Ritual Formation Processes at Bronze Age Mt. Lykaion

在国家科学基金会的支持下，Mary Voyatzis博士和David Gilman Romano博士将与一个跨学科的跨学科团队一起，分析在山上宙斯的灰坛上进行早期邪教和仪式实践的证据。希腊阿卡迪亚的Lykaion。该项目的核心是调查信仰体系在很长一段时间内如何在传统社会中起到支撑和提供社会稳定的作用。纵观当今世界的社会和国家，很明显，身份认同在很大程度上是围绕着意识形态--宗教和其他意识形态--形成的，这些意识形态包含了一个社会--S的核心价值观，它既提供了凝聚力，也为决策提供了基础。为了长期有效，这些核心价值观必须足够灵活，以适应不断变化的环境，考古学有可能研究这种信仰体系如何在较长一段时间内发挥作用。这座山。Lykaion遗址在这一背景下具有重要意义。该遗址的考古研究表明，祭祀活动可能发生在一千多年的时间里，分层的地层由烧焦的动物骨骼和其他遗骸组成。在两个野外季节的过程中，通过沉积物放置了战壕，该奖项提供资金，用于研究灰坛及其内容物的形成过程和年代学，综合各种科学技术，如碳14测年、陶瓷分析、地质考古学、动物骨骼研究(动物考古学)、化学残留物分析和古民族植物学。许多研究目标之一是评估动物考古学、民族植物学和陶器证据，以确定从新石器时代末期到古代，仪式活动和其他类型人类行为的连续性和变化。该项目的一个重要方面包括对考古学本科生和研究生进行实地培训。NSF的拨款将支持布里特·斯塔科维奇博士在亚利桑那大学的博士后奖学金，他将制定和开发用于焙烧骨骼样本前处理的实验室方案。斯塔科维奇博士的工作将使美国国家科学基金会-亚利桑那州加速器质谱学实验室能够对来自山上的焙烧骨骼样本进行放射性碳测年。Lykaion和未来的其他项目。建议在Megalopolis附近的Megalopolis建立一个(私人资助的)研究中心。Lykaion将在伯罗奔尼撒建立一个永久设施，以加强和促进不同领域的学生和学者的国际研究。更广泛的好处包括为山上服务不足的高中生创建一个新的考古计划。Lykaion，以及重要的是，在Mt.莱凯恩。该公园将创建连接古代保护区和其中城市的徒步旅行小径，并包括与古迹、自然植物和动物有关的标志。该项目的时间顺序和其他结果将在山顶附近的公园标志上详细说明。

With support from the National Science Foundation, Drs. Mary Voyatzis and David Gilman Romano, together with a multinational interdisciplinary team, will analyze the evidence for early cult and ritual practice at the ash altar of Zeus at Mt. Lykaion in Arcadia, Greece. Central to the project is the investigation of the ways in which systems of belief serve to anchor and provide social stability in traditional societies over extended periods of time. It is clear, looking at societies and nations in the world today that identities are in significant measure forged around ideologies, both religions and other, which incorporate a society?s core values and which provide both cohesiveness and a base for decision making. To be effective over the long run such core values must be flexible enough to adapt to changing circumstances and archaeology has the potential to examine how such belief systems function over extended periods of time. The Mt. Lykaion site assumes significance in this context. Archaeological research at the site indicates that ritual offerings took place over a period likely of more than one thousand years and the stratified layers are composed of burnt animal bone and other remains. Over the course of two field seasons, trenches have been placed through the deposit and this award provides funds to study of the formation processes and chronology of the ash altar and its contents, integrating various scientific techniques such as carbon-14 dating, ceramic analyses, geoarchaeology, the study of animal bones (zooarchaeology), chemical residue analysis and paleoethnobotany. One of the many research objectives is to evaluate the zooarchaeological, ethnobotanical and ceramic evidence for continuity and change in ritual activities and other types of human behaviors from the Final Neolithic through the Archaic periods. An important aspect of the project includes field training of undergraduate and graduate archaeology students. The NSF grant will support a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Arizona for Dr. Britt Starkovitch, who will institute and develop laboratory protocols for the pre-treatment of calcined bone samples. Dr. Starkovich's work will enable the NSF-Arizona Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Laboratory to radiocarbon date calcined bone samples from Mt. Lykaion and from other projects in the future. A proposed (privately funded) research center in Megalopolis, near Mt. Lykaion, will create a permanent facility in the Peloponnese to enhance and promote international research for students and scholars in a variety of fields. Broader benefits include the creation of a new archaeology program for underserved high school students at Mt. Lykaion, and importantly, the establishment of a 550 square kilometer Parrhasian Heritage Park in the area of Mt. Lykaion. The park will create hiking trails linking the ancient sanctuaries and cities within it, and include signage relating to the antiquities and the natural flora, and fauna. The chronological and other results of the project will be detailed on park signs located near the mountain summit.