Coordination of Political Integration and Nomadic Statehood

通过分享权力和权威实现政治一体化似乎是一个独特的现代话题，代表了民主政治进程的基础。然而，人类社区已经在区域范围内组织起来，创造了数千年的国家和帝国，并以不同的方式实现了许多版本的整合。考古学家特别有能力研究早期融合，以便更好地了解随着时间的推移，哪些因素促进了有弹性和包容性的政治组织形式。在当今世界，许多所谓的“失败国家”显然缺乏实现公平权力分享安排的基础，无法促进种族、语言和文化多样性人口的融合。历史和人类学研究都表明，某些游牧民族通过贵族血统之间的权力分享，建立了一个整合体系，作为从分散和潜在的军国主义游牧社区建立大规模国家的一种方式。尽管这些看似不利的政治条件，游牧政体持续了几个世纪，并被认为发展了独特的内部政治谈判制度，作为促进稳定的手段。这些“无头国家”远非民主机构，但在随着时间和条件的变化平衡中央和地方领导形式的艺术方面，它们是重要的案例研究。这些早期的政治例子为我们的集体现在和未来提供了教训，这是我们考古研究的指导原则。该项目测试游牧国家早期融合的理论模型。这项研究旨在发现权力分享的作用是否确实是一个更有效的政治手段，在国家建设的过程中，比典型的假设场景的强制合并。为了实现这一目标，考古学家和学生将进行系统的地面调查和太平间挖掘，并结合一系列广泛的实验室分析，以评估多社区政治整合的竞争性解释。此外，该项目旨在为多个机构的学生和年轻学者提供培训场所。这项研究的合作性质建立了考古学，STEM分析技能和文化遗产管理领域的可持续科学能力。我们通过直接培训，教育支持，以及与同事，本科生和研究生分享想法和经验来实现这些目标。因此，该项目促进了国际关系、理解和相互作用，这是科学研究的最终奋进所依赖的。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The making of political integration by way of sharing power and authority might seem a uniquely modern topic representing the foundations of democratic political process. However, human communities have been organizing at regional scales to create states and empires for millenia and have achieved many versions of integration in different ways. Archaeologists are particularly well equipped to study early integration in order to better understand what factors promote resilient and inclusive forms of political organization over time. Such issues are particularly relevant in today’s world where many so-called “failed states” explicitly lack a basis for achieving equitable power sharing arrangements that promote the integration of ethnically, linguistically, and culturally diverse populations. Historical and anthropological scholarship both suggest that certain pastoral nomadic polities enfranchised a system of integration through power sharing among aristocratic lineages as a way to create large-scale states from dispersed and potentially militaristic nomadic communities. Despite these seemingly untoward political conditions, nomadic polities lasted for centuries and are believed to have developed unique systems of internal political negotiation as a means to encourage stability. Far from being democratic institutions, these “headless states” are nevertheless important case-studies in the art of balancing centralized and local forms of leadership over time and changing conditions. That these early political examples hold lessons for our collective present and future is a guiding precept of our archaeological research. This project tests theoretical models for the early integration of the nomadic state. The research seeks to discover whether the role of power sharing was indeed a more effective political device in the process of state building than the typical hypothesized scenario of coercive incorporation. To accomplish this, archaeologists as well as students will conduct systematic ground survey and mortuary excavations in conjunction with a broad suite of laboratory analyses to evaluate competing explanations for multi-community political integration. In addition, the project is intended as a training ground for students and younger scholars at multiple institutions. The collaborative nature of this research builds sustainable scientific capacity in the field of archaeology, STEM analytical skills, and cultural heritage management. We achieve these objectives through direct training, support of education, and the sharing of ideas and experience with colleagues and with undergraduate and graduate students. The project therefore promotes the kinds of international relationships, understandings, and interactions upon which the endeavor of scientific research ultimately depends.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.