Origins of Food Production in Anatolia

在国家科学基金会的支持下，迈克尔·罗森伯格博士和他的同事们将在位于土耳其东南部扎格罗斯山区的Hallan Cemi遗址进行考古挖掘。遗址本身由一个占地约0.7公顷的低丘组成，罗森博格博士之前的工作表明，它涵盖了大约10,600年至10.000年前的时间段。罗森博格博士将进行两个季节的工作，在此期间，他将打开大片区域，通过受控的地层挖掘，找回大量的动物和花卉遗骸，以及广泛的物质物品，如石器。这些问题将由一个专家小组进行分析，以重建生存和社会模式，并将该遗址置于更广泛的区域背景中。根据Hallan Cemi的日期和到目前为止收集的材料，很明显，这个遗址记录了新石器时代革命的非常早期阶段。“革命”这个词是恰当的，因为它标志着人类生活方式在大约200万年的历史中可能发生了最重大的转变。在新石器时代，动植物被驯化，定居的乡村生活出现，包括陶瓷技术和冶金技术的发展在内的技术爆炸发生了。具有讽刺意味的是，鉴于考古学对这个问题的极大兴趣，人们对扎格罗斯地区知之甚少，因为它既是已知的新石器时代非常早期的遗址，也被假设为可能的起源地。罗森博格博士到目前为止的工作表明，哈兰·切米代表了这一过程的早期阶段。虽然它包含了家养的动植物和陶瓷，但缺乏新石器时代的另一个标志。将采集的大量动物和花卉样本将为生存变化提供新的线索。这项研究之所以重要，有几个原因。在两年内，整个地区将被一座新修建的大坝淹没，如果现在完成工作，将不可避免地失去一个独特的机会。罗森博格博士收集的信息将增加我们对可能是人类历史上最重要的转变的理解。

With National Science Foundation support Dr. Michael Rosenberg and his colleagues will conduct archaeological excavation at the site of Hallan Cemi which is located in the Zagros mountain region of Southeastern Turkey. The site itself consists of a low mound which covers approximately .7 hectares and previous work by Dr. Rosenberg has shown that it covers the time period from approximately 10,600 to 10.000 years before the present. Dr. Rosenberg will conduct two seasons of work in which he will open broad areas and through controlled stratigraphic excavation recover large amounts of faunal and floral remains as well as a broad range of material objects such as stone tools. These will be analyzed by a team of specialists in order to reconstruct subsistence and social patterns and to set the site into a broader regional context. Given the date of Hallan Cemi and the materials collected to date, it is apparent that this site documents a very early phase of the Neolithic Revolution. The term "Revolution" is an appropriate one because it marks perhaps the most significant shift in lifestyle over the ca. 2,000,000 years of human existence. In the Neolithic plants and animals were domesticated, settled village life emerged and a technological explosion which included the development of ceramic technology and metallurgy occurred. It is ironic, given great archaeological interest in this question that so little is known about the Zagros region since it is both known to contain very early Neolithic sites and has been postulated as a possible point of origin. The work to date by Dr. Rosenberg has demonstrated that Hallan Cemi represents an early stage in this process. While it contains domestic plants and animals, ceramics, another hallmark of the Neolithic are lacking. The large faunal and floral samples which will be collected will shed new light on the subsistence change. This research is important for several reasons. Within two years this entire region will be flooded by a newly constructed dam and if work is now done now a unique opportunity will be irrevocably lost. The information which Dr. Rosenberg collects will increase our understanding of perhaps the most important transformation in human history.