Paleoethnobotanical perspectives on early food production in Northern Sudan

国家科学基金会的资金将支持伊丽莎白·希尔德布兰德博士在苏丹北方进行三个季度的考古实地考察。从几个地点恢复古代植物遗骸将显示北方苏丹尼罗河的人民如何以及为什么在6000-3000年前从事农业。从狩猎/采集到农业的史前过渡发生在地球仪的不同时间，与今天农业系统的结构和可持续性有关。第一批农民和牧民在获取食物的策略上进行了根本性的改变，这与他们的技术、社会结构和环境密切相关。早期非洲的食物生产很少被研究，但与世界上许多地方不同的是，动物而不是植物是第一个驯化者。在北方苏丹，畜牧业开始后，植物性粮食生产开始，可能涉及当地作物（高粱、西瓜）和/或近东作物（小麦、豆类）。由于在北方苏丹几乎没有项目试图恢复古代植物遗骸，我们对当地和非当地作物是如何被纳入饮食的知之甚少。在种植近东或当地作物之前，北方苏丹的人们是如何使用野生植物的？当地的植物是先被驯化的，还是在近东作物被引进后才被种植的？苏丹北方的早期农业是由于国家一级社会（埃及、克玛）的影响，还是由于地方自治的发展？要弄清这些问题，就必须在苏丹最北部的塞岛和喀土穆和塞岛之间的尼罗河第四大瀑布挖掘6000-3000年前的几个遗址。其中包括一个带有壁炉的露天定居点（Sai），一个与邻近定居点（Sai）相邻的粮仓建筑群，以及一个远离河流的大型经典Kerma定居点（第四白内障）。希尔德布兰德博士将与来自苏丹、意大利、法国和波兰的学者合作，他们与当地居民有着长期的友好关系。所有项目地点均位于安全区域。挖掘多个遗址将产生一个地理和时间上的生存变化的广泛画面。专门为当地沉积物设计的新的恢复方法可能证明适用于整个沿着尼罗河。比较不同的背景将显示当地（Kerma）和非当地（埃及）复杂社会的统治者和臣民如何将植物纳入行政计划和日常生活中。2008年，尼罗河第四大瀑布附近的Hamdab高坝完工，将淹没上游150公里的地方。苏丹国家文物和博物馆公司已发出紧急呼吁，要求在大坝蓄水前进行考古研究。与努比亚农民的民族植物学合作将丰富研究，努比亚农民的语言和文化已被苏丹的统治精英边缘化。该项目将在民族植物学和古植物学方面培训苏丹考古学学生，并将植物生存信息纳入苏丹国家博物馆的展品。这些活动将提高公众对人类、植物和环境之间长期相互作用的认识和研究能力，这是一个与目前有关粮食生产战略、转基因技术和土地改革的辩论密切相关的主题。

National Science Foundation funds will support three seasons of archaeological fieldwork by Dr. Elisabeth Hildebrand in northern Sudan. Recovery of ancient plant remains from several sites will show how and why peoples of the northern Sudanese Nile undertook farming 6000-3000 years ago. The prehistoric transition from hunting/gathering to farming occurred at different times in different places around the globe, and is relevant to the structure and sustainability of today's farming systems. The first farmers and herders undertook a fundamental change in food-getting strategy that was intimately linked to their technology, social structure, and environment. Early African food production has been little studied, but differed from much of the world in that animals, rather than plants, were the first domesticates. In northern Sudan, plant food production began after herding was practiced, and may have involved local (sorghum, watermelon) and/or Near Eastern (wheat, legumes) crops. Because few projects in northern Sudan have attempted to recover ancient plant remains, we know little of how local and non-local crops were incorporated into the diet. How did people use wild plants in northern Sudan before the farming of Near Eastern or local crops? Were local plants domesticated first, or cultivated only after Near Eastern crops were introduced? Was early farming in northern Sudan due to the influence of state-level societies (Egypt, Kerma), or an autonomous local development? Answering these questions will entail excavation of several sites 6000-3000 years ago at Sai Island in the far north of Sudan, and the Fourth Cataract of the Nile, halfway between Khartoum and Sai. These include an open-air settlement with hearths (Sai), a granary complex with adjacent settlement (Sai), and a large Classic Kerma settlement away from the river (Fourth Cataract). Dr. Hildebrand will collaborate with scholars from Sudan, Italy, France, and Poland, who have longstanding amicable relations with local inhabitants. All project sites lie in secure areas. Excavating multiple sites will yield a geographically and temporally broad picture of subsistence change. New recovery methods specifically designed for local sediments may prove applicable all along the Nile. Comparing different contexts will show how rulers and subjects of local (Kerma) and non-local (Egypt) complex societies incorporated plants into both administrative plans and daily lives.Completion of the Hamdab High Dam near the Fourth Cataract of the Nile in 2008 will flood sites up to 150 km upstream. The Sudanese National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums has issued an urgent call for archaeological research prior to the filling of the dam. Research will be enriched by ethnobotanical collaboration with Nubian farmers whose language and culture has been marginalized by Sudan's ruling elite. The project will train Sudanese archaeology students in ethnobotany and archaeobotany, and incorporate plant subsistence information into exhibits in the Sudan National Museum. These activities will improve both public awareness and research capacity concerning the long interplay between humans, plants, and the environment, a topic that is strongly relevant to current debates about food production strategies, GMO technologies, and agrarian reform.