Assessing the Role of Ecological Change on Economic and Demographic Transformations Between the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age in the Sizandro River Valley, Portugal

在国家科学基金会的支持下，爱荷华大学的Katina Lillios博士将带领一个由美国、葡萄牙和德国研究人员组成的跨学科团队进行一个为期三年的考古项目，以确定公元前2200年左右葡萄牙中西部Sizandro河谷复杂社会崩溃的原因。Sizandro河谷项目汇集了考古学、生物人类学和地质考古学的专家，研究Sizandro河谷古代社区经历的经济和人口变化。在新石器时代晚期，西桑德罗山谷是繁荣人口的家园，他们生活在大型设防定居点，将死者埋葬在集体坟墓中。在西桑德罗河沿岸的新石器时代晚期遗址中，发现了起源于葡萄牙内陆并远至北非的贸易商品。在青铜时代早期(公元前2200-1500年)，许多定居点被遗弃，长途贸易衰落。在此期间，西桑德罗河河口受保护的河口随着海平面的下降而萎缩，这是由于新石器时代晚期集约化农业导致的山坡侵蚀加速了这一过程。河口的丧失可能切断了山谷与海上贸易的联系，河流的淤积可能阻碍了与内陆的贸易。河口资源萎缩消失，河流生态系统发生变化。然而，这些生态变化与荒废和崩塌之间的因果关系从未得到检验。Sizandro河谷项目将通过提供一个这样的崩溃的详细案例研究，有助于更好地了解复杂社会的历史，包括它们的崩溃。它还将拓宽研究崩塌的社会和生态背景。大多数关于崩塌的研究都集中在脆弱的环境上，例如公元900年中美洲热带雨林的经典玛雅崩塌，以及公元1300年美国西南部的崩塌。如果没有更广泛的知识，学者和大众对气候变化和社会崩溃的理解将仍然有限。为了评估Sizandro山谷生态变化和社会崩溃之间的关系，并最终了解葡萄牙发生的地区变化，Lillios博士和她的团队将研究流动性、饮食和定居模式。专家们将分析人类骨骼遗骸及其坍塌前和坍塌后遗址的骨化学。该小组还将在新石器时代晚期-青铜时代早期对博洛雷斯的埋葬进行挖掘，以收集更多的骨骼材料。为了评估定居点模式的变化及其经济意义，小组成员将进行两个季节的调查。将对遗址进行测绘、测试和年代测定，以更准确地描述新石器时代晚期和青铜时代早期之间聚落模式的变化。西桑德罗河谷项目将为学生提供宝贵的教育机会，并将加强美国、葡萄牙和德国考古学家之间的合作伙伴关系。结果将在学术出版物、会议演示、数字数据库、公开演讲和课堂上广泛传播。项目成员还将在葡萄牙与当地公民、游客和学童分享他们的发现。

With National Science Foundation support, Dr. Katina Lillios (University of Iowa) will lead an interdisciplinary team of US, Portuguese, and German researchers in a three-year archaeological project to determine what caused the collapse of complex societies around 2200 BC in the Sizandro River valley, west-central Portugal. The Sizandro River Valley Project brings specialists from archaeology, biological anthropology, and geoarchaeology to study the economic and demographic changes experienced by the ancient communities of the Sizandro River valley. During the Late Neolithic, the Sizandro valley was home to a thriving population, who lived in large fortified settlements and buried their dead in collective tombs. Trade goods that originated in the Portuguese interior and as far away as North Africa have been found in Late Neolithic sites along the Sizandro. During the Early Bronze Age (2200-1500 BC), many settlements were abandoned, and long-distance trade declined. During this same time, the sheltered estuary at the mouth of the Sizandro shrank as sea level fell, accelerated by hillslope erosion attributed to intensive Late Neolithic agriculture. Loss of the estuary might have cut the valley off from maritime trade, and silting of the river might have impeded trade with the interior. Estuarine resources dwindled and disappeared, and riverine ecosystems were transformed. However, the causal relationship between these ecological changes and the abandonments and collapse has never been tested. The Sizandro River Valley Project will contribute to a better understanding of the history of complex societies, including their collapse, by providing a detailed case study of one such collapse. It will also broaden the range of social and ecological contexts within which collapse has been studied. Most studies of collapse have been focused on vulnerable environments, such as the Classic Maya collapse in AD 900 in the rainforests of Central America, and the AD 1300 collapse in the American Southwest. Without broader knowledge, scholarly and popular understandings of climate change and societal collapse will remain limited. In order to evaluate the relationship between ecological change and social collapse in the Sizandro Valley and, ultimately, understanding of the regional transformations that occurred in Portugal, Dr. Lillios and her team will study mobility, diet, and settlement patterns. Specialists will analyze human skeletal remains and their bone chemistry from sites dated to prior to and post collapse. The team will also conduct excavations at the Late Neolithic-Early Bronze Age burial of Bolores to collect additional skeletal material. To assess changes in settlement pattern and their economic significance, team members will carry out two seasons of survey. Sites will be mapped, tested, and dated to more precisely characterize the changes in settlement pattern between the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age. The Sizandro River Valley Project will provide valuable educational opportunities for students and will strengthen working partnerships between US, Portuguese, and German archaeologists. Results will be broadly disseminated in scholarly publications, conference presentations, digital databases, public lectures, and classes. Project members will also share their findings in Portugal with local citizens, tourists, and schoolchildren.