Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Subsistence and Specialization in the Inland Niger Delta, Mali

在菲奥娜·马歇尔博士的指导下，阿比盖尔·史密斯女士将为她的博士论文收集数据。她将调查过去流动的牧民群体和城市人口之间的相互关系，重点是Jenné-Jeno遗址及其周围景观。Jenné-Jeno是非洲已知的最早的城市中心之一，公元前2500年至1400年被占领。它位于马里内陆尼日尔三角洲极其肥沃的泛滥平原上，使该遗址得以迅速发展，并使居住者能够与该地区的居民建立贸易联系，最终成为新兴的跨撒哈拉贸易的关键齿轮。牧民在非洲有着悠久的历史，并继续成为现代非洲社会的重要组成部分。然而，人们对牧民和他们过去久居的邻居之间的关系知之甚少。在西非，牧民的轨迹尤其不清楚。考虑到缺乏信息，该项目使用挖掘、动物群、考古植物学、地质考古学和同位素分析来确定Jenné-Jeno周围地区是否存在流动的牧群。这项研究通过调查在长期占领期间这些地点的生存性质，将这些牛群置于更广泛的背景下。一个主要的问题是，家畜是像今天这样由流动的牧民季节性地从三角洲迁出，还是由久坐的城市人口常年保持着。该项目是Jenné-Jeno地区第一次大规模挖掘较小遗址，将提供有关当地变异性和占领规模的重要信息。作为该地区第一次以生存和专业化为重点的挖掘，该项目将提供有关西非牧业和农业发展轨迹的经验数据。这些信息将有助于讨论牧民在杰内-杰诺城市系统中的作用，这将增进对杰内-杰诺群体间互动和政治组织的了解。鉴于与世界其他地区相比，非洲粮食生产的独特轨迹，该项目也可能对我们理解全球牧区战略和流动-久坐互动的可变性作出重要贡献。与世界其他地区的研究一起，这些信息将有助于将流动-久坐相互作用的理论模型转移到近东配置之外，这些配置经常被误用于其他世界地区。通过与几名当地学生和马里考古学家合作，该项目将在美国和马里学者之间建立联系，并使专门的考古技能和方法得以传播。此外，让当地民众参与的考古调查是保护马里考古遗产的重要手段。掠夺考古遗址的玻璃珠子、兵马俑和陶瓷是马里努力了解和保护其文化遗产的主要障碍。当地和国际考古学家、马里文化部和马里人民的共同努力正在取得长足进展，但国际学者的持续支持对这一努力至关重要。即使是像这样的小项目，雇佣当地工人，吸引当地学生，并努力将研究中的信息提供给非学术公众并使其感兴趣，也可能产生重大影响。最后，通过关注生存和相互作用，该项目将有可能用于与马里广大农业人口合作的发展项目。几千年来，人们在萨赫勒的半干旱环境中繁衍生息，考古记录有可能表明，面对各种气候、流行病、文化和政治变化，战略和互动是如何变化的，为现代提供了有益的信息。

Under the direction of Dr. Fiona Marshall, Ms Abigail Smith will collect data for her doctoral dissertation. She will investigate the interrelationship between mobile pastoral groups and urban populations in the past, focusing on the site of Jenné-jeno and its surrounding landscape. Jenné-jeno, occupied ca. 250 BCE to CE 1400, is one of Africa's earliest known urban centers. Its location in the extremely fertile floodplains of the Inland Niger Delta, Mali, allowed the site to grow rapidly and enabled occupants to forge trade links with regional populations, eventually becoming a vital cog in the emerging trans-Saharan trade.Pastoral populations have a long history in Africa and continue to be an important part of modern African society. Very little, however, is known about the relationships between pastoral peoples and their sedentary neighbors in the past. In West Africa, pastoral trajectories are particularly unclear. With this dearth of information in mind, this project uses excavation, faunal, archaeobotanical, geoarchaeological, and isotopic analysis to identify the presence of mobile pastoral herds in the area around Jenné-jeno. The study places these herds in broader context by investigating the nature of subsistence at the sites throughout the long period of occupation. A major question is whether domestic herds were moved seasonally out of the delta by mobile pastoralists, as they are today, or kept year-round by a sedentary urban population. This project is the first large-scale excavation of smaller sites in the Jenné-jeno area and will provide important information about local variability and the scale of occupation through time. As the first excavation in the area focusing on subsistence and specialization, this project will provide empirical data about the trajectories of West African pastoralism and agriculture. The information will enable discussion of the role of pastoral populations in the Jenné-jeno urban system, which will increase understanding of Jenné-jeno's intergroup interactions and political organization. Given the unique trajectories of African food production when compared to other world areas, this project could also be an important contribution to our understanding of variability in global pastoral strategies and mobile-sedentary interactions. Along with studies in other world areas this information will help to move theoretical models of mobile-sedentary interactions beyond Near Eastern configurations that too often are misapplied to other world areas.By working with several local students and Malian archaeologists, this project will forge connections between US and Malian scholars and enable the dissemination of specialized archaeological skills and methods. Furthermore, archaeological investigations that engage the local populace are a critical means of preserving Mali's archaeological heritage. Looting of archaeological sites for glass beads, terra cotta figurines, and ceramics is a major obstacle to Mali's efforts to understand and preserve its cultural patrimony. Combined efforts by local and international archaeologists, Mali's Ministry of Culture, and the Malian people are making great strides, but continued support by international scholars is vital in this endeavor. Even small projects like this one that hire local workers, engage local students, and endeavor to make information from the research available to and interesting for a nonacademic public can have a significant impact. Finally, by focusing on subsistence and interactions, this project will be of potential use to development projects working with Mali's vast agricultural population. People have thrived in the semi-arid environment of the Sahel for millennia, and the archaeological record has the potential to show how strategies and interactions shifted in the face of various climatic, epidemiological, cultural, and political changes, providing instructive information for the modern era.