Modeling Late Prehistoric Pastoral Adaptations and Interregional Interaction in Northern Mongolia

在Bryan Hanks博士的指导下，Julia K. Clark将调查蒙古北部Darkhad洼地的牧民适应、区域间互动和定居模式。这样做是为了阐明这一领域在史前晚期促进更广泛的社会、政治和经济变革的方式。结合调查和挖掘以及民族考古访谈，该项目将产生经验数据，以解决以下目标：1)当前和史前晚期/早期历史土地利用实践之间的相关性，2)史前仪式纪念碑与人类活动区域之间的相关性，3)区域间的相互作用，4)生存实践的性质及其随时间的变化，5)与大规模政治组织（匈奴）相关的居住地点、组织和/或强度的历时性变化。人们提出了许多模型来解释从农业经济向农牧业或全牧业经济的转变。然而，在现有的狩猎、采集和/或渔业经济中纳入或采用牧民战略的解释模式要少得多。长期以来，蒙古的考古学家一直依靠仪式纪念碑来解释史前的行为。在早期历史时期，中国古代的仪式纪念物和书面文件提供了这一时期的大量信息。直到最近，一些考古学家才把注意力转向蒙古中部的居住遗址。最近在达克哈德洼地的考古研究调查了仪式景观，并得出结论，该地区的纪念碑虽然不是特别大，但却是蒙古已知的最古老的。如果像许多人所说的那样，这些遗迹是由新的游牧经济和等级制社会组织所支撑的，那么这可能是了解蒙古畜牧业传入的一个重要地区。这项研究的智力价值是双重的。首先，本研究旨在利用蒙古境内外的比较案例研究，以模拟早期牧民适应、早期社会复杂性和历时性区域人口变化。其次，该项目将讨论更多的区域具体问题，例如在长期支持狩猎-采集-渔业经济的地区采用畜牧业的影响，以及匈奴帝国在周边地区的出现。更广泛的影响包括：与国际同事的长期合作关系的运作，为考古学学生（蒙古，美国和外国）提供培训机会，以及在期刊和卷中传播结果。

Under the supervision of Dr. Bryan Hanks, Julia K. Clark will investigate pastoral adaptations, inter-regional interaction and settlement patterns diachronically in northern Mongolia's Darkhad Depression. This will be done to elucidate the ways in which this area contributed to broader social, political and economic change in the late prehistoric period. Using a combination of survey and excavation as well as ethnoarchaeological interviews the project will generate empirical data to address the following objectives: 1) correlation between current and late prehistoric/early historic land use practices, 2) correlations between prehistoric ritual monuments and areas of human activity, 3) inter-regional interaction, 4) nature of subsistence practices and their change over time, 5) diachronic shifts in habitation location, organization and/or intensity associated with large scale political formations (Xiongnu). Numerous models have been proposed to explain the transition from an agricultural economy to an agro-pastoral or fully pastoral economy. However, there are far fewer explanatory models for the incorporation or adoption of pastoral strategies into existing hunting, gathering and/or fishing economies. Archaeologists in Mongolia have long relied upon ritual monuments to inform their interpretations of prehistoric behavior. In the early historic period, ritual monuments and written documents from ancient China have supplied the bulk of the information on this period. Only recently have some archaeologists turned their attention toward habitation sites in central Mongolia. Recent archaeological research in the Darkhad Depression has investigated the ritual landscape, and has concluded that the monuments in this region, while not particularly large, are the oldest of their kind known in Mongolia. If these monuments were underwritten by a new pastoral economy and hierarchical social organization, as many have suggested, this could be an important region in understanding the introduction of pastoralism into Mongolia. The intellectual merit of this research is twofold. First, this research aims to use comparative case studies both within and beyond Mongolia in order to model early pastoralist adaptations, early social complexity, and diachronic regional demographic shifts. Secondly, this project will speak to more regionally specific issues such as the impact of both the adoption of pastoralism in regions that had long supported hunter-gatherer-fisher economies as well as the emergence of the Xiongnu Empire upon peripheral regions. Broader impacts include: the operation of long-term, collaborative ties with international colleagues, training opportunities for archaeology students (Mongolian, American and foreign), and the dissemination of the results in journals and volumes.