The Shala Valley Project, Northern Albania

在国家科学基金会的支持下，迈克尔·加拉蒂博士和一个由考古学家、历史学家、民族学家和地球科学家组成的国际团队正在研究阿尔巴尼亚北部高山上定居点和社会的起源和发展。沙拉山谷项目将美国、阿尔巴尼亚、英国、挪威和匈牙利的专家和学生聚集在一起，研究沙拉部落(阿尔巴尼亚Fis)领土上的文化孤立和部落形成之间的关系。沙拉部落是几个完好无损地存活到20世纪的北部阿尔巴尼亚部落之一。SVP正在使用考古调查、试掘、民族历史和建筑调查以及民族志访谈，以确定过去哪些时期山谷被占领，这些时期社会和经济系统是如何组织的，以及这些系统如何影响当地的山区景观。可行的假设是，身为天主教徒的沙拉人最初在山区寻求隔离，以躲避入侵的奥斯曼土耳其人，但部落制度后来通过与外部世界互动和谈判的复杂过程形成和发展。据认为，这种谈判可能发生在土著人民抵制外来势力并入的大多数时间和地点。迄今为止的结果表明，人类第一次进入沙拉山谷是在旧石器时代中期(约10万年前)。下一次大规模的人口涌入发生在史前晚期。在格鲁纳斯附近的塞斯村，研究小组发现并测试了一个特殊的设防定居点，该定居点可以追溯到从青铜时代到铁器时代的过渡(放射性碳测试得出的日期是公元前800年)。该遗址很可能是在夏季的几个月里被占领的，可能是在这段时间占领亚得里亚海沿岸大部分地区的所谓伊利里亚人的前哨。在漫长的中断之后，山谷在中世纪重新定居，这可能与威尼斯人在该地区的活动有关，然后在中世纪晚期，随着人们在山区找到避难所，人口大幅增长。阿尔巴尼亚北部是欧洲唯一一个部落社会保留到现代的地方。这些社会被阿尔巴尼亚共产主义政府扰乱和破坏，但一些传统做法仍被保留。随着村民离开山区进城，沙拉的文化遗产受到了人口减少的威胁。这个问题的一个可能的解决方案是发展精心制作的、由当地控制的文化和生态旅游产业，为村民提供补充收入。因此，SVP处于独特的地位，通过提供外国游客可能感兴趣的具有文化和历史价值的遗址的数据，帮助当地人创建旅游业。这将对沙拉人民产生有意义的积极影响。研究小组还通过一个网站和各种形式的媒体(如电视和广播)，帮助阿尔巴尼亚人了解北阿尔巴尼亚的历史和考古。最后，美国和阿尔巴尼亚的本科生每年都会参加SVP，从而帮助培养两国的下一代考古学家。

With the support of the National Science Foundation, Dr. Michael Galaty and an international team of archaeologists, historians, ethnologists, and geo-scientists are studying the origins and growth of settlement and society in the Northern Albanian high mountains. The Shala Valley Project (SVP; www.millsaps.edu/svp) brings together U.S., Albanian, British, Norwegian, and Hungarian specialists and students in order to examine the relationship between cultural isolation and tribal formation in the territory of the Shala tribe (Albanian fis), one of several Northern Albanian tribes that survived intact into the 20th century. The SVP is employing archaeological survey, test excavation, ethnohistorical and architectural surveys, and ethnographic interviews in order to determine during what periods of the past the valley was occupied, how social and economic systems were organized during these periods, and how these systems affected the local mountain landscape. The working hypothesis is that the people of Shala, who are Catholic, originally sought isolation in the mountains as protection from the invading Ottoman Turks, but that the tribal system subsequently formed and evolved through complex processes of interaction and negotiation with the outside world. It is argued that such negotiations probably occurred in most times and places where indigenous people resisted incorporation by external powers.Results to date indicate that humans first entered the Shala Valley during the Middle Paleolithic (circa 100,000 year ago). The next major influx of people occurred during later periods of prehistory. In the village of Theth, in the neighborhood of Grunas, the team discovered and test excavated an extraordinary fortified settlement that dates to the transition from the Bronze to the Iron Age (a radiocarbon test returned a date of 800 BC). It is probable that the site was occupied during the summer months, and may have been an outpost of the so-called Illyrian peoples who occupied much of the Adriatic coast during this time. A long hiatus was followed by re-settlement of the valley during the Middle Medieval period, perhaps associated with Venetian activities in the area, and then major population growth in the very Late Medieval as people found refuge in the mountains.Northern Albania is the only place in Europe where tribal societies survived into modern times. These societies were disrupted and damaged by the Albanian Communist government, but some traditional practices have been retained. What remains of Shala's culture is threatened by depopulation, as villagers leave the mountains for the city. One possible solution to this problem is development of a carefully-crafted, locally-controlled cultural- and eco-tourism industry that would provide villagers supplemental income. The SVP is thus in the unique position to help local people create a tourist industry, by providing data about sites of cultural and historic value that would be of interest to foreign tourists. This will have a meaningful, positive effect on the people of Shala. Through a website and through various forms of media (e.g., television and radio), the research group is also helping to educate Albanians about the history and archaeology of Northern Albania. Finally, each year American and Albanian undergraduate students participate in the SVP thus helping to train the next generation of archaeologists in both countries.