Archeological Investigations of Medieval Settlements

布恩博士和他的同事将在葡萄牙南部的下阿连特茹和阿尔加维塞拉地区进行考古实地调查。该项目包括对一个可追溯到伊斯兰时期的废弃村庄进行测绘和系统挖掘，该村庄可能在伊斯兰时期之后不久就被遗弃了。还将在另外两个村庄进行地物测绘和有限的测深。这项初步的小规模工作将为一个更大的项目提供基础。布恩博士希望解决的基本问题是，农村社区如何在社会和经济上对与随后的征服和管理制度相关的经济和人口增长和衰退周期作出反应。在葡萄牙，这些包括罗马人、西哥特人、穆斯林和基督徒，涵盖了大约公元100年至1500年的时期。需要解决的辅助问题是居住在伊比利亚半岛干旱高地地区的中世纪人口的种族和社会组织问题，这些地区不可能有灌溉。众所周知，这些种群与生活在水源较好的地区的种群截然不同。这项研究很重要，因为它将深入了解城市和农村地区之间的关系如何随着时间的推移而发展和变化。中世纪葡萄牙的情况今天仍然适用于第三世界的许多地区，农村居民与城市统治精英（他们往往在文化上不同）之间存在的复杂关系使区域政治和发展努力复杂化。因此，这项工作可能具有实际意义。考古学在这类研究中可以做出独特的贡献，因为它可以在很长一段时间内检验这种关系。

Dr. Boone and colleagues will conduct archaeological fieldwork in the Lower Alentejo and Serra do Algarve region of Southern Portugal. The project includes mapping and systematic excavation in a deserted village which dates to the Islamic period and was probably abandoned soon after. Mapping of surface features and limited soundings will also be carried out in two additional villages. This preliminary small scale work will provide the basis for a larger project. The fundamental question Dr. Boone wishes to address is how rural communities respond socially and economically to cycles of economic and demographic growth and decline associated with succeeding regimes of conquest and administration. In Portugal these include the Romans, Visigoths, Muslims and Christians and cover the period from approximately 100 to 1500 A.D. An ancillary issue to be addressed is the problem of ethnicity and the social organization of medieval populations inhabiting the dry, upland areas of the Iberian Peninsula where irrigation was impossible. These populations are known to have been distinct from groups in better watered regions. This research is important because it will provide insight into how relationships develop and are changed over time between urban and rural areas. The conditions which held in medieval Portugal still apply today to many areas in the Third World and the complex relationships which exist between rural inhabitants and the ruling urban elite (who are often culturally distinct) complicate regional politics and development efforts. Thus the work may have practical relevance. Archaeology has a unique contribution to make in such studies because it can examine such relations over long spans of time.