Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award: Social Process And The Built Urban Environment

博士论文改进奖：社会进程与城市建成环境

• 批准号: 1523389
• 负责人: Peter Biehl
• 金额: $ 2.52万
• 依托单位: SUNY at Buffalo
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-06-01 至 2017-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1523389&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Improvement; Award; Social

This doctoral dissertation research project will examine the social mechanisms that characterize urbanism within a precise chronological framework, in order to improve understanding of urban dynamics in the past and present. While the formal properties of early cities are well understood, the complex and compelling question of how urban spaces transform social identities remains unanswered. Given the growing importance of cities in contemporary societies worldwide - over half of the world's population is projected to live in urban areas by 2050 - understanding the mutually constituting relationship between cities and their inhabitants is increasingly critical. Furthermore, reliable chronological frameworks are essential for the development of social mechanism analogs that connect ancient and modern city life. Archaeology is in a unique position to improve understanding of these issues because its chronological focus can reveal the timing and tempo of change, while its anthropological perspective highlights the recursive relationship between identity and the built environment across multiple scales. Within this context, this project will establish the absolute chronology of Seyitömer Höyük, which lies within the poorly understood inland western Anatolia region, during the final centuries of the third millennium BCE. In addition, it will demonstrate how architectural remains from this early urban settlement express deeply rooted configurational principles that govern culture-space interactions in complex societies. Further underlining the importance of this research is Seyitömer Höyük's imminent destruction: it is located on top of a 12 million ton coal reserve and will be completely destroyed in 2016 when the coal company moves forward with their plans to extract this valuable resource.This research project hypothesizes that (1) the Early Bronze Age III period at Seyitömer Höyük spanned 250 years (Phase B lasted from 2250-2150 BCE and Phase A lasted from 2150-2000 BCE), and (2) architecture was used to varying degrees as an instrument of power and authority by elites, while non-elites used architecture to establish boundaries that allowed them to resist elite influence and maintain a degree of autonomy. The first hypothesis is evaluated with a Bayesian statistical analysis of 32 radiocarbon dates that bracket construction, occupation, and destruction events, which will provide insight into horizons of localized building activity and allow for cross-regional comparisons. The second hypothesis is evaluated with an integrated approach to architecture and social organization, which combines space syntax analysis, a nonverbal communication approach, and an urban spatial arrangement index, in order to reveal how the built environment is essential in structuring interpersonal relations by affecting patterns of movement, interaction, and behavior. This study will generate new data about the chronology and architecture of the Early Bronze Age III period from a threatened archaeological site. In addition, as a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this project will provide support to enable a promising doctoral student to establish an independent research career.

这个博士论文研究项目将在精确的时间框架内研究城市化的社会机制，以提高对过去和现在城市动态的理解。虽然早期城市的正式属性已经很好地理解，但城市空间如何转变社会身份这一复杂而引人注目的问题仍然没有答案。鉴于城市在当代世界社会中的重要性日益增加-预计到2050年，世界一半以上的人口将生活在城市地区-了解城市与其居民之间的相互构成关系日益重要。此外，可靠的年代框架对于连接古代和现代城市生活的社会机制类似物的发展至关重要。考古学在提高对这些问题的理解方面处于独特的地位，因为它的时间重点可以揭示变化的时间和克里思，而人类学的视角则突出了身份与建筑环境之间在多个尺度上的递归关系。在此背景下，该项目将建立Seyitömer Höyük的绝对年表，该地区位于人们知之甚少的内陆西部安纳托利亚地区，在公元前第三个千年的最后几个世纪。此外，它将展示这个早期城市定居点的建筑遗迹如何表达在复杂社会中管理文化-空间互动的根深蒂固的配置原则。Seyitömer Höyük即将被摧毁，这进一步强调了这项研究的重要性：它位于1200万吨煤炭储量的顶部，并将在2016年煤炭公司推进开采这一宝贵资源的计划时完全摧毁。本研究项目假设：（1）Seyitömer Höyük的早期青铜时代III跨越250年（B阶段从公元前2250年持续到公元前2150年，A阶段从公元前2150年持续到公元前2000年），（2）建筑在不同程度上被精英用作权力和权威的工具，而非精英则利用建筑来建立边界，使他们能够抵制精英的影响并保持一定程度的自治。第一个假设是评估与贝叶斯统计分析32放射性碳日期，括号建设，占领和破坏事件，这将提供深入了解本地化的建设活动的视野，并允许跨区域的比较。第二个假设是评估与建筑和社会组织的综合方法，它结合了空间句法分析，非语言沟通的方法，和城市空间布局指数，以揭示如何建成环境是必不可少的，在构建人际关系的影响模式的运动，互动和行为。这项研究将从一个受威胁的考古遗址中产生关于青铜时代早期III时期的年表和建筑的新数据。此外，作为博士论文研究改进奖，该项目将提供支持，使有前途的博士生建立独立的研究生涯。