Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Landscapes and Self-Organizing Systems: Archaeology of the Ifugao Rice Terraces, Northern Luzon, Philippines

本项目探讨了菲律宾北部高地伊富高灌溉管理与社会组织之间的关系。传统社会的农业集约化研究揭示了社会复杂性与生产集约化之间的关系。虽然考古学家长期以来一直将大规模农业系统与中央集权形式的政治组织联系在一起，但最近的人类学研究已经发现了这种假设的局限性。这项历史生态学研究考察了伊富高灌溉梯田农业的可持续性，并记录了伊富高与其环境之间的动态和递归联系。它着重于水资源管理和社会政治分层之间的明显脱节，确定了伊富高农业可持续发展的基础因素，以及产生集约化农业景观的结构性关联。本研究采用多种方法考察伊富高高原系统的历史和发展：1)利用地理信息系统技术确定最适合聚落和梯田建设的地形位置；2)考古发掘和土壤搅拌，以确定单个定居点和梯田的年龄；3)与伊富高农民进行民族志研究，以确定如何部署劳动力来建造和维护灌溉梯田。研究地点位于联合国教科文组织世界遗产伊富高省（菲律宾中部科迪勒拉），此前很少进行考古研究。由于越来越多的伊富高农民离开了他们的传统农业职业，他们的水稻梯田被废弃，该地区古老的梯田正在迅速恶化，因此对此类研究的需求尤为迫切。这项研究将产生与理解和保护伊富高灌溉技术和遗产直接相关的考古发现，并扩展我们对非工业世界水管理的人类学知识。

This project explores the relationship between irrigation management and social organization of the Ifugao in the Northern Philippines highlands. Agricultural intensification studies in traditional societies shed light on the relationship between increasing social complexity and production intensification. While archaeologists have long associated large-scale agricultural systems with centralized forms of political organization, recent anthropological studies have identified the limitations of this assumption. This historical ecological study examines the sustainability of Ifugao irrigated-terrace farming, and documents dynamic and recursive linkages between the Ifugao and their environment. Its focus on the apparent disjunction between water management and sociopolitical stratification identifies factors that underlie the sustainability of Ifugao agriculture, and structural correlates that generate an intensive agricultural landscape.The research uses multiple methods to investigate the history and growth of the highland Ifugao system: 1) Geographic Information Systems technology to identify the topographic locations that were best suited for settlement and terrace construction; 2) archaeological excavations and soil augering to determine the age of individual settlements and terraces, and 3) ethnographic research with Ifugao farmers to determine how labor is deployed to construct and maintain their irrigation terraces. Research sites are located in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Ifugao Province (Central Cordillera, Philippines), where little previous archaeological research has been undertaken. The need for such research is particularly urgent because the area's ancient terraces are rapidly deteriorating as increasing numbers of Ifugao farmers leave their traditional farming occupations and their rice terraces fall into disuse. This study will generate archaeological findings that are directly relevant to understanding and preserving Ifugao irrigation technology and heritage, and also expands our anthropological knowledge of water management in the non-industrial world.