Nothing but Towers? The Early Bronze Age Landscape of Central Oman

除了塔楼什么都没有？

• 批准号: 406621686
• 负责人: Dr. Stephanie Döpper
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Fach Archäologie und Kulturgeschichte des Vorderen Orients (aufgelöst)
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 德国
• 起止时间: 2017-12-31 至 2022-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/406621686?language=en
• 关键词: Nothing; but; Towers; Early; Bronze

The 3rd millennium BC in Oman was a period of fundamental change in social complexity, the use of new resources and modes of life. Little is known about the settlement patterns of this period. Scholarship views sites with monumental buildings as centres at the top of a settlement hierarchy, which have received the bulk of researchers’ attention in recent decades. However, there is a lack of data to substantiate this hypothesis, as the presence of small sites in their hinterland is largely unexplored. My DFG project in the Al-Mudhaybi region, which runs from 2018 to 2021 (and is in the process of being renewed until 2022), therefore aims to use a combination of different survey methods and small-scale excavations to gain detailed and comprehensive insights into the settlement pattern of the 3rd millennium BC in Central Oman as well as into the causes of the significant social changes of this period. So far, this project has found that (1) small non-monumental settlements are rare and thus common theories of settlement hierarchy need to be reconsidered, (2) monumental buildings were already built at the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC and (3) activity declined in the study area during the Umm an-Nar period, contrary to the assumption that it represents a cultural peak. This challenges the narrative of a predominantly agrarian and sedentary society with a hierarchically structured settlement system in Central Oman during the Early Bronze Age and instead emphasises the role of mobile communities.Due to the unexpectedly large number of surface finds in the newly discovered settlements of Mukhtru and Sinaw, as well as the premature termination of the fieldwork in spring 2020, not all work can be completed as planned by the scheduled end of the project in October 2021. This means that data for statistically reliable statements on the settlement system and its development in the course of the Early Bronze Age are missing. Completing the systematic survey is particularly crucial to achieving the project’s aims. The systematic survey differs from traditional surveys in that it is not limited to surface collection of artefacts at sites previously identified or anticipated in the remote sensing or otherwise, but explicitly focusses on supposedly empty areas between sites. It is the only way to find smaller sites, such as nomadic groups’ campsites, and thus to produce a representative overall picture of the study area. For this reason, I am applying for an 8-month continuation of the project. This data will make it possible to comprehensively assess the settlement system and the related significance of socio-economic changes of the 3rd millennium BC in Central Oman for the first time.

公元前3000年的阿曼是一个社会复杂性、新资源的使用和生活方式发生根本变化的时期。对这一时期的定居模式知之甚少。奖学金将具有纪念性建筑的地点视为定居点等级制度顶部的中心，近几十年来受到了大部分研究人员的关注。然而，缺乏数据来证实这一假设，因为在其腹地存在的小网站基本上是未经勘探的。我在Al-Mudhaybi地区的DFG项目从2018年持续到2021年（并且正在更新到2022年），因此旨在使用不同的调查方法和小规模挖掘的组合，以详细和全面地了解公元前第3个千年阿曼中部的定居模式以及这一时期重大社会变革的原因。到目前为止，该项目发现：（1）小型非纪念性定居点很少，因此需要重新考虑定居等级的常见理论，（2）纪念性建筑在公元前3000年开始时已经建成，（3）研究区域的活动在Umm an Nar时期下降，与它代表文化高峰的假设相反。这对青铜时代早期阿曼中部以农业和定居为主的社会以及等级结构的定居体系的叙述提出了挑战，而是强调了移动的社区的作用。由于在Mukhtru和Sinaw新发现的定居点中意外发现了大量地表发现，以及野外工作在2020年春季提前终止，并非所有工作都能按计划在2021年10月项目结束前完成。这就意味着，在青铜时代早期，关于定居系统及其发展的统计学上可靠的陈述数据缺失了。完成系统调查对实现项目目标尤为重要。系统调查与传统调查的不同之处在于，它不限于在以前通过遥感或其他方式确定或预测的地点进行人工制品的地面收集，而是明确侧重于地点之间的所谓空白区域。这是找到较小的地点，如游牧群体的营地，从而产生一个有代表性的研究地区的全貌的唯一方法。为此，我申请将该项目延长8个月。这些数据将首次全面评估阿曼中部公元前三千年的定居体系和相关的社会经济变化。