Doctoral Dissertation Research - Isotope Analysis on the Great Hungarian Plain: An Exploration of Mobility and Subsistence Strategies from the Neolithic to the Copper Age

在理查德·耶克斯博士的指导下，朱莉娅·吉布林将分析中欧史前人群骨骼材料中的稳定同位素，以研究从新石器时代到铜器时代的生存和流动性变化。新石器时代和铜器时代是欧洲史前史上的关键时期，当时农业群体分散，放弃了大村庄，并告诉人们他们已经居住了几个世纪，并建立了新的生活方式。从新石器时代晚期到铜时代早期的大匈牙利平原（公元前4500 cal. BC），社会组织、生存策略和流动性的转变已经从考古记录中推断出来。这一转变的特点是聚落、生存、文化聚集、丧葬习俗和贸易网络的物质变化。地球化学在人类学中的应用，如稳定同位素分析，为直接和独立地测试考古记录中发现的史前人类行为模式提供了新的方法。拟议的研究将验证两个特定的假设：(1)从新石器时代到铜器时代，流动性增加了；(2)饮食变得更加注重驯化的植物和动物。人类和动物牙釉质中稳定的锶同位素比率（87Sr/86Sr）将被用来检验第一个假设，人类和动物骨骼中稳定的碳（ä13C）和氮（ä15N）同位素的丰度将被用来检验第二个假设。在智力上，这个项目推进了我们对人类历史上“现代”欧洲文化从新石器时代根源出现的关键时期的生存策略、流动性和社会组织的理论理解。大匈牙利平原上的新石器时代和铜器时代的部落被认为已经从定居的、有核的、社会整合的农业转变为分散的、流动的、互动的农牧业。这种转变是整合和互动的周期性模式或“部落循环”的一个插曲，从新石器时代早期部落社会向平原的迁移开始，到青铜时代等级社会的出现结束。在这一转变过程中，流动性和生存变化的建议分析是重要的，因为它将检查和评估这些整合和相互作用的周期，并评估一些已经提出的解释这些变化的生态、经济和社会政治模型。更广泛地说，这项研究促进了跨学科和国际合作，有助于人类学研究的整体性和综合性。这是匈牙利和美国几所大学和博物馆的人类学家、生物学家、动物学家、地质学家、化学家和地理学家之间跨学科、协作和协同的努力。这个项目产生的同位素值数据库将通过一个网站提供给科学界，通过同行评议的期刊及时出版，在美国和匈牙利编辑成册，并在美国考古学会、美国体质人类学协会、欧洲考古学家协会的会议上以及在匈牙利的大学、博物馆和考古遗址上发表报告。这些活动将吸引公众参与当地的研究项目，也将为人类学本科学生提供机会，接受用于分析考古样本的生物地球化学技术的培训。

Under the supervision of Dr. Richard Yerkes, Julia Giblin will analyze stable isotopes in skeletal material from prehistoric populations in Central Europe to examine proposed changes in subsistence and mobility from the Neolithic to the Copper Age. The Neolithic and Copper Age were pivotal periods in European prehistory when agricultural groups dispersed and abandoned the large villages and tells that they had inhabited for centuries and established new lifeways. From the Late Neolithic to the Early Copper Age on the Great Hungarian Plain (4,500 cal. BC) a transformation in social organization, subsistence strategy and mobility has been inferred from the archaeological record. This transition is characterized by material changes in settlements, subsistence, cultural assemblages, mortuary customs, and trade networks. Geochemical applications in anthropology, such as stable isotope analysis, provide new ways to directly and independently test patterns of prehistoric human behavior detected in the archaeological record. The proposed research will test two specific hypotheses: (1) mobility increased from the Neolithic to the Copper Age, and (2) diet became more focused on domesticated plants and animals. Stable strontium isotope ratios (87Sr/86Sr) in human and animal dental enamel will be used to test the first hypothesis, and the abundance of stable carbon (ä13C) and nitrogen (ä15N) isotopes in human and animal bone will be used to test the second.Intellectually, this project advances our theoretical understanding of subsistence strategy, mobility and social organization during a critical period in human history when "modern" European culture emerged from its Neolithic roots. Neolithic and Copper Age tribes on the Great Hungarian Plain are thought to have shifted from sedentary, nucleated, and socially integrated farming to dispersed, mobile, and interactive agropastoralism. This transition was one episode in a cyclical pattern of integration and interaction or "tribal cycling" that began with the migration of Early Neolithic tribal societies onto the Plain and ended with the emergence of ranked societies during the Bronze Age. The proposed analysis of changes in mobility and subsistence during this transition is significant because it will examine and evaluate these cycles of integration and interaction and evaluate some of the ecological, economic, and sociopolitical models that have been proposed to explain the changes.More broadly, this research promotes interdisciplinary and international collaborations that contribute to the holistic and integrative nature of anthropological research. It is an interdisciplinary, collaborative and synergistic endeavor between anthropologists, biologists, zoologists, geologists, chemists, and geographers at several universities and museums in Hungary and the USA. The database of isotope values generated from this project will be made available to the scientific community via a website, timely publication through peer-reviewed journals, edited volumes in the USA and Hungary, and presentations at meetings of the Society for American Archaeology, the American Association of Physical Anthropology, the European Association of Archaeologists and at Hungarian universities, museums and archaeological sites. These activities will engage the public in local research projects and will also provide opportunities for undergraduate anthropology students to get training in biogeochemical techniques used for analyzing archaeological samples.