Dissertation Research: Examination of Prehistoric Jordanian Economies

在Lamberg-Karlovsky博士的指导下，Meridith Chesson女士将为她的博士论文收集数据。在1993年试点工作的基础上，Chesson女士和她的合作者将在位于约旦谷的Tell el-Handaquq南遗址进行考古挖掘，该遗址可以追溯到青铜时代早期。研究表明，坚固的防御工事围墙覆盖了整个10公顷的场地。至少有七座塔补充了防御工事系统。在整个场地上，表面上都可以看到房间大楼，其中一些房间的墙壁延伸了30多米。对一组房间街区的测试挖掘发现了与陶瓷、石板、动物群和基石相关的建筑。因此，在近东首次出现戒备森严、组织严密的村庄期间，该遗址有可能为家庭组织提供重要的新线索。切森将发现一大片国内地区，并分析由此找回的文化资料的范围。她将尝试重建家庭大院内发生的社会和经济活动的范围，并确定青铜时代早期家庭单位的性质、功能和重要性。考古学家对导致城市和复杂文明崛起的过程感兴趣。虽然传统上，人们的注意力主要集中在寺庙和主要公共建筑上，但考古学和人种学研究表明，家庭构成了发生变化和适应的基本层面。鉴于有明确证据表明Telel-Handaquq存在家庭化合物，而且挖掘这些化合物很容易，该遗址为审查这一问题提供了一个极好的机会。该项目也很重要，因为它将产生许多考古学家感兴趣的数据，并有助于培训有前途的年轻科学工作者。

Lamberg-Karlovsky Under the direction of Dr. Lamberg-Karlovsky, Ms. Meridith Chesson will collect data for her doctoral dissertation. Building on pilot work in 1993, Ms. Chesson and her collaborators will conduct archaeological excavation at the site of Tell el-Handaquq South which dates to the Early Bronze Age and which is located in the Jordan Valley. Research indicates the presence of substantial fortification walls which encompass the entire 10 hectare site. At lease seven towers complement the fortification system. Over the entire site, room blocks are visible on the surface, some with walls extending for more than 30 meters. Test excavations in one set of room blocks revealed domestic architecture with associated ceramic, lithic, faunal and groundstone remains. The site therefore has the potential to shed significant new light into household organization during the period when fortified highly organized villages first emerged in the Near East. Ms. Chesson will uncover a large domestic area and analyze the range of cultural materials thus recovered. She will attempt both to reconstruct the range of social and economic activities which occurred within household compounds and to determine the nature, function and importance of the household unit in Early Bronze Age times. Archaeologists are interested in the processes which lead to the rise of cities and complex civilizations. While traditionally, much attention has been focussed on temples and major public buildings, both archaeological and ethnographic research indicate that the household constitutes the basic level at which change and adaptation occurs. Given clearcut evidence for the presence of household compounds at Tel el-Handaquq and the ease with which they can be excavated, the site provides an excellent opportunity for examination of this issue. The project is also important because it will both produce data of interest to many archaeologists and assist in the training of a promising young sci entist.