Dzhungar Mountains Archaeology Project: Intensive Studies of Settlement and Landuse of Bronze Age Mobile Pastoralists

国家科学基金会对准噶尔山脉考古项目(DMAP)的支持将使人们能够在世界上研究较少的地区--哈萨克斯坦东部的Semirech‘ye地区--进行为期3年的田园游牧社会史前研究和发现。DMAP由Michael Frachetti博士指导，由来自加拿大、德国、哈萨克斯坦和美国的科学家团队支持，将最先进的考古方法(如计算机地图、模拟和卫星图像分析)与更传统的考古方法(如挖掘、植物学研究和生物学研究)相结合，以了解4000多年前定义了4000多年前欧亚大陆东部这一地区社会独特生活方式的社会组织、生存策略、流动模式和区域互动。在欧亚大陆，青铜时代(公元前2500-1000年)被认为是史前时期，许多重大的技术、语言和文化创新改变了东欧、亚洲和近东社会的互动方式。这些创新包括：1)骑马和战车技术的普及；2)印欧语言的传播；3)冶金和陶瓷在欧亚大草原上的广泛传播。所有这些创新都被理解为与公元前2000年占领欧亚大陆的流动牧民社会有关，并以他们在整个草原上的经济和文化关系为框架。然而，不幸的是，草原地区的科学考古仍然没有充分记录这些情况，从而限制了更详细地讨论这一关键地区的政治经济和文化特征的能力。针对这一地区数据的不足，本项目旨在对史前田园适应情况进行重点和分析严谨的重建，以了解青铜时代的人口如何利用当地环境，他们的各种经济、社会和政治战略在多大程度上产生了区域间的联系，以及特定形式的互动如何在公元前2千禧年期间在整个欧亚大陆产生更广泛的文化景观方面发挥作用。为了回答这些问题，DMAP在之前4年研究的基础上，对整个哈萨克斯坦Koksu山谷研究区的青铜时代季节性聚落和墓地进行了全面的考古发掘和抽样。这些发掘将为古植物学、考古动物学、地理形态和物理人类学的分析提供数据，并为利用地理信息系统进行空间分析提供数据。该项目的运作还将有助于围绕青铜时代草原社会及其物质文化的年表以及作为草原地区普遍的社会和经济制度的田园游牧的出现和演变展开的辩论。除了智力上的优势，DMAP还在培训、教育和国际科学合作等领域产生了更广泛的影响。该项目旨在介绍和培训美国研究生在一个令人兴奋的考古发现新领域。在合作方面，DMAP为哈萨克斯坦发展中的学术界贡献了最先进的技术和当代考古方法。拟议的项目将与哈萨克斯坦的学者和学生联合起来，通过应用当代分析方法、技术和实地技术，为培训来自世界各地的科学家和未来的考古学家做出贡献。准噶尔山脉考古项目代表了当今欧亚游牧演变最科学、最完整的研究之一，并努力对我们更广泛地了解中亚和内亚的历史和文化地理产生重大影响。

Support from the National Science Foundation for the Dzhungar Mountains Archaeology Project (DMAP) will enable 3 years of research and discovery concerning the prehistory of pastoral nomadic societies in a little studied part of the world - the Semirech'ye region of eastern Kazakhstan. Directed by Dr. Michael Frachetti and bolstered by a team of scientists from Canada, Germany, Kazakhstan, and the USA, the DMAP combines state-of-the-art archaeological methods such as computer mapping, simulations, and satellite image analysis with more traditional archaeological methods such as excavation, botanical studies, and biological studies, in order to understand the social organization, subsistence strategies, mobility patterns, and regional interactions that defined the unique way of life for societies living in this part of eastern Eurasia more than 4000 years ago. In Eurasia, the Bronze Age (c. 2500-1000 BCE) is considered to be a time in prehistory when a number of major technological, linguistic, and cultural innovations changed the way societies of Eastern Europe, Asia, and the Near East interacted. Among these innovations are: 1) the proliferation of horse riding and chariot technology; 2) the spread of Indo-European languages; and 3) the widespread dispersal of metallurgy and ceramics across the Eurasian steppe. All of these innovations are understood in association with mobile pastoral societies who occupied Eurasia during the 2nd millennium BC, and are framed in terms of their economic and cultural relationships across the steppe. Yet unfortunately, these conditions are still under-documented by scientific archaeology in the steppe region, thereby limiting ability to discuss the political economy and cultural character of this key region in greater detail. In response to the lacuna of data from this region, the current project aims to provide a focused and analytically rigorous reconstruction of prehistoric pastoral adaptations, in order to understand how Bronze Age populations exploited their local environments, the degree to which their various economic, social, and political strategies generated inter-regional contacts, and how specific forms of interaction played a role in generating a wider scale cultural landscape across Eurasia throughout the 2nd millennium BCE. To answer these questions, the DMAP builds on 4 years of previous research, to carry out comprehensive archaeological excavations and sampling of Bronze Age seasonal settlements and cemeteries throughout the study zone of the Koksu Valley in Kazakhstan. These excavations will provide data for analysis of paleo-botany, archaeo-fauna, geo-morphology, and physical anthropology, as well as data for spatial analysis using Geographic Information Systems. The project's operations will also contribute essential data to debates surrounding the chronology of Bronze Age steppe societies and their material culture, as well as the emergence and evolution of pastoral nomadism as a prevalent social and economic system in the steppe region. In addition to its intellectual merit, the DMAP also has broader impacts in areas such as training, education, and international scientific collaboration. The project is structured to introduce and train American graduate students in an exciting new frontier of archaeological discovery. In terms of collaboration, the DMAP contributes state-of-the-art technology and contemporary archaeological methods to a developing academic community in Kazakhstan. The proposed project joins forces with scholars and students from Kazakhstan, and contributes to the training of scientists and future archaeologists from around the world through the application of contemporary analytical methods, technology, and field techniques. The Dzhungar Mountains Archaeology Project represents one of today's most scientifically integrated studies of the evolution of Eurasian nomadic pastoralism, and strives to make a substantial impact on our broader understanding of the historical and cultural geography of Central and Inner Asia.