Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Mobility, Cooperation And Emergent Political Complexity

考古学家提出的一个核心问题是关于导致当今几乎所有人类都生活在其中的复杂的大规模社会的过程。一种主要文明的根源在于近东，这项研究的目标是了解这一发展的早期阶段，这一发展与植物和动物的驯化密切相关。在伊丽莎白·卡特博士的指导下，汉娜·刘将利用考古背景(动物群落)中的动物骨骼数据来评估新石器时代晚期(约6100-5200卡)定居和流动的农民和牧民之间的合作和互动。土耳其Kahramanmara省的Domuztep遗址。刘将结合从动物考古分析和家畜牙齿标本的锶、碳和氧同位素分析中收集的数据，检查日常生存活动和多穆兹特佩宴会中人与人之间的经济协调。通过这些分析，这项研究将揭示古代人民？关于他们的牲畜的管理选择，这是他们政治经济的一个重要方面。美索不达米亚的案例研究是在社会复杂性进化的人类学讨论中最常被引用的案例之一。这项研究评估了哈拉夫社会系统中合作的社会和经济网络的规模，并将阐明上美索不达米亚出现政治复杂性的过程。美索不达米亚北部哈拉夫时期的政治复杂性的程度和程度受到了强烈的争议。这项研究的目的是使用动物考古学和同位素数据来探索几个相互关联的过程：1)记录现场的资源和劳动力协调；2)确定是否有更多的流动群体参与和参与大型盛宴活动，如果是，确定这种合作是否不同或反映了日常生存实践；3)评估像盛宴这样的公共仪式的制定及其对多穆兹特佩全职居民和可能的人口流动组成部分动物管理实践的影响。盛宴提供了一种研究新石器时代社会经济和政治组织的方法，因为它们需要参与者之间的明确合作，并为社会和政治关系提供了具体化、放大甚至转变的机会。这项研究的意义超越了澄清Halaf Domuztepe乃至更广泛地区的资源和劳动力协调的直接项目。该项目有助于更广泛地讨论政治复杂性是如何出现的，为政治复杂性和资源管理的现代进程提供了关键数据。它将有助于发展整个土耳其南部发现的重同位素和轻同位素剖面的知识体系，为该地区今后的工作奠定基础。此外，这项工作将使刘能够接受必要的培训，以发展新的分析技能，包括宝贵的实验室经验，分析和理解稳定的同位素。这些技能将进一步提高她解释动物群落的能力，拓宽未来研究项目的范围，有助于理解人与动物的关系。最后，作为美国、联合王国和土耳其机构之间长期国际研究合作的一部分，该项目促进了国际学术交流。这项研究的结果将通过开放获取数据出版物、公开陈述和传统学术场所向公众公布。

One central question which archaeologists pose concerns the processes which gave rise to the complex large scale societies in which almost all humans live today. The roots of one major civilization lie in the Near East and the goal of this research is to gain understanding into an early stage of this development which was closely tied to the domestication of plants and animals.Hannah Lau, under the mentorship of Dr. Elizabeth Carter, will employ data from animal bones from archaeological contexts (faunal assemblages) to assess cooperation and interaction among settled and mobile farmers and herders at the Late Neolithic Halaf (ca. 6100-5200 cal. BCE) site of Domuztep in Kahramanmara Province, Turkey. Lau will combine data gleaned from both zooarchaeological analysis and analyses of strontium, carbon, and oxygen isotopes from teeth specimens of domestic animals to examine economic coordination among people in both daily subsistence activities and in the feasting events at Domuztepe. Through these analyses this study will reveal ancient peoples? management choices regarding their livestock, an important aspect of their political economy.Mesopotamian case studies are among the most frequently invoked in anthropological discussions of the evolution of social complexity. This study evaluates the scale of cooperative social and economic networks in the Halaf social system and will clarify the processes by which political complexity arose in Upper Mesopotamia. The extent and degree of political complexity during the Halaf period in Northern Mesopotamia is strongly contested. The objective of this research is to use zooarchaeological and isotopic data to explore several interrelated processes: 1) to document resource and labor coordination at the site, 2) to determine whether more mobile groups contributed to and participated in large-scale feasting events, and if so, to determine if such cooperation differs or mirrors day-to-day subsistence practices, and 3) to assess the elaboration of communal rituals like feasts and their impact on animal management practices among fulltime residents at Domuztepe and possible mobile components of the population. Feasts provide a way to study Neolithic socioeconomic and political organization since they entail explicit cooperation among participants and offer an opportunity for social and political relationships to be reified, amplified or even transformed. This study has implications beyond the immediate project of clarifying resource and labor coordination at Halaf Domuztepe, and in the region more broadly. The project contributes critical data to broader discussions of how political complexity emerges, contextualizing modern processes of political complexity and resource management. It will contribute to the developing body of knowledge of heavy and light isotope profiles found throughout southern Turkey, laying the foundation for future work in the area. Additionally, this work will enable Lau to undergo essential training to develop new analytical skills, including valuable laboratory experience analyzing and understanding stable isotopes. These skills will further her ability to interpret faunal assemblages, broadening the scope of future research projects that will contribute to understandings of human-animal relations. Finally, this project facilitates international scholarly exchange as part of a longterm international research collaboration between institutions in the United States, the United Kingdom and Turkey. The results of this study will be made available to the public through open access data publication, public presentations and traditional scholarly venues.