Doctoral Dissertation Improvement: Toward the Development of a Neolithic Sequence for Northern Ethiopia

在Steven Brandt博士的指导下，Agazi Negash先生将为他的博士论文收集数据。先生.尼加什在埃塞俄比亚提格雷省进行了一次考古调查，并根据侵蚀暴露的材料找到了一系列岩石掩体，其中包含晚更新世和全新世时期的考古遗迹。 他在其中两个遗址进行了初步挖掘，发现了分层序列，除了陶瓷和石器外，还含有丰富的动物遗骸。木炭的存在将使这两个网站的日期，也表明花卉材料将被保存。在这两个地点，Negash先生都没有到达基岩，根据发现的陶瓷，挖掘出的材料很可能可以追溯到过去几千年。在NSF的支持下，两个地点的挖掘工作将继续向下进行，第三个露天事件也将进行调查。研究的一个中心目标是恢复家养和非驯化植物遗骸的年代序列，以重建埃塞俄比亚的农业史前史。“新石器时代革命”-植物和动物的驯化-构成了人类行为的基本和重要机会，村庄和城市的发展，国家和构成文明的属性都起源于这个生存基础。这个过程显然是独立地发生在新旧世界的许多地区，因此不是历史偶然的结果。科学家们希望通过对个别案例的比较，了解造成这种情况的根本原因。尽管人们对近东、中国、中美洲和安第斯山脉的驯化过程了解很多，但很少有人意识到埃塞俄比亚和邻近地区也发生了同样的过程。这部分是因为国内植物，如恩塞特和画眉草在西方并不广泛使用;部分原因是缺乏考古研究在这方面也负责。虽然已经提出了许多关于埃塞俄比亚驯化的设想，但缺乏支持任何设想的数据。Nagesh先生找到的遗址可能会提供相关信息，并为一个鲜为人知的地区建立文化序列。这些结果应该允许考古学家在几个同样可能的场景中进行选择，因此，许多科学家都会感兴趣。该项目还将协助培养一名有前途的青年科学家。

Under the direction of Dr. Steven Brandt, Mr. Agazi Negash will collect data for his doctoral dissertation. Mr.. Negash has conducted an archaeological survey in the Tigray Province of Ethiopia and located a series of rock shelters which, based on material exposed through erosion, contains archaeological remains which date to the Late Pleistocene and Holocene periods. He has conducted preliminary excavation at two of these sites and uncovered stratified sequences which, in addition to ceramics and stone tools, contain abundant animal remains. The presence of charcoal will allow dating of both sites and also suggests that floral materials will be preserved. At neither site has Mr. Negash reached bedrock and, based on ceramics recovered, it is likely that the excavated materials date to the last several thousand years. With NSF support the excavations as both sites will be continued downwards and a third open air occurrence will also be investigated. A central goal of the research is to recover dated sequences of domestic and non-domesticated plant remains to reconstruct the agricultural prehistory of Ethiopia.The "Neolithic Revolution" - the domestication of plants and animals - constituted a fundamental and significant chance in human behavior and the growth of villages and cities, of states and the attributes which constitute civilization all arose from this subsistence base. This process took place, apparently independently, in many regions of both the Old and New Worlds and thus are not the result of historic accident. Through the comparison of individual cases scientists wish to understand the underlying forces responsible. Although much is known about domestication in the Near East, China, Middle America and the Andes, few realize that the same process took place in Ethiopia and adjoining regions. In part this is because the domestic plants such as ensete and teff are not widely used in the West; in part the lack of archaeological research in this area is also responsible. While many scenarios for domestication in Ethiopia have been proposed, the data to support any are lacking. The sites which Mr. Nagesh has located will likely provide relevant information and serve to establish a cultural sequence for a little known area. The results should allow archaeologists to select between several equally likely scenarios and will, therefore, be of interest to many scientists. This project will also assist in training a promising young scientist.