Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant; Origins of Social Complexity in the Ancient Egyptian Civilization Ceramic Analysis of the Late and Final Neolithic Site of E-00-1 at Nabta

博士论文改进补助金；

• 批准号: 1005713
• 负责人: Grant McCall
• 金额: $ 1.49万
• 依托单位: Tulane University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-03-15 至 2013-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1005713&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Improvement; Grant; Origins

Under the supervision of Dr. Katherine "Kit" Nelson, Eman Khalifa will analyze data gathered during her archaeological excavations at the Eastern Saharan site of E-00-1 in the Nabta Playa region. Nabta Playa is located about 800 km to the south of the modern city of Cairo. During the Late/Final Neolithic, the region became a regional ceremonial center reflected in the presence of complex structures. Nabta Playa served as a contact point between the pastoralists of the Eastern Sahara in both Egypt and Sudan and the agriculturalists of the Nile Valley during the Late and Final Neolithic shortly before the rise of the ancient Egyptian civilization-state.Analysis of ceramic assemblages from the site of E-00-1 will be used to, document evidence of interaction and detail vessel function in this pastoral economy. Site E-00-1 is a multi-component site with robust Late (6200-5800 bp) and Final Neolithic (5400-4800 bp) occupations. Data collected from the site will be combined with data collected during previous excavations, carried out by the Combined Prehistoric Expedition, to form a larger data set of sufficient analytic size. Ms. Khalifa will use previous ceramic sequences as a marker to differentiate between other artifacts belonging to these two periods, which are usually grouped together due to insufficient data. She will also perform a detailed attribute-analysis on the ceramics of these two periods, which witnessed the first use of controlled firing. Comparisons between Nabta Playa and other predynastic centers in Egypt and the Sudan, will also be carried out with a goal of discovering interactions between these centers, trade, and social and political influences. Radiocarbon samples will be obtained to obtain a more controlled chronologyThe second focus of this proposed research is to study "black-topped pottery", which first appears at Nabta Playa during the Late Neolithic and became an important feature in multiple widespread ceramic assemblages. No previous residue analysis has been carried out to determine what these effort-intensive vessels actually contained. The researcher expects to find residues of milk and/or blood, liquids proven by ethnographic studies and archaeological evidence to be of great importance among pastoralists. The results of this analysis will help to determine if Nabta Playa functioned as a ceremonial center. They will also help develop a hypothesis explaining their wide spread. Additionally, this will facilitate comparison with other cradles of civilization, where similar studies have recently been carried on dairying.This research will also have a broader impact. Mr Khalifa will train the local archaeological inspector in field methods and computer-based statistical analysis. This field work will also enhance the professional training of the applicant, who will return to Egypt to teach archaeology to college students after earning her doctorate. Training programs in archaeology are limited in Egypt, and the addition of a US-trained anthropological archaeologist to a university in Cairo will benefit the next generation of Egyptian archaeologists.

在凯瑟琳“基特”纳尔逊博士的监督下，埃曼·哈利法将分析她在纳卜塔普拉亚地区东撒哈拉E-00-1遗址考古发掘期间收集的数据。Nabta Playa位于现代城市开罗以南约800公里处。在新石器时代晚期，该地区成为一个区域性的仪式中心，反映在复杂的结构的存在。Nabta Playa是埃及和苏丹东撒哈拉牧民与尼罗河流域农民之间的联系点，在新石器时代晚期和最后时期，古埃及文明国家崛起之前不久。E-00-1遗址的陶瓷组合分析将用于记录这种畜牧经济中相互作用的证据和详细的船只功能。位点E-00-1是一个多组分位点，具有强大的晚期（6200-5800 bp）和最终新石器时代（5400-4800 bp）的职业。从现场收集的数据将与联合史前探险队在以前的挖掘中收集的数据相结合，以形成一个具有足够分析规模的更大数据集。Khalifa女士将使用以前的陶瓷序列作为标记，以区分属于这两个时期的其他文物，由于数据不足，这些文物通常被归在一起。她还将对这两个时期的陶瓷进行详细的属性分析，这两个时期见证了控制烧制的首次使用。Nabta Playa与埃及和苏丹的其他前王朝中心之间的比较也将进行，目的是发现这些中心，贸易以及社会和政治影响之间的相互作用。将获得放射性碳样品，以获得一个更可控的年表本研究的第二个重点是研究“黑顶陶器”，它首先出现在Nabta Playa在新石器时代晚期，并成为一个重要的功能，在多个广泛的陶瓷组合。以前没有进行过残留物分析，以确定这些努力密集的容器实际上含有什么。研究人员希望找到牛奶和/或血液的残留物，民族志研究和考古证据证明，这些液体对牧民非常重要。这项分析的结果将有助于确定Nabta Playa是否作为仪式中心。他们还将帮助发展一种假说来解释它们的广泛传播。此外，这将有助于与其他文明发源地进行比较，最近在那里对乳制品进行了类似的研究，这项研究也将产生更广泛的影响。Khalifa先生将培训当地考古检查员实地方法和基于计算机的统计分析。这项实地工作还将加强申请人的专业培训，她将在获得博士学位后返回埃及向大学生教授考古学。埃及的考古学培训项目有限，开罗一所大学增加一名美国培训的人类学考古学家将使下一代埃及考古学家受益。