Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Ubaid Agriculture at Kenan Tepe, Southeastern Turkey

在Alexia Smith博士的监督下，Philip Graham将分析来自Kenan Tepe遗址的Ubaid时期考古植物学遗迹，以更好地了解该遗址的农业系统及其与社会变革的关系。乌拜德时期是一个社会转型的时期，在小农业村庄出现之后，在第一个大的领土国家出现之前。这种发展始于美索不达米亚南部，即今天的伊拉克，并逐渐向北蔓延。凯南山位于土耳其东南部底格里斯河附近，在北方美索不达米亚的范围内。人们普遍认为，当时明显的社会变化是由强化农业促进的，乌拜德文化的传播通过增加农产品的私有化改变了现有的社会结构。这一假设从未用植物数据进行过检验。古植物学是研究古代植物用途的学科，是研究农业实践和检验这一思想的理想工具。在乌拜德时期的后期（公元前4650年），凯南山被居住在家庭单位中的个人所占据，乌拜德文化的元素，如陶器，建筑风格和其他文物已经被采用。丘上的一座乌拜德家庭建筑在一场灾难性的火灾中烧毁。这一焚烧导致大量植物遗骸保存在原来的位置，提供了一个独特的机会，以调查乌拜德时期的农业系统如何运作，以及该系统如何在家庭层面上表达。Kenan Tepe的挖掘者特别注意收集微遗骸，特别是烧焦的植物，这项研究将检查300多个样本。格雷厄姆先生的研究将家庭考古学和考古植物学相结合，通过研究家庭之间考古植物组合的差异来调查农产品的私有化程度和社会分层。将确定活动区域或发生特定活动的离散地点，并将其与农业实践和植物使用相关联。通过绘制考古植物组合的空间差异，可以评估家庭和定居点周围植物的运动。该项目将在考古植物学和乌拜德考古学之外产生更广泛的影响。该项目的一个目标是教育公众了解农业经济与社会变革之间的重要关系。这将通过在土耳其和美国展示这项研究的结果来实现。结果的副本将发送给在土耳其工作的考古学家，以便他们可以自由和公开地获取数据。在美国，公共外联工作包括与康涅狄格考古中心和马萨诸塞州罗宾斯考古博物馆这两个当地博物馆合作，举办一系列免费公开讲座。与此同时，将继续通过在相关期刊上发表文章，向科学界传播该项目的成果。最后，菲利普·格雷厄姆将获得考古植物学方法和数据分析以及生态调查方面的宝贵培训。

Under the supervision of Dr. Alexia Smith, Philip Graham will analyze Ubaid period archaeobotanical remains from the site of Kenan Tepe in order to better understand the agricultural system at the site and its relationship to social change. The Ubaid period was a time of social transformation that followed the emergence of small agricultural villages and preceded the first large territorial states. This development began in Southern Mesopotamia in modern day Iraq, and gradually spread north. Kenan Tepe is located near the Tigris River in Southeastern Turkey within the sphere of Northern Mesopotamia. It has generally been assumed that the social changes evident at this time were facilitated by intensified agriculture and that the spread of Ubaid culture modified existing social structures through increased privatization of agricultural produce. This hypothesis has never been tested with plant data. Archaeobotany, the study of plant use in antiquity, is an ideal tool for investigation agricultural practices and examining this idea. During the latter part of the Ubaid period (4650 BC) Kenan Tepe was occupied by individuals living in household units and elements of the Ubaid culture, such as the pottery, architectural style, and other artifacts had been adopted. One of the Ubaid household structures on the mound burned in antiquity in a catastrophic fire. This burning led to the preservation of large amounts of botanical remains in their original locations, providing a unique opportunity to investigate how the agricultural system of the Ubaid period functioned and how that system was expressed on the household level. The excavators at Kenan Tepe paid special attention to the collection of micro remains, especially charred botanicals, and over 300 samples will be examined in this study. Mr. Graham's research integrates household archaeology and archaeobotany to investigate the level of privatization of agricultural produce and social stratification by examining the differences in the archaeobotanical assemblages between households. Activity areas, or discrete locations where a specific activity occurred, will be identified and associated with agricultural practice and plant use. By mapping spatial differences in archaeobotanical assemblages across the site, the movements of plants around the household and the settlement can be assessed. This project will have broader impacts outside of archaeobotany and the archaeology of the Ubaid. One goal of this project is to educate the public about the important relationships between the agricultural economy and social change. This will be accomplished by presenting the results of this study in both Turkey and the United States. Copies of the results will be sent to archaeologists working in Turkey so that they will have free and open access to the data. In the United States, public outreach efforts include partnering with two local museums, the Connecticut Archaeology Center and the Robbins Museum of Archaeology in Massachusetts to give a series of free public lectures. At the same time, publication in referred journals will continue to disseminate the project's results to the scientific community. Finally, Philip Graham will gain valuable training in archaeobotanical methods and data analysis and ecological survey.