Stepping Stones: Investigating Groundstone Economy at the Birth of Agriculture on the Central Anatolian Plateau

踏脚石：调查安纳托利亚中部高原农业诞生时的基础经济

• 批准号: 2885549
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Liverpool
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2885549
• 关键词: Stepping; Stones; Investigating; Groundstone; Economy

The appearance of sedentism - or the permanent occupation of settlements - and agriculture has transformed our species. This transition first occurred in the Neolithic (14,000 - 10,000 years ago) in Southwest Asia, and slowly spread into Anatolia, the Balkans, and Europe in the millennia that followed. Why mobile foragers should abandon extremely successful and low-risk strategies that sustained our species over 290,000 years remains difficult to explain. Not only did the changes in lifestyle completely alter modes of subsistence, they also instigated massive changes in social configurations and economic behaviour. Remarkably, around this same time communities massively expanded their ground stone toolkits, suggesting ground stone may be closely linked to the onset of early agricultural practices and sedentary lifestyles. The Stepping Stones project investigates the role of technology in large-scale social and economic change by looking at the ground stone from the Anatolian sites of Boncuklu Höyuk, Pinarbasi, and Mendik Tepe. The developments that took place in Anatolia during the Neolithic are not only pivotal in gaining insight into the successful uptake of new technologies from the south and the east, but also into the processes behind the spread of new ideas. New and improved tools would have allowed utilisation of a broader range of resources, contributing to a Broad-Spectrum economy underpinning sedentary behaviours. Additionally, ground stone may have allowed the release of extra nutrition and energy within diets, and may have instigated diversity in culinary practices contributing to sedentism and cultivation of key plants. It also may have enabled larger-scale landscape clearance in the case of axes, and the construction of new forms of long-term habitations in terms of permanence of residence involved in sedentism. These matters will be investigated using the following research methods: 1) Through in-depth typological analysis I plan to gain insight into the similarities and differences in tool assemblages adopted by contemporary site sequences with differing residential and subsistence strategies, including variable degrees of sedentism and plant use. 2) Microscopic wear analysis on the surface of different tool types will be used to understand how the tools were used and what materials these were used to process, which is important for understanding their role in subsistence, food processing and crafts. To this end experimental archaeology involving use-wear will be undertaken. 3) Investigating the procurement of the raw materials used to make ground stone artifacts will inform on early exchange networks and the influence of energy investment on the use and curation of ground stone objects. 4) Lastly, spatial and chronological distribution analysis will be used to reconstruct zones of activity on the sites, and reveal potential divisions in domestic/public activities as well as changes through time in the manufacture and use of these artifacts. The excavations at Pinarbasi, Mendik, and Boncuklu not only focus on the architectural remains and their contents, but also on the "empty" spaces in between structures. This approach has resulted in a wealth of data concerning overall settlement activity, and lends itself excellently to studies on use and discard within the settlements. The generated data will be brought together in one comprehensive study, offering a unique window into the complex interplay between society and technology at the dawn of agriculture.

封建制度--或永久占领定居点--和农业的出现改变了我们的物种。这种转变首先发生在西南亚的新石器时代(14,000-10,000年前)，然后在随后的数千年里逐渐蔓延到安纳托利亚、巴尔干和欧洲。为什么移动觅食者应该放弃维持我们物种29万年的极其成功和低风险的策略，仍然很难解释。生活方式的改变不仅彻底改变了生存方式，还引发了社会结构和经济行为的巨大变化。值得注意的是，大约在同一时间，社区大规模扩大了他们的磨石工具包，这表明磨石可能与早期农业实践和久坐不动的生活方式的开始密切相关。阶梯石项目通过观察安纳托利亚的Boncuku Höyuk、Pinarbasi和Mendik Tepe遗址的研磨石，调查技术在大规模社会和经济变化中的作用。新石器时代在安纳托利亚发生的事态发展不仅对洞察南方和东部成功采用新技术至关重要，而且对了解传播新思想背后的过程也至关重要。新的和改进的工具将允许利用更广泛的资源，为支持久坐行为的广谱经济做出贡献。此外，研磨石可能允许在饮食中释放额外的营养和能量，并可能刺激烹饪实践的多样性，从而促进关键植物的种植和种植。它还可能在轴线的情况下实现更大规模的景观清理，并在封建制度涉及的永久居住方面建造新的长期居住形式。这些问题将使用以下研究方法进行调查：1)通过深入的类型学分析，我计划深入了解当代遗址序列所采用的工具组合的异同，这些工具组合具有不同的居住和生存策略，包括不同程度的封建和植物使用。2)不同类型工具表面的微观磨损分析将被用来了解工具是如何使用的，以及这些工具被用来加工什么材料，这对于了解它们在生存、食品加工和工艺中的作用是很重要的。为此，将进行涉及使用穿戴的实验考古。3)调查用于制作磨石文物的原材料的采购情况，将有助于了解早期的交流网络以及能源投资对磨石文物使用和管理的影响。4)最后，将使用空间和时间分布分析来重建遗址上的活动区域，并揭示国内/公共活动的潜在划分以及这些文物的制造和使用随时间的变化。在皮纳尔巴西、门迪克和邦库克鲁的发掘不仅关注建筑遗迹及其内容，而且还关注建筑之间的“空”空间。这一方法产生了关于整个定居点活动的丰富数据，并极好地有助于研究定居点内的使用和废弃。产生的数据将在一项全面的研究中汇集在一起，为了解农业诞生之初社会和技术之间的复杂相互作用提供了一个独特的窗口。