡献的重要性的世界话语。在博茨瓦纳这样一个民主国家的背景下，这个项目将促进一个国家发展过程中所有文化群体历史的力量、认可和尊重，以及这些对维护真正民主理想的重要性。

Under the supervision of Dr. Margaret W. Conkey, David Cohen will conduct an archaeological excavation, as well as analyze artifacts and data from the site of Botlhano Fela. Botlhano Fela is located in southeastern Botswana on a hilltop in the present-day village of Thamaga on the fringe of the Kalahari Desert. Botlhano Fela was occupied at various times by different groups, with the final Iron Age village occupation dating to around 1600 A.D., but has yet undated earlier forager occupations that span back into the Later Stone Age, possibly as far as other sites in the immediate area that date to 2300 B.C. This site, combined with materials excavated by Cohen and others in the area from six other sites, will show the changes in the lives of groups of foragers, herders, and farmers living in the area over time as these groups came into increasing contact with each other, as well as wider social and political networks in the region.Anthropological and archaeological research around the Kalahari and further afield has been influenced and dominated by polarized arguments focused on the relationships that developed between indigenous foragers and immigrant farming and herding peoples beginning about 2000 years ago. Arguments have centered around the nature and intensity of group interactions and participation in social, political, and trade networks, and have been influenced by historic observations of the domination and subordination of minority cultural groups by larger consortiums of Bantu-speaking groups that has persisted into the present. This project is designed to examine the development, or lack thereof, of these group relations through time to see how they developed and may have appeared differently than those observed in recent history. By examining the material remains of daily economic and social activities, changes in groups ways of life will tell the stories of how people coped with and modified their daily lives in light of the changing social landscape they were living within. Simple archaeological remains such as ceramics, personal adornment, stone and metal tools, and other artifacts of daily human activities are extremely useful for observing cultural change, and within the scope of this project will contribute to understanding the variability of human behavior and change in the region, aspects of cultural persistence, as well serve as an example for research in other parts of the world.In addition to the important contributions of this research to the social sciences and historical studies, it is designed to have a much broader impact. In earlier stages of this research, and within this current stage, an effort has been made to increase the level of public interest and understanding of the practice and science of archaeology, as well as the importance of stewardship and protecting cultural heritage, in the immediate village of Thamaga. This has involved posters about the project with research progress and findings, participation in community meetings, talks to schoolchildren, and informal conversations initiated by interested persons in the village. Outside of Thamaga, this project has and will continue to be a research and training experience for undergraduate students from the University of Botswana, as it is very important for foreign researchers to contribute to the development of skills and opportunities within the country where they receive permission to conduct research. Cohen has also shared research findings from earlier stages of this research at public lectures hosted by the Botswana National Museum. Finally, in addition to training students within Botswana, the analysis of archaeological materials from this excavation will continue to involve undergraduate students at the University of California Berkeley, providing them hands-on experiences and training in the quantitative and qualitative aspects of archaeology.Finally, a goal of this research is to promote and improve cultural understandings between different groups living within Botswana, and contribute to the world discourse on recognizing the importance of all group histories, voices, and contributions to humanity. Within the context of a democratic nation such as Botswana, this project will promote the power, recognition, and respect of all cultural group histories in the development of a nation, and the importance of these for maintaining the ideals of true democracy.