Doctoral Dissertation Research: Djungar Mountains Archaeology Project: Modeling Prehistoric Pastoral Nomadism and Landscapes of Eastern Kazakhstan

在宾夕法尼亚大学弗雷德里克·希伯特博士的指导下，迈克尔·弗拉切蒂将在哈萨克斯坦东部的Koksu河谷进行全面的考古调查和考古发掘。这项工作将作为他博士论文的基础，在博士论文中，他正在开发新的模型来解释中亚青铜时代游牧民族的出现。人类在欧亚大陆的草原地区生活了一万多年。在西欧亚大草原，绵羊、山羊、牛和马在公元前4千年被驯化，游牧(作为一种独特的生活方式)被认为是在公元前1千年从欧亚西部定居的农业环境中出现的。相比之下，欧亚大草原东部新石器时代和青铜器时代流动牧业的性质和演变仍未得到普遍解释。更具体地说，在确定将“游牧”适应与该地区任何其他牧民生活方式区分开来的因素方面的含糊不清，导致了一种学术假设，即某种形式的游牧是草原古代政治经济的特征，而没有在史前背景下对“游牧”作出明确的考古定义。因此，Frachetti先生项目的主要目标是通过形成一种研究流动社会的新的景观方法论，了解影响史前青铜时代群体战略的生态和社会条件。Frachetti认为，准确理解史前游牧民族(与人种学案例有很大不同)的主要绊脚石是，基于遗址的游牧营地考古研究一直无法提供一个有用的框架，来辨别流动牧民的生活方式。Koksu河谷特别适合于对青铜时代游牧生活方式的新研究，因为它包含丰富的考古记录，以及季节性气候和资源的鲜明对比。Frachetti提出了一种考古学方法，认为居住生态、仪式和意识形态特征的地理特征，以及考古纪念碑、景观操纵和群体或个人身份的标记之间的联系，是游牧牧业与其他政治经济学根本不同的生活方面。景观考古学通过详细的考古调查和挖掘、环境采样、空间分析和地理信息系统模拟，将流动牧区解析为各种定义元素，这些元素虽然在时间和文化上是偶然的和独特的，但却是系统相关的。他建议对各种景观(生态、思想、政治等)进行地面建模。将更准确地描绘史前时期制约牧区战略的复杂因素。以这种方式构思的景观方法是关于不同地点和时代的游牧策略的理论问题与考古学家可用来识别史前流动牧民的分析技术之间的重要联系。拟建的准噶尔山脉考古项目将对考古理论和方法做出广泛贡献，并提供新的数据。最重要的是，它将为青铜时代中亚东部游牧民族的发展提供一个扎根的模式。在更广泛的层面上，弗拉切蒂的合作项目将促进美国和哈萨克斯坦考古学家之间的国际关系，并为美国和其他中亚共和国的科学家之间未来的关系打开大门。

Under the direction of Dr. Fredrik Hiebert at the University of Pennsylvania, Michael Frachetti will conduct comprehensive archaeological survey and archaeological excavations in the Koksu River Valley of Eastern Kazakhstan. This work will serve as the basis for his doctoral dissertation, in which he is developing new models to explain the emergence of pastoral nomadism during the Bronze Age in Central Asia. Humans have inhabited the steppe regions of Eurasia for more than 10,000 years. In the Western Eurasian steppes, sheep, goats, cattle, and horses were domesticated by the 4th millennium BC, and nomadic pastoralism (as a distinct way of life) is thought to have emerged from settled agricultural contexts in western Eurasia during the 1st millennium BC. In contrast, the nature and evolution of mobile pastoralism during the Eneolithic and Bronze Age in the Eastern Eurasian Steppe Zone remains generally unexplained. More specifically, the ambiguity in identifying the factors that distinguish a "nomadic" adaptation from any other pastoral lifestyle in this region has resulted in a scholarly assumption that some form of nomadic pastoralism characterized the ancient political economy of the steppes, without a clear archaeological definition of "nomadism" in a prehistoric context. Thus, the primary objective of Mr. Frachetti's project is to understand the ecological and social conditions that affected the strategies of Bronze Age groups in prehistory, by formalizing a new landscape methodology for studying mobile societies. Frachetti suggests that the main stumbling block in accurately understanding prehistoric nomadism (as substantially different from ethnographic cases) is that site-based archaeological studies of nomadic camps have been unable to provide a useful framework for discerning the patterned lifeway of mobile pastoralists.The Koksu River Valley is particularly well suited for new studies of Bronze Age nomadic lifeways since it contains a rich archaeological record, as well as sharp contrasts in seasonal climate and resources. Frachetti proposes an archaeological approach that considers the habitation ecology, the geography of ritual and ideological features, and the associations between archaeological monuments, landscape manipulation, and marking of group or individual identity, as aspects of life by which nomadic pastoralism fundamentally differs from other political economies. Through detailed archaeological survey and excavation, environmental sampling, spatial analysis, and GIS simulation, landscape archaeology parses mobile pastoralism into various defining elements that are systemically related, though temporally and culturally contingent and unique. He suggests that ground-up modeling of various kinds of landscapes (ecological, ideological, political etc.) will more accurately depict the complex factors that conditioned pastoral strategies during prehistory. Conceived in this way, the landscape approach serves as the vital link between theoretical questions concerning nomadic strategies at different places and times, and the analytical techniques available to archaeologists for discerning mobile pastoralism in prehistory. The proposed Djungar Mountains Archaeology Project will make broad contributions to archaeological theory and method, as well as provide new data. Most importantly, it will provide a grounded model of the development of pastoral nomadism in Eastern Central Asia during the Bronze Age. At the broader level, Frachetti's collaborative project will foster international relationships between American and Kazakh archaeologists, and open the door for future relationships between scientists from the United States and other Central Asian republics.