Understanding the Origins and Institutionalization of Social and Economic Hierarchies through Archaeological Settlement Survey

在现代之前，北极很少有地区经历过社会不平等的发展。然而，这种不平等在冰岛最初被殖民后不久就出现了。这个考古项目探索了冰岛北部Hjaltadalur的Hólar如何以及为什么在中世纪时期成为一个强大的社会、经济和宗教中心。拟议的区域分析不是孤立地研究单个站点，而是跟踪整个Hjaltadalur站点建立，居住和废弃的顺序。这些广泛的社会经济过程被认为是在Hólar网站的当地地理和环境背景下进行的，以促进对有利于社会等级和中央集权发展的因素的理解。该项目采用了取心、地球物理调查和测试挖掘，为Hólar地区开发了一个定居点序列，确定了农场和教堂的建立、居住和废弃时间。Hjaltadalur的21个农场将进行取样测试。山谷中存在的温度年代学将有助于确定年代，而带有人类活动证据的岩心将划定农场的边界。垃圾堆（垃圾坑）的试验挖掘将建立地层学并提供动物和植物样本。对财产文件和农业生产力措施的历史研究将补充考古实地工作。在Hólar工作将为美国学生提供国际实地经验和论文数据集；与冰岛教师和学生的合作将促进国际合作和交流。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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。

Few regions in the Arctic experienced the development of social inequalities prior to the modern era. Yet such inequalities emerged in Iceland soon after its initial colonization. This archaeological project explores how and why Hólar in Hjaltadalur, North Iceland, became a powerful social, economic, and religious center during the medieval period. Rather than studying individual sites in isolation, the proposed regional analysis tracks the sequence of site establishment, habitation and abandonment throughout Hjaltadalur. These broad socioeconomic processes are considered within the local geographic and environmental context of the Hólar site to advance understanding of the factors favoring the development of social hierarchies and centralized power.This project employs coring, geophysical investigation, and test excavations to develop a settlement sequence for the Hólar area, determining when farms and churches were established, inhabited, and abandoned. Twenty-one farm sites in Hjaltadalur will be tested by coring. The tephrochronology that exists for the valley will facilitate dating, and cores with evidence for human activity will delineate farm perimeters. Test excavations of middens (trash pits) will establish stratigraphy and provide faunal and floral samples. Historical study of property documents and measures of agricultural productivity will complement archaeological fieldwork. Work at Hólar will provide American students with international field experience and thesis datasets; work with Icelandic faculty and students will foster international collaboration and exchange.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.