Dissertation Research: Archaeological Survey of Settlement Patterns in the Banda Region, West-Central Ghana: Exploring External Influences and Internal Responses in West Africa.

这项研究计划包括对加纳中西部班达地区进行为期六个月的考古调查。 调查的驱动力是认识到这一地区是一个政治和经济“前沿”，是逃离周边国家潜在奴役的人口的避难所。 像班达这样的边境地区，现在被认为在复杂社会的发展中发挥了重要作用，使他们的探索和理解至关重要。 然而，迄今为止，很少有研究工作涉及这些间隙或前沿区域。在过去的五个世纪里，班达经历了一系列的外部压力，这些压力来自于邻国和殖民势力的扩张，以及长途贸易的建立和提供包括奴隶在内的贸易商品的经济激励。 据信班达人民对这些压力作出了各种反应。区域聚落形态的考古学探索为探讨政治动荡和外部经济压力问题提供了一个很好的手段。 这是因为与考古学有关的变量，如定居点的规模和构成、在景观中的位置和占领的时间长短，受到人口的经济需求和压力以及政治实力和安全的强烈影响。因此，考古模式独特的边界将寻求通过放弃和防御行为和经济互动的证据。 有鉴于此，拟议研究的实地目标是进行一次系统的区域调查，利用上述变量确定过去五个世纪中具有代表性的定居点的位置和特点。调查将集中在班达地区以前未勘探的两个部分。 这项研究将在许多不同的层面上做出贡献。 首先，它将提供一个更好地了解该地区的文化历史以及居住在边境地区的人民的行为特征的范围。 其次，它将提供一种手段，以确定这些边境地区的遗址是否具有独特的考古特征。 最后，采用区域方法将有助于理解区域外发展的影响以及对这些进程的反应的可变性，包括长途贸易和融入更大的国家并最终融入全球体系。

This program of research consists of a six month archaeological survey of the Banda region in western central Ghana. Investigations are driven by the recognition that this area was a political and economic `frontier,` serving as a refuge for populations fleeing potential enslavement by surrounding states. Frontier zones such as Banda, are now believed to have played a major role in the development of complex societies, making their exploration and understanding of critical importance. Few research efforts to date, however, have addressed these interstitial or frontier regions. During the last five centuries, Banda experienced a series of external pressures arising from the expansion of neighboring states and colonial powers in conjunction with the establishment of long distance trade and the economic incentives to provide trade goods including slaves. The people of Banda are believed to have responded in various ways to these pressures. The archaeological exploration of regional settlement patterning provides an excellent means to explore the issues of political unrest and external economic pressure. This is because such archaeologically relevant variables as settlement size and makeup, location on the landscape and length of occupation, are strongly influenced by a population's economic needs and pressures as well as its political strength and security. Thus, archaeological patterns unique to frontiers will be sought through evidence of abandonment and defensive behaviors and economic interactions. In this light, the field objectives of the proposed research are to perform a systematic regional survey which will locate and characterize a representative sample of settlements from the last five centuries using the variables described above. The survey will focus on two previously unexplored portions of the Banda region. This research will make contributions on a number of different levels. First, it will provide a better understanding of the region's culture history as well as the range of behaviors characteristic of peoples inhabiting frontier zones. Second, it will provide a means of establishing whether sites in these frontier areas have distinctive archaeological signatures. Finally, employing a regional approach will afford an understanding of the impact of extra-regional developments and the variability of responses to those processes, including long distance trade and incorporation into larger states and ultimately global systems.