Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant--The Political Economy of Inter-Regional Exchange in Uruk Mesopotamia: Geochemical Analyses of Utilitarian Trade Goods

在吉尔·斯坦博士的指导下，马克·施瓦茨先生将为他的博士论文收集数据。纵观历史，长途贸易在文明发展中一直发挥着重要作用。区域间贸易对发展中社会的影响是当前人类学争论的焦点。研究这个问题的一个很好的领域是古代近东，因为公元前4000年美索不达米亚第一批国家的崛起与安纳托利亚、叙利亚和伊朗等发展中地区的长途交流密切相关。这项研究将检验一个假设，即与美索不达米亚的贸易导致安纳托利亚政治过度专业化，使他们更容易受到经济崩溃的影响。虽然许多早期的分析依赖于贸易的间接证据，但这项研究将通过对功利商品沥青的地球化学分析提供直接证据。这项研究以Hacinebi Tepe为中心，这是幼发拉底河上的一个当地安纳托利亚定居点，在其历史的后期阶段，它曾是美索不达米亚商人的飞地。在与美索不达米亚人接触之前和期间的地层序列，可以让人们看到美索不达米亚人对安纳托利亚政体的影响。分析这一古老的交换制度必须涉及贸易货物的来源。不幸的是，其中许多名贵商品在考古矿床中极为罕见，而且很难从化学上得到来源。这使得许多关于交换模式和贸易商品的地理起源的关键经济问题无法回答。为了弥补这一点，施瓦茨的论文没有把重点放在名牌商品上，而是放在实用的好东西沥青上。这种石油焦油遍布近东，与美索不达米亚和安纳托利亚的活动有关，在Hacinebi的考古沉积物中含量丰富，并且可以化学来源。施瓦茨的初步研究采用了详细的地球化学分析，利用沥青来调查近东地区一种石油产品的古代交换。第一次，来自美索不达米亚的货物在安纳托利亚的存在得到了科学证据的证明。沥青来源的初步鉴定暗示了哈内比的一些动态贸易。稳定碳同位素分析表明，古代交换网络在资源利用、交换路径和消费者参与等方面都是复杂的。只有完成后，这个项目才有可能改变我们对这个早期交换系统的看法，施瓦茨先生将对来自哈辛内比的所有414个沥青样本进行化学分析，以便对交换模式形成一个完整的区域视角。这些数据将与来自不同地层和文化背景的沥青文物的功能分析相结合，以确定沥青使用的增加、对遥远来源的强调或对贸易相关活动的关注是否表明安纳托利亚人在哈辛内比的经济专业化转向了长途交换。

Under the direction of Dr. Gil Stein, Mr. Mark Schwartz will collect data for his doctoral dissertation. Long-distance trade has always been important in the development of civilizations throughout history. The effect that inter-regional trade has on developing societies is a current focus of debate in anthropology. An excellent area to explore this issue is the ancient Near East because the rise of the first states in Mesopotamia in the 4th millennium BC is linked closely to long-distance exchange with developing areas of Anatolia, Syria and Iran. This research will test the hypothesis that trade with Mesopotamia produced an overspecialization in Anatolian polities making them more vulnerable to economic collapse. While many earlier analyses have relied on indirect evidence of trade, this research will provide direct evidence through geo-chemical analyses of the utilitarian good, bitumen. This research is centered around Hacinebi Tepe, a local Anatolian settlement on the Euphrates River that had an enclave of Mesopotamian merchants during a later phase of its history. The stratigraphic sequence of levels before and during contact with Mesopotamians allows one to look at the impact of Mesopotamians on this Anatolian polity. An analysis of this ancient exchange system must involve the sourcing of trade goods. Unfortunately, many of the prestige goods involved are extremely rare in archaeological deposits and hard to source chemically. This has made many key economic questions concerning exchange patterns and the geographic origins of trade goods unanswerable. To remedy this, Mr. Schwartz's dissertation focuses not on prestige goods, but on the utilitarian good bitumen. This petroleum tar is found throughout the Near East, is associated with Mesopotamian and Anatolian activity, is abundant in archaeological deposits at Hacinebi and is chemically sourceable. Employing detailed geo-chemical analyses, Mr. Schwartz's pilot study used bitumen to investigate the ancient exchange of a petroleum product in the Near East. For the first time, the presence of goods from Mesopotamia in Anatolia was demonstrated with scientific evidence.Preliminary identifications of bitumen sources hint at some of the dynamics trade at Hacinebi. Stable carbon isotope analyses suggest that the ancient exchange network was complex in terms of the sources utilized, the exchange routes and the consumers involved. Only when complete, will this project have the potential to alter our view of this early exchange system and Mr. Schwartz will perform chemical analyses on all 414 bitumen samples from Hacinebi in order to develop a full regional perspective on exchange patterns. These data will be combined with functional analyses of bitumen artifacts from different stratigraphic levels and cultural contexts to determine if an increase in bitumen use, an emphasis on distant sources or a focus on trade related activities demonstrates a shifting economic specialization on long-distance exchange by the Anatolians at Hacinebi.