Collaborative Research: Investigating Ancient Nubian Identity and Interaction with Early African States in the Fourth Cataract Region of Sudan

古代社会之间的互动可以使人们深入了解全球化的动态以及人们在日益复杂的世界互动中创造和发展社会特性的方式。在国家科学基金会的支持下，布伦达·J·贝克博士(亚利桑那州立大学)和斯图尔特·泰森·史密斯博士(加州大学圣巴巴拉分校)将共同指导位于非洲东北部的苏丹北部尼罗河流域第四大白内障地区的两个季节的考古野外工作。这个项目调查了这个崎岖地区的居民与古代努比亚和埃及国家的互动，以确定他们自治的程度或融入其中的程度。在克尔曼国家的形成和荧光时期(公元前4500-1500年)，以及在梅罗伊特国家权力下放后的衰落时期(公元300-600年)，探讨了人们认为自己是这些文化的成员或与这些文化截然不同的方式。通过对聚落和墓地背景下的物质文化和骨骼遗骸的挖掘和分析，对替代假说进行了评估。因为它包含比以前记录的任何卡玛时期遗址更上游的卡玛时期遗址，也是第四大白内障地区唯一的实质性卡玛定居点，我们的项目区特别适合于调查关于卡玛状态的范围及其与其他地区相互作用的问题。后Meroitic时期的大规模占领使我们能够在以后的时期处理有关区域动态的类似问题。该项目将增进对国家一级社会兴衰的了解，从非洲的角度对文化接触和中心与边缘的互动提供更广泛的看法，并有助于记录以前未被研究的努比亚地区。综合考古和生物考古研究将鼓励在该地区其他地方工作的埃及和努比亚专家应用人类学方法。在第四大瀑布的梅罗韦大坝的建设将创造一个覆盖170公里的尼罗河流域的水库，最大宽度达到4公里，到2009年淹没我们的项目区。这项研究促进了与来自美国、英国、波兰、德国的救援队的国际合作，并与苏丹国家文物和博物馆公司(NCAM)合作。该项目促进了美国和苏丹人民之间更好的关系，方法是让实地地点附近的社区成员参与进来，并定期向当地学童和他们的老师介绍我们的工作及其提供的有关他们祖先的信息。美国研究生将从该项目提供的实地经验、研究和出版机会以及沉浸在努比亚文化中受益。在研究中代表不足的同事将进行合作，特别是凤凰城地区的一名社区大学教授，他所在的机构的西语裔入学率很高。这项研究的结果将通过公开演讲、课程讲座、在专业会议上发表演讲以及在人类学家、埃及学家和努比亚考古学家阅读的期刊上发表来广泛传播。由于苏丹允许出口考古材料，该项目将提供记载良好、保存完好的骨骼和手工艺品收藏品，这将是本科生和研究生教育的宝贵资源，也是可供其他学者进行研究的重要比较收藏品。

Interactions among ancient societies can yield insights into the dynamics of globalization and the ways that people create and develop social identities within increasingly complex worldwide interactions. With National Science Foundation support, Dr. Brenda J. Baker (Arizona State University) and Dr. Stuart Tyson Smith (University of California, Santa Barbara) will co-direct two seasons of archaeological fieldwork in the Fourth Cataract region of the Nile River valley in northern Sudan, situated in northeast Africa. This project investigates interactions of this rugged region's inhabitants with ancient Nubian and Egyptian states to determine the extent to which they were autonomous or integrated into them. The ways in which people identified themselves as members of these cultures or distinct from them are explored during the formation and fluorescence of the Kerman state (c. 4500-1500 BC) and during a period of perceived decline (c. 300-600 AD) after decentralization of the Meroitic state. Alternative hypotheses are evaluated through excavation and analysis of material culture and skeletal remains from both settlement and cemetery contexts. Because it contains Kerma period sites farther upstream than any previously recorded and the only substantial Kerma settlements in the Fourth Cataract region, our project area is uniquely suited to investigating questions concerning the extent of the Kerma state and its interactions with others. The substantial post-Meroitic occupation allows us to address similar questions about regional dynamics in a later period. This project will add to understanding of the rise and fall of state-level societies, provide a broader view of culture contact and center-periphery interaction from an African perspective, and contribute to documentation of a previously unstudied region of Nubia. The integrative archaeological and bioarchaeological research will encourage the application of anthropological approaches by Egyptological and Nubian specialists working elsewhere in this area. Construction of the Merowe dam at the Fourth Cataract will create a reservoir covering 170 kilometers of the Nile River valley, reaching a maximum width of 4 kilometers, and submerging our project area by 2009. This research fosters international collaboration with rescue teams from the US, UK, Poland, Germany, in cooperation with Sudan's National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums (NCAM). This project promotes a better relationship between the American and Sudanese people by involving community members near field sites and providing periodic tours to local school children and their teachers to explain our work and the information it provides about their ancestors. American graduate students will benefit from field experience, research and publication opportunities, and immersion in Nubian culture afforded by the project. Colleagues underrepresented in research will collaborate, specifically a Phoenix-area community college professor whose institution has high Hispanic enrollment. Results of this research will be broadly disseminated via public talks, course lectures, presentations at professional conferences, and publication in journals read by anthropologists, Egyptologists and Nubian archaeologists. Because Sudan permits export of archaeological materials, this project will provide well-documented, well-preserved skeletal and artifactual collections that will be a valuable resource for undergraduate and graduate education and an important comparative collection available to other scholars for research.