COMPARATIVE ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE DEVELOPMENT AND URBANIZATION OF ANCIENT SOCIETIES

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

This study focuses on the dynamics of complexity, stratification, and urbanization of prehistoric and ancient societies. We investigated several cases in Japan, Korea, China, Egypt, Western Asia, North America, Mesoamerica, and South America, and have conducted cross-cultural studies attempting to establish methodology for comparative archaeology.For instance, in 2002, Kikuchi (the head investigator) along with four other investigators studied the ancient cities of the Mayan civilization in Mesoamerica. We consider these as primary and crucial examples for our research topic. In fact, these examples provided us valuable insights in our respective investigations.Kikuchi, Takahashi, and a few other members conducted archaeological and ethnological fieldwork along the Northwest Coast (2003), Queen Charlotte Islands (2004), and some sites of the Mississippian culture (2005) in North America. From this series of studies, we accumulated important evidences for comparative studies of prehisto … More ric societies in the world, and produced three articles for publication in a scholarly journal.In December 2004, we held an international conference titled "Kokogaku kara Mita Shakai no Fukuzatsuka (Archaeological Approaches to the Organizational Dynamics of Social Complexity)," and along with the investigators of this project (Kikuchi, Okauchi, Takahashi, Kondo, Terasaki, and nine other researchers presented their respective case studies. This was a very good opportunity to compare the outcomes of our work, and all the researchers once again congregated to discuss the same issue in January 2005. The results of the meeting were published by Doseisha, Tokyo, in a book titled"Shakai Kokogaku no Kokoromi (Preliminary Approaches of Social Archaeology)."We conducted several case studies to improve our research in 2005. However, in a limited period of our years, it is very difficult to conclude this ambitious project concerning the major theme. Therefore, if possible, we hope to follow up on this research issue. Less