Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Subsistence and Specialization in the Inland Niger Delta, Mali

博士论文改进补助金：马里内陆尼日尔三角洲的生存和专业化

• 批准号: 1102711
• 负责人: Fiona Marshall
• 金额: $ 1.56万
• 依托单位: Washington University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-02-01 至 2013-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1102711&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Improvement; Grant; Subsistence

Under the direction of Dr. Fiona Marshall, Ms Abigail Smith will collect data for her doctoral dissertation. She will investigate the interrelationship between mobile pastoral groups and urban populations in the past, focusing on the site of Jenné-jeno and its surrounding landscape. Jenné-jeno, occupied ca. 250 BCE to CE 1400, is one of Africa's earliest known urban centers. Its location in the extremely fertile floodplains of the Inland Niger Delta, Mali, allowed the site to grow rapidly and enabled occupants to forge trade links with regional populations, eventually becoming a vital cog in the emerging trans-Saharan trade.Pastoral populations have a long history in Africa and continue to be an important part of modern African society. Very little, however, is known about the relationships between pastoral peoples and their sedentary neighbors in the past. In West Africa, pastoral trajectories are particularly unclear. With this dearth of information in mind, this project uses excavation, faunal, archaeobotanical, geoarchaeological, and isotopic analysis to identify the presence of mobile pastoral herds in the area around Jenné-jeno. The study places these herds in broader context by investigating the nature of subsistence at the sites throughout the long period of occupation. A major question is whether domestic herds were moved seasonally out of the delta by mobile pastoralists, as they are today, or kept year-round by a sedentary urban population. This project is the first large-scale excavation of smaller sites in the Jenné-jeno area and will provide important information about local variability and the scale of occupation through time. As the first excavation in the area focusing on subsistence and specialization, this project will provide empirical data about the trajectories of West African pastoralism and agriculture. The information will enable discussion of the role of pastoral populations in the Jenné-jeno urban system, which will increase understanding of Jenné-jeno's intergroup interactions and political organization. Given the unique trajectories of African food production when compared to other world areas, this project could also be an important contribution to our understanding of variability in global pastoral strategies and mobile-sedentary interactions. Along with studies in other world areas this information will help to move theoretical models of mobile-sedentary interactions beyond Near Eastern configurations that too often are misapplied to other world areas.By working with several local students and Malian archaeologists, this project will forge connections between US and Malian scholars and enable the dissemination of specialized archaeological skills and methods. Furthermore, archaeological investigations that engage the local populace are a critical means of preserving Mali's archaeological heritage. Looting of archaeological sites for glass beads, terra cotta figurines, and ceramics is a major obstacle to Mali's efforts to understand and preserve its cultural patrimony. Combined efforts by local and international archaeologists, Mali's Ministry of Culture, and the Malian people are making great strides, but continued support by international scholars is vital in this endeavor. Even small projects like this one that hire local workers, engage local students, and endeavor to make information from the research available to and interesting for a nonacademic public can have a significant impact. Finally, by focusing on subsistence and interactions, this project will be of potential use to development projects working with Mali's vast agricultural population. People have thrived in the semi-arid environment of the Sahel for millennia, and the archaeological record has the potential to show how strategies and interactions shifted in the face of various climatic, epidemiological, cultural, and political changes, providing instructive information for the modern era.

在 Fiona Marshall 博士的指导下，Abigail Smith 女士将为她的博士论文收集数据。她将调查过去流动牧民群体与城市人口之间的相互关系，重点关注 Jenné-jeno 遗址及其周边景观。 Jenné-jeno，被占领约。公元前 250 年至公元 1400 年，是非洲已知最早的城市中心之一。它位于马里内陆尼日尔三角洲极其肥沃的洪泛区，使得该地区能够迅速发展，并使居住者能够与该地区人口建立贸易联系，最终成为新兴的跨撒哈拉贸易的重要组成部分。游牧人口在非洲有着悠久的历史，并且仍然是现代非洲社会的重要组成部分。然而，人们对过去游牧民族与其定居邻居之间的关系知之甚少。在西非，牧区的发展轨迹尤其不明确。考虑到信息的缺乏，该项目利用发掘、动物学、考古植物学、地质考古学和同位素分析来确定 Jenné-jeno 周围地区是否存在流动牧群。该研究通过调查长期占领期间这些地点的生存性质，将这些牛群放在更广泛的背景下。一个主要问题是，家畜群是像今天这样被流动的牧民季节性地迁出三角洲，还是由久坐的城市人口全年饲养。该项目是 Jenné-jeno 地区小型遗址的首次大规模发掘，将提供有关当地随时间变化和占领规模的重要信息。作为该地区首次以自给自足和专业化为重点的发掘项目，该项目将提供有关西非畜牧业和农业发展轨迹的实证数据。这些信息将使人们能够讨论牧民在 Jenné-jeno 城市系统中的作用，这将增加对 Jenné-jeno 群体间互动和政治组织的了解。与世界其他地区相比，考虑到非洲粮食生产的独特轨迹，该项目也可能对我们理解全球牧区战略和流动与固定互动的可变性做出重要贡献。与世界其他地区的研究一起，这些信息将有助于将移动-静止相互作用的理论模型推向近东配置之外，而这些模型经常被误用到其他世界地区。通过与几名当地学生和马里考古学家合作，该项目将在美国和马里学者之间建立联系，并促进专业考古技能和方法的传播。此外，让当地民众参与的考古调查是保护马里考古遗产的重要手段。对考古遗址的玻璃珠、兵马俑和陶瓷的掠夺是马里了解和保护其文化遗产的主要障碍。当地和国际考古学家、马里文化部和马里人民的共同努力正在取得巨大进步，但国际学者的持续支持对于这一努力至关重要。即使是像这样的小型项目，雇用当地工人，吸引当地学生，并努力让非学术界公众能够获得研究信息并引起他们的兴趣，也可以产生重大影响。最后，通过关注生存和互动，该项目将有可能用于与马里广大农业人口合作的开发项目。数千年来，人们在萨赫勒地区的半干旱环境中繁衍生息，考古记录有可能展示策略和互动在面对各种气候、流行病学、文化和政治变化时如何变化，为现代提供指导性信息。