Investigating The Relationship Between Environment And Social Organization In A Borderland Community

芝加哥大学的艾丽斯·姚博士将与中国的同事一起进行研究，研究帝国扩张对边疆社会的政治经济和当地环境的影响。以前关于帝国的学术侧重于通过建立对中央国家的地方附属地来整合和管理边境地区的种族差异。特别是加强农业生产和区域间贸易网络，被认为是各帝国建立和发展边境地区的关键战略，提供经济激励，吸引和吸纳被征服的人民。考古学将重点放在个别民族、现有的经济制度和生态系统上，这些生态系统定义了帝国项目和发展的条件和限制，因此考古学处于有利的地位，可以开辟新的天地。为什么帝国项目的实施在某些边疆获得了吸引力，但在其他边疆却煽动了叛乱？虽然“帝国”一词很少用来指目前的政治实体，但其基本概念仍然与理解美国今天所面临的现象有关。在非洲等存在多个族裔群体的地区，其分布往往与公认国家的边界不符，“边界”和“边界”问题具有重大意义。姚和她的研究团队将研究国家农业项目、基础设施和技术是如何部署在地面上的，以及当地参与者和决定它们的采用、可行性和控制的情况。这项研究将在中国西南部的滇池盆地进行，这是一个地理上遥远但重要的边境地区，是中国在汉朝建立第一个帝国的过程中。在中国政府和东南亚大陆之间的十字路口，该地区开辟了对帝国经济扩张至关重要的通讯渠道和原材料资源。这位研究人员将带领一个由考古学家、湖泊学家和环境学家组成的团队，阐明该地区从征服前到帝国时期不断变化的文化、生态和土地利用历史。结合对古代聚落的挖掘和湖心的提取，古代占领和环境记录的收集将使人们能够严格评估这一过渡时期土地利用、交换、生产和消费模式的变化。因此，这个跨学科的数据集将考察边疆和帝国的关系，因为它们是在复杂的生态和环境因素的背景下演变的。该小组将为研究边境关系创造新的比较方法，同时该项目的合作重点还将为学生创造和增加教育和培训机会。

Dr. Alice Yao, of the University of Chicago, along with colleagues in China, will undertake research to study the impact of imperial expansion on the political economy and local environment of borderland societies. Previous scholarship on empires has focused on the integration and management of ethnic differences in the border zone through the creation of local dependencies on the central state. Enhanced agricultural production and interregional trade networks, in particular, are considered key strategies through which empires build and develop frontier zones, providing economic incentives that draw and incorporate conquered peoples. Archaeology is well placed to break new ground by focusing instead on individual nationalities, existing economic systems, and ecologies which defined the conditions and limits of imperial projects and development. Why does the implementation of imperial projects gain traction in certain frontiers but incite revolts in others? Although the term "empire" is rarely used in reference to current political entities, the underlying concept is still relevant to understanding the phenomena which confront the United States today. In regions such as Africa where multiple ethnic groups are present and their distribution often does not correspond to the borders of recognized nations, the issue of "borderlands" and and boundaries if of significance.Dr. Yao and her research team will examine how state agricultural projects, infrastructures, and technologies were deployed on the ground and of the local actors and decisions which shaped their adoption, feasibility, and control. The research will be conducted in the Lake Dian basin of southwest China, a geographically distant but important border area in the formation of China's first empire under the Han State. At the crossroads between Chinese state and mainland Southeast Asia, the region opened up communication routes and raw resources crucial to the expansion of an imperial economy. The researcher will lead a team of archaeologists, limnologists, and environmental scientists to illuminate the region's changing cultural, ecological and land use history from the pre-conquest to imperial period. Combining excavations at ancient settlements with the extraction of lake cores, the collection of ancient occupation and environmental records will permit rigorous evaluation of changes in patterns of land use, exchange, production, and consumption over this transitional period. This interdisciplinary dataset will thus examine frontier and imperial relations as they evolved in the context of complex ecological and environment factors. The team will generate new comparative methods for the study of frontier relations while the collaborative focus of the project will also create and enhance educational and training opportunities for students.