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

在Natalie D博士的指导下，奥斯汀·芒罗希尔将研究在南部黎凡特的铜器时代的社会复杂性的出现。该地区的铜器时代是新石器时代平等主义的、以村庄为基础的农业社会制度与青铜时代早期等级森严的、社会分层的城市社会制度之间的一个关键过渡时期。 然而，迄今为止，很少有研究探讨了可能引发社会组织这一根本性转变的生存战略的变化。在黎凡特铜器时代的社会变化将被确定使用的食物生产和消费在中铜器时代的Tel Tsaf，以色列网站的动物考古学证据的数量。这项研究将通过研究食品生产和管理系统的变化来解决黎凡特社会等级和分化发展的时间问题。虽然许多人认为在黎凡特铜器时代存在或不存在新兴的酋长等级的政治制度，有相对较少的尝试，以记录特定网站内的社会分化程度。同样，迄今为止，还没有任何研究得出结论性的答案，来回答次级动物产品（如奶制品、羊毛和劳动力）在铜器时代经济中发挥的作用。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。首先，将确定畜群生产策略，以调查生产集中化程度和次级产品专业化的存在。第二，动物群的空间模式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，从个别情况下的动物群的分析将被用来确定仪式和宴会的行为在网站上。宴会是复杂社会中的一种重要社会机制，通常用于创造和维持个人声望和群体政治边界。该研究的影响包括通过融合跨学科技术，促进对复杂社会发展的理解，并产生国际合作，对人类学考古学领域做出贡献。该研究的空间分析部分利用了地理信息系统（GIS）数据收集和分析技术，这些技术主要是在地理学领域开发的，直到十年前还很少用于考古学。这项研究是一个缓慢增长的趋势，在考古学的高分辨率网站水平的空间分析的一部分。Tel Tsaf动物群的分析已经并将继续为学生提供动物骨骼鉴定培训的宝贵机会。有足够经验的本科志愿者将有机会通过在康涅狄格大学动物考古实验室帮助标本鉴定来获得经验。

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.