Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Specialized Pastoralism and Social Stratification: Analysis of the Fauna from Chalcolithic Tel Tsaf, Israel

在娜塔莉·d·芒罗博士的指导下，奥斯汀·c·希尔将研究黎凡特南部铜石器时代社会复杂性的出现。该地区的铜器时代是新石器时代平等主义、以村庄为基础的农业社会制度与早期青铜时代等级森严、社会分层的城市社会制度之间的关键过渡时期。然而，迄今为止，很少有研究审查了可能引发社会组织这种根本转变的生存策略的变化。黎凡特铜石器时代的社会变化将通过在以色列Tel Tsaf的中铜石器时代遗址的一系列动物考古证据来确定。本研究将通过检查粮食生产和管理系统的变化来解决黎凡特地区社会等级和分化发展的时机问题。尽管许多人认为在黎凡特铜石器时代存在或不存在新兴的酋长级别的政治制度，但相对而言，很少有人试图记录特定地点内社会分化的程度。同样，对于次要动物产品，如乳制品、羊毛和劳动力，在铜器时代的经济中发挥了多大作用，迄今为止还没有研究得出结论性的答案。最后，尽管宴会在创造和维持社会类别方面所起的作用得到了广泛的认同，但过去很少有研究充分确定宴会在特定地点的存在和功能。社会复杂性的问题将使用三个独立的动物考古学证据线进行调查。首先，将确定畜群生产策略，以调查生产集中化程度和二级产品专业化的存在。其次，动物群的空间格局将被记录在建筑特征和公共空间中，以表征社会分层的程度。最后，对个体环境下的动物群进行分析，以确定该遗址的仪式和宴会行为。在复杂的社会中，宴会是一种关键的社会机制，经常被用来创造和维护个人声望和群体政治界限。该研究的影响包括对人类学考古学领域的贡献，包括整合跨学科技术，推进对复杂社会发展的理解，以及促进国际合作。研究的空间分析部分利用地理信息系统（GIS）数据收集和分析技术，这些技术主要是在地理领域发展起来的，直到十年前很少在考古学中使用。这项研究是考古学中高分辨率遗址级空间分析的缓慢增长趋势的一部分。对Tel Tsaf动物的分析已经并将继续为动物骨骼鉴定的学生培训提供宝贵的机会。有足够经验的本科生志愿者将有机会获得在康涅狄格大学动物考古实验室帮助标本鉴定的经验。

Under the supervision of Dr. Natalie D. Munro, Austin C. Hill will study the emergence of social complexity during the Chalcolithic period in the southern Levant. The Chalcolithic period in this area is a key transitional period between the egalitarian, village-based agricultural social systems of the Neolithic and the hierarchical, socially-stratified urban social systems of the Early Bronze Age. To date, however, few studies have examined the changes in subsistence strategies that may have triggered this fundamental shift in social organization. Social change in the Levantine Chalcolithic will be identified using a number of lines of zooarchaeological evidence for food production and consumption at the Middle Chalcolithic site of Tel Tsaf, Israel. This research will address the timing of the development of social ranking and differentiation in the Levant by examining changes in food production and management systems. Although many have argued for the presence or absence of emergent chiefdom level political systems in the Levantine Chalcolithic, there have been relatively few attempts to document the degree of social differentiation within specific sites. Similarly, no research to date has yielded conclusive answers to the question of the degree to which secondary animal products, such as dairy, wool, and labour, played a role in Chalcolithic economies. Finally, although the role that feasting can play in creating and maintaining social categories is widely agreed upon, few studies have adequately identified the presence and function of feasts at specific sites in the past. Issues of social complexity will be investigated using three independent lines of zooarchaeological evidence. First, herd production strategies will be identified to investigate the degree of centralization of production and the presence of secondary products specialization. Second, the spatial patterning of fauna will be documented across architectural features and public spaces to characterize the degree of social stratification. Finally, analysis of the fauna from individual contexts will be used to identify ritual and feasting behavior at the site. Feasting is a key social mechanism in complex societies that is often used to create and maintain individual prestige and group political boundaries. Impacts of the research include contributions to the field of anthropological archaeology by incorporating cross-disciplinary techniques, advancing understanding of the development of complex societies, and generating international collaboration. The spatial analysis portion of the study utilizes Geographic Information Systems (GIS) data collection and analysis techniques that were developed primarily in the field of geography and until a decade ago were rarely utilized in archaeology. This research is part of a slowly growing trend toward high-resolution site level spatial analyses in archaeology. The analysis of the fauna from Tel Tsaf has already and will continue to provide valuable opportunities for student training in animal bone identification. Undergraduate volunteers with sufficient experience will have the opportunity to gain experience by helping with specimen identification in the zooarchaeology laboratory at the University of Connecticut.