Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: The Archaeology of Culture Contact on the Kalahari's Fringe, Botswana

在玛格丽特·W·康基博士的监督下，大卫·科恩将进行考古挖掘，并分析Botlhano Fela遗址的文物和数据。博特尔哈诺·费拉位于博茨瓦纳东南部的一个山顶上，位于卡拉哈里沙漠边缘的今天的塔马加村。Botlhano Fela在不同的时期被不同的群体占领，最后一次铁器时代的村庄占领可以追溯到公元1600年左右，但还没有发现更早的采集者占领，可以追溯到后来的石器时代，可能追溯到公元前2300年的邻近地区的其他遗址。该遗址与科恩和其他人在该地区从其他六个遗址挖掘出的材料相结合，将展示随着这些群体相互联系的增加，生活在该地区的采集者、牧民和农民群体的生活发生的变化。卡拉哈里和更远地区的人类学和考古学研究一直受到两极分化的争论的影响和主导，这些争论的重点是土著觅食者与移民耕作和放牧民族之间从大约2000年前开始发展的关系。争论围绕着群体互动和参与社会、政治和贸易网络的性质和强度，并受到历史上观察到的少数文化群体被更大的班图语群体财团支配和从属的影响，这种观察一直持续到现在。这个项目旨在研究这些群体关系随着时间的推移而发展或缺乏的情况，以了解它们是如何发展起来的，以及可能出现了与近代历史上观察到的不同的情况。通过考察日常经济和社会活动的物质遗迹，群体生活方式的变化将讲述人们如何根据他们所生活的不断变化的社会格局来应对和改变他们的日常生活。简单的考古遗迹，如陶瓷、个人装饰品、石器和金属工具，以及其他日常人类活动的文物，对于观察文化变化非常有用，在本项目的范围内，将有助于了解该地区人类行为和变化的可变性、文化持久性的各个方面，并为世界其他地区的研究提供范例。这项研究除了对社会科学和历史研究做出重要贡献外，还旨在产生更广泛的影响。在这项研究的早期阶段和目前阶段，努力提高公众对塔马加村考古实践和考古科学以及管理和保护文化遗产的重要性的关注和了解。这包括张贴关于该项目的海报，说明研究进展和结果，参加社区会议，与学童交谈，以及由村里感兴趣的人发起的非正式对话。在塔马加以外，这个项目已经并将继续成为博茨瓦纳大学本科生的研究和培训经验，因为外国研究人员在获得开展研究许可的国家内为技能和机会的发展做出贡献是非常重要的。科恩还在博茨瓦纳国家博物馆举办的公开讲座上分享了这项研究早期阶段的研究成果。最后，除了在博茨瓦纳培训学生外，这次发掘的考古材料的分析将继续邀请加州大学伯克利分校的本科生参与，为他们提供实践经验和考古学定量和定性方面的培训。最后，这项研究的目标是促进和改善博茨瓦纳不同群体之间的文化理解，并为认识到所有群体历史、声音和对人类的贡献的重要性的世界话语做出贡献。在像博茨瓦纳这样的民主国家的背景下，该项目将促进国家发展中所有文化群体历史的力量、承认和尊重，以及这些历史对维护真正民主理想的重要性。

Under the supervision of Dr. Margaret W. Conkey, David Cohen will conduct an archaeological excavation, as well as analyze artifacts and data from the site of Botlhano Fela. Botlhano Fela is located in southeastern Botswana on a hilltop in the present-day village of Thamaga on the fringe of the Kalahari Desert. Botlhano Fela was occupied at various times by different groups, with the final Iron Age village occupation dating to around 1600 A.D., but has yet undated earlier forager occupations that span back into the Later Stone Age, possibly as far as other sites in the immediate area that date to 2300 B.C. This site, combined with materials excavated by Cohen and others in the area from six other sites, will show the changes in the lives of groups of foragers, herders, and farmers living in the area over time as these groups came into increasing contact with each other, as well as wider social and political networks in the region.Anthropological and archaeological research around the Kalahari and further afield has been influenced and dominated by polarized arguments focused on the relationships that developed between indigenous foragers and immigrant farming and herding peoples beginning about 2000 years ago. Arguments have centered around the nature and intensity of group interactions and participation in social, political, and trade networks, and have been influenced by historic observations of the domination and subordination of minority cultural groups by larger consortiums of Bantu-speaking groups that has persisted into the present. This project is designed to examine the development, or lack thereof, of these group relations through time to see how they developed and may have appeared differently than those observed in recent history. By examining the material remains of daily economic and social activities, changes in groups ways of life will tell the stories of how people coped with and modified their daily lives in light of the changing social landscape they were living within. Simple archaeological remains such as ceramics, personal adornment, stone and metal tools, and other artifacts of daily human activities are extremely useful for observing cultural change, and within the scope of this project will contribute to understanding the variability of human behavior and change in the region, aspects of cultural persistence, as well serve as an example for research in other parts of the world.In addition to the important contributions of this research to the social sciences and historical studies, it is designed to have a much broader impact. In earlier stages of this research, and within this current stage, an effort has been made to increase the level of public interest and understanding of the practice and science of archaeology, as well as the importance of stewardship and protecting cultural heritage, in the immediate village of Thamaga. This has involved posters about the project with research progress and findings, participation in community meetings, talks to schoolchildren, and informal conversations initiated by interested persons in the village. Outside of Thamaga, this project has and will continue to be a research and training experience for undergraduate students from the University of Botswana, as it is very important for foreign researchers to contribute to the development of skills and opportunities within the country where they receive permission to conduct research. Cohen has also shared research findings from earlier stages of this research at public lectures hosted by the Botswana National Museum. Finally, in addition to training students within Botswana, the analysis of archaeological materials from this excavation will continue to involve undergraduate students at the University of California Berkeley, providing them hands-on experiences and training in the quantitative and qualitative aspects of archaeology.Finally, a goal of this research is to promote and improve cultural understandings between different groups living within Botswana, and contribute to the world discourse on recognizing the importance of all group histories, voices, and contributions to humanity. Within the context of a democratic nation such as Botswana, this project will promote the power, recognition, and respect of all cultural group histories in the development of a nation, and the importance of these for maintaining the ideals of true democracy.