Predator-Prey Dynamics, Site Formation Processes & the Roots of the Forager-Herder Socioeconomic Transition at Asikli Hoyuk, Turkey

捕食者-被捕食者动力学、场地形成过程

• 批准号: 0912148
• 负责人: Mary Stiner
• 金额: $ 13.08万
• 依托单位: University of Arizona
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-09-01 至 2013-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0912148&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Predator; Prey; Dynamics; Site; Formation

This project investigates the roots of the forager-producer socioeconomic transition at the site of Asikli Houk in Central Anatolia (Turkey). This mound site is located in the northern arc of the "Fertile Crescent", the Old World region that gave rise to the first farming and herding cultures. The basal cultural layers of the mound exceed 8200 cal BC, and they present a rare opportunity to examine the ecological and social substrates from which village economies arose out of a hunter-gatherer heritage. Led by Prof. Mary Stiner from the University of Arizona, the study will last 3 years and is nested within a larger international excavation and conservation effort overseen by Prof. M. Ozbasaran of Istanbul University, Turkey. The research program integrates zooarchaeological, geoarchaeological (including micromorphological), and radiocarbon dating methods to address a common set of questions. Of great interest is the ecological and behavioral background of incipient sheep and goat domestication as hypothesized strategies for enhancing meat security and responses to social competition. The zooarchaeological part of the study considers possible evidence for harvesting pressure on wild animal populations (sheep, goats, deer & wild cattle), changes in dietary breadth, intensified carcass processing such as grease extraction, and possible evidence for corraling of animals on site. The econimic evidence will be used as the standard against which anomalous (less explicitly practical) patterns of animal use can be guaged, such as those that may relate to social display or conspicuous consumption. Another goal of the study is to understand how some or all of the consumer behaviors listed above may have contributed to shifts in trophic level and energy capture from the environment at the end of the Pleistocene and beginning of the Holocene. In addition to dating the 2 m of cultural deposits, an analyses of biomineralized Celtis endocarps will be conducted to obtain background information on local precipitation during the periods of occupation. The geoarchaeological component of the research program is crucial for determining the functions of mudbrick structures on the site and the kinds of activities conducted on prepared floor and natural ground surfaces. Evidence for animal captivity, hypothesized for wild sheep and goat, is expected to include microscopic dung remnants inside enclosures. Preliminary tests indicate that traces of dung are present in the younger layers of the site, and the contents of the earliest layers are unknown. A pilot geological sampling study will also be conducted in the surrounding region in anticipation of future strontium isotope work on ungulate teeth. The latter effort is important to establishing the geographic areas where animals were hunted as opposed to those which may have been held captive on site. The proposed research is interdisciplinary, and its components are bound together by close conceptual and technical links. The issues of collections access, sample suitability, and available infrastructure have been worked-out, greatly increasing the chances for successful completion of the study. The research builds on existing approaches but is also distinct in its emphasis on an integrated model of social and economic valuations of meat resources. In addition to its scientific contributions, the research program contributes substantively to the development of synergistic professional exchanges between Turkish and American researchers, on the excavation and through two workshops to be held at the University of Arizona. The research will generate unique data on one of the most remarkable periods in human evolution. The forager-producer transition marks a profound restructuring of human socioeconomics, demographic potential, and relationships with nature. The Aşıklı Höyük stratigraphic series is sufficiently detailed and continuous to examine the conditions from which domestic ungulates and ownership evolved. Because the sedimentary layers and faunas targeted by this study push the evolutionary chronology of Central Anatolia back into a poorly known period, the results will enhance the value of existing data sets in the region. Not all benefits to come from this study concern the past: any success in understanding the underlying processes of the forager-producer transition can also expose important lessons in conservation and management for the present and future of humans in natural systems.

该项目调查了安纳托利亚中部（土耳其）Asikli Houk遗址的采集者-生产者社会经济转型的根源。这个土墩遗址位于“新月沃地”的北方弧，旧大陆地区产生了第一个农耕和放牧文化。土丘的基础文化层超过公元前8200大卡，他们提供了一个难得的机会来研究生态和社会基础，村庄经济从狩猎采集遗产中产生。由亚利桑那大学的玛丽·斯廷纳教授领导的这项研究将持续3年，并与由M.土耳其伊斯坦布尔大学的Ozbasaran。该研究计划整合了动物考古学，地质考古学（包括微形态学）和放射性碳测年方法，以解决一系列共同的问题。最令人感兴趣的是早期绵羊和山羊驯化的生态和行为背景，作为增强肉类安全和应对社会竞争的假设策略。该研究的动物考古学部分考虑了野生动物种群（绵羊，山羊，鹿和野牛）的收获压力，饮食范围的变化，强化的尸体加工（如油脂提取）以及现场动物围栏的可能证据。经济学证据将被用作标准，根据这些标准，可以对动物使用的异常（不太明显的实际）模式进行评估，例如那些可能与社会展示或炫耀性消费有关的模式。这项研究的另一个目标是了解上面列出的一些或所有消费者行为如何在更新世末和全新世初导致营养水平和环境能量捕获的变化。除了确定2米的文化存款，生物矿化朴树内果皮的分析将进行，以获得在占领期间当地降水的背景信息。 研究计划的地质考古部分对于确定现场泥砖结构的功能以及在准备好的地板和自然地面上进行的活动种类至关重要。动物圈养的证据，假设为野生绵羊和山羊，预计包括围栏内的微观粪便残留物。初步测试表明，在该遗址较年轻的地层中存在粪便的痕迹，而最早的地层的内容尚不清楚。还将在周围地区进行一项试点地质取样研究，以期待今后对有蹄类动物牙齿进行锶同位素研究。后一项工作对于确定动物被狩猎的地理区域而不是那些可能被就地圈养的区域非常重要。拟议的研究是跨学科的，其组成部分是由密切的概念和技术联系在一起。收集的访问，样品的适用性和可用的基础设施的问题已经解决，大大增加了成功完成研究的机会。该研究建立在现有方法的基础上，但也强调肉类资源的社会和经济评估的综合模型。除了科学贡献外，该研究方案还为土耳其和美国研究人员之间的协同专业交流的发展做出了实质性贡献，包括挖掘和在亚利桑那大学举办的两个讲习班。这项研究将产生关于人类进化中最显着时期之一的独特数据。采集者到生产者的转变标志着人类社会经济、人口潜力以及与自然关系的深刻重组。#351&;ıkl& #305; Höyük地层系列足够详细和连续，以研究国内有蹄类动物和所有权演变的条件。由于本研究所针对的沉积层和动物群将安纳托利亚中部的进化年代学推回到了一个鲜为人知的时期，因此研究结果将提高该地区现有数据集的价值。并非所有的好处都来自这项研究关注过去：任何成功的理解觅食生产过渡的基本过程也可以揭示重要的经验教训，在保护和管理的现在和未来的人类在自然系统中。