International Research Fellowship Program: The Ritual of Death and the Emergence of Social Hierarchies during the Chalcolitic in Central Mediterranean Spain

[0701241 .麦克卢尔国际研究奖学金计划使美国科学家和工程师能够在国外进行9至24个月的研究。该计划的奖励为联合研究提供了机会，并利用独特或互补的设施、专业知识和国外的实验条件。该奖项将支持Sarah B. McClure博士与西班牙巴伦西亚史前博物馆的Bernat Marti博士和俄勒冈大学的Douglas Kennett博士进行为期15个月的研究。这个项目的重点是人类社会组织的根本转变。在铜石器时代（公元前4千年），西班牙东部的社区受到人口压力、环境影响和广泛的经济相互依赖的挑战。通过研究他们的社会组织，我们可以确定人类在文化和环境变化的时代是如何协商社会关系的，以及人类采用的各种策略。在之前的几千年里，人口不断增长，到了铜器时代，农民们开始使用新技术，比如犁，把农业生产扩大到更边缘的土壤上。与此同时，陶瓷和石器的生产变得更加有组织，工匠们至少进行了小规模的专业化，他们的产品被广泛交易。这一时期也提供了丧葬实践中社会不平等的第一个证据。Cova de la Pastora的公共墓地在20世纪40年代被部分挖掘，在放射性碳年代测定法出现之前。75具遗骸和大量精心制作的陪葬品一起被发现。这种丰富的人工制品和人类遗骸的组合在描述地位差异和社会等级的出现方面起着关键作用，因为似乎不是所有的人都得到了类似的坟墓物品。在博士后研究期间，PI将与西班牙的同事密切合作，分析瓦伦西亚史前博物馆的藏品，并总结西班牙东部铜器时代墓葬和墓葬的现有文献。对这些价值极高的文化遗产的分析将包括对文物和人类遗骸的地球化学分析，以确定年代、人类饮食的差异、工艺生产中使用的原材料的来源位置、家畜管理策略和土地使用，并将通过图书馆研究加以补充，将所得数据置于更广泛的文化和时间背景中。研究结果将以一本书的形式发表在同行评议的期刊上，并在国际会议上发表。这项研究的更广泛影响将是评估社会不平等出现的原因和背景，同时在美国和西班牙的科学家和机构之间建立长期合作关系。

0701241McClureThe International Research Fellowship Program enables U.S. scientists and engineers to conduct nine to twenty-four months of research abroad. The program's awards provide opportunities for joint research, and the use of unique or complementary facilities, expertise and experimental conditions abroad.This award will support a fifteen-month research fellowship by Dr. Sarah B. McClure to work with Dr. Bernat Marti at Museu de Prehistoria de Valencia in Valencia, Spain and Dr. Douglas Kennett at the University of Oregon.This project focuses on a fundamental shift in the organization of human societies. During the Chalcolithic (4th millennium BC), communities in eastern Spain were challenged by population pressure, environmental impacts, and wide-ranging economic interdependencies. By studying their social organization, we can identify how humans negotiated social relationships in times of cultural and environmental change and the variety of strategies humans employed. Human populations grew during the preceding millennia, and by the Chalcolithic farmers were using new technologies, such as the plow, to expand agricultural production onto more marginal soils. At the same time, ceramic and stone tool production became more organized with at least small-scale specialization by craftspeople, whose wares were widely traded. This period also provides the first evidence of social inequality in its funerary practices. The communal burial site of Cova de la Pastora was partially excavated in the 1940's, prior to the advent of radiocarbon dating. The remains of 75 individuals were found along with large quantities of elaborate grave goods. This rich assemblage of artifacts and human remains plays a key part in characterizing status differences and the emergence of social hierarchies, since it appears that not all individuals were given similar grave goods for the afterlife. During the course of the postdoctoral fellowship, the PI will work closely with colleagues in Spain to analyze collections at the Museum of Prehistory in Valencia and summarize the existing literature on Chalcolithic burials and grave goods in eastern Spain. Analysis of these highly valued objects of cultural patrimony will include geo-chemical analyses on artifacts and human remains to determine chronology, differences in human diets, source locations of raw materials used in craft production, domestic animal management strategies, and land use, and will be complemented by library research to place resulting data in a broader cultural and chronological context. Results will be published in peer-reviewed journals, as a book, and presented at international conferences. The broader impacts of this study will be evaluating the causes and contexts of the emergence of social inequality, while forging long-term collaborative relationships between scientists and institutions in the United States and Spain.