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区域互动在复杂社会发展中的作用，这一过程最终导致当今世界许多地区存在并行使政治权力的实体。考古学为研究这个问题提供了一种有价值的手段，因为它可以研究这种情况首次发生的实际情况。在Jane Buikstra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）早期青铜器时代（EBA） Attica形成过程中的作用。她将重点关注位于马拉松的赛皮墓地，其历史可以追溯到公元前三千年早期。Tsepi构成了希腊大陆上最早的正式组织的例子，其特点是在坟墓的建造、朝向和空间分配上都是统一的。此外，基克拉迪人对Tsepi遗址器物和墓葬风格的强烈影响也提出了EBA沿海大陆-岛屿相互作用的问题。这项研究整合了骨学、生物地球化学、时间（放射性碳）和考古数据。遗传的牙齿尺寸，以及遗传的牙齿和颅骨形态特征将用于检查每个坟墓内的生物亲和性（例如，公共坟墓是否代表家庭），以及婚后居住习惯（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，以调查墓地中埋葬的个体的地理来源。生物地球化学是考古科学中一个新兴的发展领域，它利用通过饮食融入骨骼的锶来检测个体居住历史的变化。因此，它成为重建史前人类流动和迁移的强大而宝贵的工具。鉴于锶分析是基于潜在的地质变化，“局部”vs的表征。“非本地”范围通过适当的基线样本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（可食用的野生蔬菜）、蜗牛和土壤样本。锶分析还将通过建立不同营养水平之间的差异来重建史前饮食。该项目将产生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（来自食物垃圾）是创新的，可以在古移动研究中具有很大的价值。因此，这一努力将推动生物地球化学在考古居住迁移鉴定中的应用。此外，在区域范围内，该项目将通过回答有关坟墓使用、墓地结构、血统系统、配偶交换、婚姻实践和通过住宅搬迁的社会网络等问题，为长期以来关于亲属关系和流动性性质的考古辩论做出贡献。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实践作为整合、适应或分化机制的人类学调查。该奖项将通过为候选人提供额外的生物考古学专业经验来协助研究生培训。它将在亚利桑那州立大学（ASU）培训四名本科生进行生物地球化学分析，同时通过管理和研究这一罕见的考古骨骼组合，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完整出版物和可用数字网页。除了美国考古研究所等国际专业会议外，研究结果还将在雅典的美国古典研究学院（ASCSA）和雅典大学发表，以通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.