Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: The Social Lives of Pottery on the Plain of Flowers: Late Bronze Age Ceramic Production and Exchange in Tsaghkahovit, Armenia

在亚当·史密斯博士的指导下，艾伦·格林先生将为他的博士论文收集数据。在国家科学基金会的支持下，格林先生将前往亚美尼亚的埃里温，分析从青铜时代晚期遗址出土的大量考古陶瓷样品。在他返回美国后，将通过各种化学和物理技术对选定的样本进行分析，包括中子活化分析、数字射线照相术和X射线计算机断层扫描。后两种技术还没有应用于考古陶瓷，这项研究有可能发展出具有广泛适用性的可靠技术。几十年来，研究旧世界社会复杂性兴起的研究人员主要关注伊拉克和伊朗丰富的考古记录，因为在这两个地区，从最初的小规模狩猎和采集，可以追溯到复杂社会的发展通过帝国的出现。近年来，由于进入这两个国家的机会有限，考古学家们在邻近地区富有成效地研究了这些基本问题，亚美尼亚-特别是青铜时代-已经证明是富有成果的。在青铜时代早期，大量的定居点出现在考古记录中。特别有趣的是，在接下来的青铜时代中期，模式的变化和定居点被放弃，转而支持游牧的军国主义生活方式。在青铜时代晚期（公元前1,500年至1,200年），这是格林先生研究的重点，模式再次发生变化，出现了一种独特的安排，人们聚集在大型的戒备森严的定居点，有较小的离群值。格林先生希望了解这些定居点如何相互关联-它们在何种程度上和在何种领域相互作用-以及支撑这些关系的经济和社会制度是什么。为了做到这一点，他专注于近年来挖掘出的一些遗址的陶瓷。通过追踪陶器类型在空间上的分布，他可以确定不同类型的陶器是在哪里生产的，以及它们是如何移动和交易的。通过审查这些产品的制造技术及其标准化程度，将有可能确定生产集中化的程度。因此，陶瓷有助于提供更广泛的社会宇宙的洞察力和理解。该项目涉及美国和亚美尼亚研究人员之间的密切合作，并将加强两国之间的联系。它还将促进一位有前途的年轻研究人员的科学事业。

Under the direction of Dr Adam Smith, Mr. Alan Greene will collect data for his doctoral dissertation. With National Science Foundation support Mr. Greene will travel to Yerevan Armenia and analyze a large sample of archaeological ceramics excavated from Late Bronze Age sites. Upon his return to the United States a selected sample will be analyzed by a variety of chemical and physical techniques, including neutron activation analysis, digital radiography and X-ray computed tomography. These latter two techniques have not been applied to archaeological ceramics and this research has the potential to develop robust techniques with wide applicability.For decades researchers studying the rise of social complexity in the Old World focused on the rich and abundant archaeological records in Iraq and Iran because in both these areas it was possible to trace the development of complex societies from initial small scale hunting and gathering groups through the emergence of empires. With access to these two countries limited in recent years archaeologists have productively pursued these same fundamental questions in neighboring areas and Armenia - particularly the Bronze Age period - has proven fruitful ground. During the Early Bronze Age large settlements appear in the archaeological record. It is particularly interesting that in the following Middle Bronze Age period, the pattern changes and settlements are abandoned in favor of a nomadic militaristic lifestyle. During the Late Bronze Age (1,500 to 1,200 BC) which is the focus of Mr. Greene's study, the pattern shifts once again and a unique arrangement appears with people aggregated in large heavily fortified settlements with smaller outliers. Mr. Greene wishes to understand how these settlements relate to one another - to what degree and over what area do they interact - and what were the economic and social systems which underpinned these relations. To do this he is focusing on ceramics from a number of sites which have been excavated in recent years. By tracing the distribution of pottery types over space he can determine where different kinds were produced and how they moved and were traded. Through the examination of the techniques by which they were fabricated and the extent to which they were standardized, it will be possible to determined the degree to which production was centralized. Thus the ceramics serve to provide insight and understanding of a broader social universe. This project involves close collaboration between US and Armenian researchers and will strengthen ties between the two countries. It will also further the scientific career of a promising young researcher.