Dissertation Improvement Grant: Micromorphological Analysis of Activity Areas at the Early Bronze Age Village, T.A.V. Afragola, Southern Italy

在Natalie Munro博士的监督下，Tiziana Matarazzo将使用微形态分析来确定T.A.V.AfraGola的人类活动区域，这是意大利南部一个保存极为完好的青铜时代村庄。阿弗拉戈拉村以保存完好而著称，欧洲几乎没有什么考古遗址能与之匹敌。这个地方被称为？新庞贝？因为在距今3780BP的维苏威火山喷发期间，它被近1米厚的火山灰覆盖。该遗址拥有大量保存完好的建筑、建筑特征和有机材料，并提供了一个独特的实验室，以调查全村文物分布和活动区的变异性。活动区的确定将通过对收集的未受干扰的表层沉积物样本的微形态薄片进行分析。确定活动区域是了解过去的人们如何互动、组织他们的日常生活以及在他们的定居点周围移动的第一步。此外，识别与活动区域相关的人工制品和任务的类型可以让我们了解社会分化和组织。通过确定国内和制造业地区的位置和功能，这项研究将解决与青铜时代意大利的社会分层、劳动力专业化、经济专业化和家庭组织相关的问题。通过对未受干扰的考古沉积物的研究，土壤微形态可以用来重建复杂的占用面及其相关活动的形成历史。这项研究将研究家庭结构、微地层和微垃圾之间的关系，以确定家庭和制造业活动及其在现场的准确位置。这项研究的智力价值体现在四个方面。首先，维苏威火山喷发几乎完全保存了村庄。这种保存质量在考古记录中极其罕见，并提供了过去人类活动的独特快照。其次，阿弗拉戈拉是在青铜时代占领的，这是一个巨大的社会和经济变革时期。这项研究将有助于就跨越不同时间段和地理区域的社会复杂性的发展展开积极辩论。第三，虽然学者们对这一时期的建筑、建筑材料和相关文物进行了研究，但对其家庭空间组织却知之甚少。微形态在人类家庭活动研究中的应用有可能彻底改变我们目前对这一时期日常生活的理解。最后，使用传统的考古技术无法辨别阿夫拉戈拉的大多数特征和结构的功能。该项目还将增加公众对微形态分析和家庭一级人类行为研究的了解。这项研究将证明微形态学在解决仅用宏观考古学方法无法重建的文化问题方面的价值。这一点不仅在意大利很重要，在美国也很重要，在美国，虽然微形态学有可能回答无法用其他手段解决的问题，但在考古分析中并不常用。这项研究不仅将为作者提供培训，而且将鼓励同一机构的本科生探索微形态技术来回答社会文化问题。

Under the supervision of Dr. Natalie Munro, Tiziana Matarazzo will use micromorphological analysis to identify human activity areas at T.A.V. Afragola, an exceptionally well-preserved Bronze Age village in southern Italy. The Afragola village is remarkable for its preservation, which is matched by few archaeological sites in Europe. The site has been called the ?New Pompeii? as it was covered by almost 1 m of ash during the Vesuvius eruption in 3,780 BP. The site boasts a large number of well-preserved structures, built features and organic materials and it provides a unique laboratory to investigate variability in artifact distribution and activity areas across the village. The identification of activity areas will proceed through the analysis of micromorphological thin sections of collected samples of undisturbed surface sediments. The identification of activity areas is a first step toward understanding how past people interacted, organized their daily routines, and moved around their settlements. In addition, identification of the types of artifacts and tasks associated with activity areas informs us about social differentiation and organization. By identifying the location and function of domestic and manufacturing areas, this study will address issues related to social stratification, labor specialization, economic specialization, and organization of households in Bronze Age Italy. Through the study of undisturbed archaeological deposits, soil micromorphology can be used to reconstruct the formation histories of complex occupation surfaces and associated activities. This study will examine the relationship between household structures, microstratigraphy, and micro-refuse to identify domestic and manufacturing activities and their precise location at the site. The intellectual merit of this study is realized on four fronts. First, the Vesuvius eruption resulted in near total preservation of the village. This quality of preservation is extremely rare in the archaeological record and provides a unique snapshot of past human activities. Second, Afragola was occupied in the Bronze Age, a period of monumental social and economic change. This study will contribute to an active debate on the development of social complexity that crosscuts diverse time periods and geographic regions. Third, although scholars have studied the architecture, construction materials and associated artifacts of this period, little is known about its household spatial organization. The application of micromorphology to the study of human domestic activities has the potential to revolutionize our current understanding of everyday life during this period. Finally, the function of most features and structures at T.A.V. Afragola cannot be discerned using traditional archaeological techniques. This project will also increase public knowledge about micromorphological analysis and the study of human behavior at the household level. This research will demonstrate the value of micromorphology for addressing cultural questions that cannot be reconstructed using macro-archaeological methods alone. This is important not only in Italy but also in the United States where micromorphology is not commonly used in archaeological analysis despite its potential to answer questions that cannot be addressed using other means. The study will not only provide training for the author, but will encourage undergraduates at the same institution to explore micromorphology technique to answer socio-cultural questions.