Horse Power: Interactions between China, Mongolia and the steppe 2000-0 BCE

马力将调查定居和流动民族之间的关系，他们的文明从公元前2,000年开始跨越了数千英里的欧亚大陆。我们将结合最尖端的科学方法，包括古代DNA、冶金和放射性碳年代测定，以及有针对性的考古发掘，以解决这一首要的历史问题。目标空间涉及蒙古的匈奴和中国的秦两大州。匈奴兴起于公元前209年，并确立了流动马国的典范，一直到1400年后蒙古人的崛起。秦始皇于公元前221年接管中国，为中国直到今天的官僚国家提供了典范。两者都是通过当地的历史力量发展起来的，但也是在相互作用中发展的，这种互动奠定了丝绸之路的基础。马力的核心假设是，马匹从大草原南下进入中国，而中国的金属则北上。正是通过这种交流，两个群体开始了人类历史上最早的一种状态。我们将对古代马的骨骼进行最先进的遗传分析，并根据当时生产的马的数量和不会石化的特征，如颜色、速度、大小等，来揭示马的流动和选择性繁殖的模式。核心假设的另一端植根于金属。凭借丰富的金属矿床和庞大的人口，中国能够以金属的形式积累起巨大的财富。作为回报，金属帮助中国实现了各种仪式、社会、文化和经济目的。Horse Power的目标是通过跟踪金属从矿山到丘陵-即从金属的来源到文物的最终埋葬环境，将考古金属学推向一个新的水平。此前ERC资助的FLAME项目已经收集了从弧形到长江流域的一万多件青铜器的化学和铅同位素数据。这为追踪这些地区的金属流动奠定了至关重要的基础。对金属物体的新科学分析将集中在蒙古草原，因此填补了总体情况中最后一个但也是最重要的空白。结合马力推出的一套新的多元统计模型，我们将对混合和回收进行识别和量化，以说明更详细和现实的金属在过去社会的生活史。考古发掘是为科学分析提供安全样本和为数据解释提供背景的基础。作为对蒙古和中国一系列遗址进行有针对性挖掘战略的一部分，马力将挖掘大型石葬墓葬和始皇陵墓建筑群，以恢复祭祀经济的长期历史，但也将提供更多具有良好背景的马骨、金属和测年材料样本，供该项目其他成员分析。基本的协调年代计划还将采用有针对性和灵活的抽样策略，为该地区制作第一个全面的年表。除了学术调查，另一个同样重要的目标是通过博客、播客以及在兵马俑和大英博物馆举行的展览，开发一个公共参与、艺术和科普的创新计划，与广大公众讨论我们的发现，特别是旨在表明，重大的历史和文化问题只能由一个具有不同文化和智力背景的团队以协同方式解决。

Horse Power is to investigate the relationship between the settled and mobiles peoples whose civilisations crossed thousands of miles of Eurasia from 2,000 BCE. We will combine the most cutting-edge scientific approaches, including ancient DNA, metallurgy and radiocarbon dating, together with the well-targeted archaeological excavations to address this overarching historical question. The targeted space involves the two major states, the Xiongnu in Mongolia and the Qin in China. The Xiongnu arose in 209 BCE and set the model for mobile horse-borne states through to the rise of the Mongols 1400 years later. The Qin took over China in 221 BCE, providing the model for the bureaucratic Chinese state down to today. Both developed through local historical forces, but also in interaction with each other, an interaction which set the basis for the Silk Road. The core hypothesis of Horse Power is that horses moved south into China from the Steppe, while Chinese metals went north. It is through this exchange that two groups started one earliest form of state in human history.We will apply the most advanced genetic analysis to the ancient horse skeletons and unravel patterns of flow of horses and selective breeding in terms of numbers of horses produced at the time, as well as characters that do not fossilize, such as their colour, speed, size, and more. The other end of the core hypothesis is rooted in metal. With rich metal deposits and massive population, China was able to accumulate enormous wealth in the form of metal. In return, metal helped China to achieve a variety of ritual, social, cultural and economic purposes. Horse Power aims to push archaeometallurgy to a new level by following metal from mine to mound - that is from the source of the metal to the final burial context of artefacts. The previous ERC funded project FLAME has assembled over ten thousand chemical and lead isotopic data of bronzes from Arc to the Yangtze River valleys. This created a vital foundation for tracing the flow of metal in these regions. The new scientific analysis of metal objects will be focused on the Mongolia Steppe, therefore to fulfil the last but also most important gap in the overall picture. Together the new set of multivariant statistical model promoted by Horse Power, we will identify and quantify mixing and recycling, in order to illustrate a more detailed and realistic life history of metal in the past societies. Archaeological excavation is fundamental to providing secured samples for scientific analysis and context for interpretation of the data. Horse Power will excavate both the large stone burials khirigsuurs and the First Emperor's mausoleum complex as part of a targeted excavation strategy investigating a range of sites in Mongolia and China to recover the long-term history of the sacrificial economy, but also to provide further samples of horse bones, metals and dating materials with excellent contexts for other members of the project to analyse. The underlying coordinated dating programme will also produce the first over-arching chronology for the region using both a targeted and flexible sampling strategy.In addition to academic investigation, another equally important target is to develop an innovative programme of public engagement, art and popular science through blogs, podcasts as well as exhibitions in the Terracotta Warrior and British Museums to discuss our findings with a broad public particularly aiming to show that big historical and cultural questions can only be tackled in synergistic ways, by a team with varied cultural and intellectual backgrounds.