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Richard Yerkes博士的监督下，Julia Giblin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的变化。新石器时代和铜器时代是欧洲史前史的关键时期，当时农业群体分散并放弃了大村庄，并告诉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器时代早期，匈牙利大平原（公元前4,500年）的社会组织、生存策略和流动性都发生了变化，这是从考古记录中推断出来的。这种转变的特点是定居点、生计、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，提供了直接和独立测试考古记录中发现的史前人类行为模式的新方法。这项拟议中的研究将测试两个具体的假设：（1）从新石器时代到铜器时代，流动性增加，（2）饮食变得更加专注于驯化的植物和动物。稳定锶同位素比值（87 Sr/86 Sr）来验证第一个假设，而稳定碳（~（13）C）和氮（~（15）N）同位素在人类和动物骨骼中的丰度来验证第二个假设。在智力上，该项目推进了我们对生存策略的理论理解，流动性和社会组织在人类历史的关键时期，当“现代”欧洲文化出现从其新石器时代的根源。 匈牙利大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、有核的和社会一体化的农业转变为分散的、移动的和互动的农牧业。 这一转变是一个整合和互动的周期性模式或"部落循环"的一个插曲，该模式始于新石器时代早期部落社会向平原的迁移，并以青铜时代等级社会的出现而结束。在这一转变过程中，流动性和生存的变化的分析是重要的，因为它将检查和评估这些整合和互动的周期，并评估一些生态，经济和社会政治模型，已被提出来解释的变化。更广泛地说，这项研究促进跨学科和国际合作，有助于人类学研究的整体性和综合性。这是人类学家，生物学家，动物学家，地质学家，化学家和地理学家在匈牙利和美国的几所大学和博物馆之间的跨学科，协作和协同努力。该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，通过同行评审的期刊及时出版，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介绍。这些活动将使公众参与当地的研究项目，并为人类学本科生提供机会，以获得用于分析考古样品的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.