Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: The role of Kin Relations and Residential Mobility in Attica

本论文项目的基本目标是深入了解家庭关系和广泛的地区互动在复杂社会的发展中所起的作用，这一过程最终导致在当今世界许多地区存在并行使政治权力的实体。考古学提供了一个有价值的方法来研究这个问题，因为它可以研究这种情况第一次发生的实际情况。在简·别克斯特拉博士的指导下，Eleanna Prevedorou将探讨生物亲属关系和婚后居住在爱琴海南部(希腊)早期青铜时代(EBA)Attica形成中的作用。她将重点介绍位于马拉松的特塞皮墓地，该墓地可以追溯到公元前三千年初。特塞皮是希腊大陆上最早的正式组织形式，其特点是坟墓建造、朝向和空间分配都是一致的。此外，塞皮岛对文物和墓葬风格的强烈影响也引发了关于EBA沿海大陆-岛屿相互作用的问题。这项研究综合了骨学、生物地球化学、时态(放射性碳)和考古学数据。遗传的牙齿尺寸以及可遗传的牙齿和颅骨形态特征将被用来检查每个坟墓内的生物亲缘关系(例如，公共坟墓是否代表家庭)，以及婚后居住做法(例如，外婚与内婚、母系与父系)。将对考古人类牙齿进行化学分析，以调查埋葬在墓地中的个人的地理来源。生物地球化学是考古科学中一个新兴的领域，它使用通过饮食进入骨骼中的锶来检测个人居住史的变化。因此，它成为重建史前人类流动和迁徙的强大和宝贵的工具。鉴于锶的分析是以潜在的地质变化为基础的，通过适当的基线样品来确定“局部”与“非局部”范围是一个具有挑战性的方面。在这里，为了能够检测不同地区之间的流动性，将分析现代动物(野兔)、植物(可食用野菜)、蜗牛和土壤样本。锶分析还将用于通过确定不同营养水平之间的差异来重建史前饮食。该项目将生成一个广泛而详细的同位素特征数据库，可用于未来的研究，并将作为其他生态系统的模型。系统地使用合法的现代游戏(从食物垃圾中)是创新的，在古游动性研究中可以有很大的价值。因此，这一努力将推动生物地球化学在考古民居流动性鉴定中的应用。此外，在区域范围内，该项目将通过回答坟墓用途、墓地结构、世袭制度、配偶交换、婚姻习俗以及通过居住搬迁建立社会网络等问题，为关于亲属关系和流动性质的长期考古辩论作出贡献。在更广泛的范围内，这项研究将通过提供5000年的时间深度，增加对亲属关系和婚姻习俗的人类学调查，作为融合、适应或分化的机制。该奖项将通过为考生提供更多的生物考古学专业经验来帮助研究生培训。它将在亚利桑那州立大学(ASU)培训四名生物地球化学分析本科生，同时通过对这种罕见的考古骨骼组合的策划和研究，为希腊的长期保护目标服务。结果和数据集的公开传播将包括其全面出版和提供数字网页。除了美国考古研究所等国际专业会议外，研究成果还将在雅典美国古典研究学院(ASCSA)和雅典大学公布，以告知在希腊生活和工作的学者。最后，该项目促进了亚利桑那州立大学、ASCSA、爱琴海史前历史研究所、马拉松考古博物馆和希腊文化部之间的合作，从而加强了美国和希腊学术机构之间的联系。

The underlying goal of this dissertation project is to gain insight into the role which family relationships and broad regional interactions play in the development of complex societies, a process which culminates in entities which exist and exert political power in many regions of the world today. Archaeology provides a valuable means to examine this question since it can examine actual instances in which this first occurred.Under the guidance of Dr. Jane Buikstra, Eleanna Prevedorou will address the role of biological kinship and post-marital residence in the formation of Early Bronze Age (EBA) Attica, in the southern Aegean (Greece). She will focus on the cemetery of Tsepi, located in Marathon, that dates to the early third millennium BC. Tsepi constitutes the earliest example of formal organization on the Greek mainland, characterized by uniformity in grave construction, orientation, and space allocation. Moreover, the strong Cycladic influences on artifact and grave styles at Tsepi have raised questions about EBA coastal mainland-island interaction.This research integrates osteological, biogeochemical, temporal (radiocarbon), and archaeological data. Inherited dental dimensions, as well as heritable dental and cranial morphological features will be used to examine biological affinities within each grave (e.g., whether or not the communal graves represent families), and post-marital residence practices (e.g., exogamy vs. endogamy, matrilocality vs. patrilocality). Chemical analysis on archaeological human teeth will be conducted to investigate the geographic origins of the individuals buried in the cemetery. Biogeochemistry, a new and developing field in archaeological science, uses strontium that is incorporated into the skeleton through diet to detect changes in the residential history of individuals. Thus, it becomes a powerful and invaluable tool in reconstructing prehistoric human mobility and migration. Given that strontium analysis is based on the underlying geological variation, the characterization of "local" vs. "non-local" ranges through appropriate baseline samples is a challenging aspect. Here, to be able to detect mobility between different regions, modern animal (wild hare), plants (edible wild greens), snails, and soil samples will be analyzed. Strontium analysis will also be used to reconstruct prehistoric diet by establishing differences between different trophic levels.This project will generate an extensive and detailed database of isotopic signatures that can be used in future studies and will serve as a model for other ecosystems. The systematic use of legal modern game (from food waste) is innovative and can be of great value in paleomobility research. Hence, this endeavor will advance the application of biogeochemistry for the identification of archaeological residential mobility. Furthermore, on a regional scale this project will contribute to the long-lasting archaeological debates on the nature of kinship and mobility by answering questions on grave use, cemetery structure, descent systems, mate exchange, marriage practices, and social networks through residential relocation. On a broader scale, this study will add to the anthropological investigation of kinship and marriage practices as mechanisms of integration, adaptation, or differentiation by offering a time depth of 5,000 years. This award will assist in graduate student training by providing the candidate with additional professional experience in bioarchaeology. It will train four undergraduate students in biogeochemical analysis at Arizona State University (ASU), while also serving long-term preservation goals in Greece through the curation and study of this rare archaeological skeletal assemblage. Public dissemination of the results and datasets will include their full publication and availability digital webpages. In addition to international professional conferences such as the Archaeological Institute of America, the results will be presented at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens (ASCSA) and the University of Athens to inform scholars who live and work in Greece. Finally, this project fosters the collaboration between Arizona State University, ASCSA, the Institute for Aegean Prehistory, the Archaeological Museum of Marathon, and the Hellenic Ministry of Culture, and thus it strengthens ties between US and Greek academic institutions.