Dissertation: The Role of Surplus Production and Storage in the Emergence of Social Inequality in Northern Greece During the Bronze and Iron Age

在Dr. Carla Sinopoli的指导下，MS Despina Margomenou将为她的博士论文收集数据。考古学家希望了解文明是如何产生的，并注意到世界上许多地方都有类似的进展。生活在乡村社区的小农聚集成更大的社会群体，并形成集中的政治和经济结构。在大多数情况下，与此相关的是纪念性建筑和工艺专业化。虽然这种模式有充分的文献记载，但研究人员仍然不了解为这种发展奠定基础的社会组织的变化。人们的注意力集中在社会分化的出现和“精英”阶级的出现上，因为这是在这个过程的早期出现的一个普遍特征。已经提出了几种理论来解释小团体如何崛起，但数据不足，无法从中进行选择。一组模型强调武力和强制的重要性。另一个关注精英可能扮演的潜在管理角色，并假设这个群体本质上是为重新分配基本食物资源的管理者服务，以平衡空间上的短缺和过剩。也有人提出，随着农业盈余的发展，开发了储存机制来缓冲随着时间的波动，精英集团在这一过程中发挥了核心管理作用。Margomenou女士将从希腊北部正在进行的挖掘中收集数据来研究这个问题。尽管希腊北部没有南部那么出名，但在随后的铁器时代，青铜时代的小村庄的规模和复杂性都有所增加，平等主义让位给了更分层的社会组织形式。Margomenou女士将使用挖掘出来的材料以及从正在进行的调查中收集的数据，并将重点关注储存问题。通过对地下储存单元以及大型陶器容器的分析，她将了解食物储存策略如何随着时间的推移而变化。她不仅将重建储存的实践程度，而且还将重建从单个家庭中移除并置于集中控制之下的程度。她认为，这是一个关键的变量，它将揭示精英的作用和出现。这个项目之所以重要，有几个原因。它将为许多考古学家提供感兴趣的数据，并增加对导致社会复杂性的过程的理解。它还将帮助培训一名有前途的年轻科学家。

Under the direction of Dr. Carla Sinopoli, MS Despina Margomenou will collect data for her doctoral dissertation. Archaeologists wish to understand how civilization arose and have noted a similar progression in many parts of the world. Small scale farmers living in village communities aggregate into larger social groupings and develop centralized political and economic structures. Associated with this, in most instances, are associated with monumental architecture and craft specialization. While this pattern is well documented, researchers still do not understand the changes in social organization which set the groundwork for this development. Attention has focused on the emergence of social differentiation and the appearance of an "elite" class since this is a widespread feature which occurs early in the process. Several theories have been proposed to explain how small groups rise to power but the data are insufficient to select among them. One group of models emphasizes the importance of force and coercion. Another focuses on the potential administrative role which elites may have played and hypothesize that this group served essentially managers who redistributed essential food resources to even out shortages and surpluses over space. It has also been proposed that with the development of agricultural surpluses, storage mechanisms were developed to buffer fluctuations over time and that elite groups played a central managerial role in this process.MS Margomenou will collect data from ongoing excavations in Northern Greece to examine this question. Although Northern Greece is less well known than its Southern counterpart, small Bronze Age villages increased in size and complexity during the succeeding Iron Age and egalitarianism gave way to a more hierarchical form of social organization. MS Margomenou will use both excavated material as well as data collected from ongoing investigations and will focus on the question of storage. Through analysis of in-ground storage units as well as large pottery containers she will learn how food storage strategies changed over time. She will reconstruct not only the extent to which storage was practiced but also the degree to which it was removed from individual families and is placed under centralized control. This, she believes, is a crucial variable which will shed light on the role and emergence of elites.This project is important for several reasons. It will provide data of interest to many archaeologists and increase understanding of the processes which lead to social complexity. It will also assist in training a promising young scientist.