Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: The Collapse and Regeneration of the Meroitic State between the Fifth Cataract and Khartoum

在斯图尔特·泰森·史密斯博士的指导下，穆罕默德·法鲁克·阿卜杜勒拉赫曼·阿里将通过在苏丹的考古研究来调查麦罗亚国家的崩溃和复兴。麦罗国家是非洲最早的国家之一，大约在公元前300年到公元350年之间，在苏丹的尼罗河中部地区蓬勃发展，一度控制了从埃及边境到喀土穆的整个地区。关于Meroe中央政权的崩溃是由于部落运动进入该地区造成的破坏，埃塞俄比亚阿克苏姆王国的入侵，还是内部派系斗争导致王国分裂，导致后Meroe时期新王国出现时不同的结果，一直存在相当大的争论。以前的讨论主要集中在历史文献和梅罗的首都，但缺乏农村地区考古数据的支持，这些地区的挖掘和调查非常有限或没有进行。本研究项目将通过集中在西岸和东部腹地这些鲜为人知的农村地区进行实地考察，重新评估这些模型，目标是麦罗时期和后麦罗时期的定居点、堡垒和墓地。这些结果将与Meroe核心地区现有的考古数据相结合，以重新评估Meroe状态衰退和再生背后的原因。这项研究有助于更大的人类学和考古学的研究问题，有关古代国家的崩溃。对国家崩溃的研究产生了许多主题，从资源枯竭开始，对新资源的竞争，灾难的压力和对社会，经济和政治挑战的反应不足，以及与其他社会的竞争和入侵者的影响。崩溃从来不是完全的或完全的，在一段时间的分散之后，再生导致社会复杂性（国家、城市等）的再现。农村地区的非精英复原力在复杂社会的重建中发挥着重要作用。这项考古调查将有助于研究古代非洲麦罗国家农村地区社会身份的变化，以及当地人如何发展自治，并在公元4世纪中期再生一种或多种后麦罗政治。这项研究通过将考古学和人类学方法应用于苏丹考古研究，具有更广泛的影响，这一学科传统上缺乏理论视角。特别是，该项目可以通过向苏丹本土考古学家介绍人类学方法和理论，对苏丹考古学的行为产生重要影响，UCSB的本科生和研究生将参与分析带回UCSB进行研究的材料，促进对撒哈拉以南非洲古代国家的更好理解。此外，在尼罗河第5和第6大瀑布的研究区域，拟议中的水坝和农业扩张将对该地区的考古遗址产生严重影响，使该项目具有一定的紧迫性。

Under the guidance of Dr. Stuart Tyson Smith, Mohamed Faroug Abdelrahman Ali will investigate the collapse and regeneration of the Meroitic state through archaeological research in Sudan. The Meroitic state was one of the earliest in Africa, flourishing between approximately 300 BC to AD 350 in the Middle Nile region of Sudan, at one time controlling the entire region from the Egyptian border to Khartoum. There has been considerable debate as to whether the collapse of central authority at Meroe was due to disruptions caused by tribal movements into the area, an invasion by the Ethiopian Axumite kingdom, or internal factionalism that caused the kingdom to split apart, resulting in different outcomes when new kingdoms emerged in the post-Meroitic period. Previous discussions have focused on historical texts and the capital at Meroe, but lack support from archaeological data in the rural areas where very limited or no excavation and survey have been conducted. This research project will reevaluate these models through concentration of fieldwork in these little known rural areas on the west bank and the east hinterland targeting Meroitic and post-Meroitic period settlements, fortresses and cemeteries. These results will be integrated with existing archaeological data in the core Meroe region to reassess the causes behind the decline and the regeneration of the Meroitic state.This research contributes to larger anthropological and archaeological research questions regarding the collapse of archaic states. Studies of the collapse of states have resulted in a number of themes, starting with resource depletion, competition over new resources, stress from catastrophes and an insufficient response to social, economic and political challenges, along with competition with other societies and the effects of intruders. Collapse is never total or complete and regeneration results in the reappearance of social complexity (states, cities, etc.) after a period of decentralization. Non-elite resilience in rural areas plays a significant role in the reconstruction of complex societies. This archaeological investigation will assist in the study of changes in social identity of rural areas in the ancient African Meroitic state and how locals developed autonomy, and regenerated one or multiple post-Meroitic polities in the middle of the 4th century AD.This study has broader impacts through its application of archaeological and anthropological approaches to Sudanese archaeological research, a discipline that has traditionally lacked a theoretical perspective. In particular, the project can have important influence on the conduct of Sudanese archaeology by introducing anthropological methods and theories to native Sudanese archaeologists Undergraduate and graduate students from UCSB will be involved in the analysis of materials brought back to UCSB for study, promoting a better understanding of archaic states in sub-Sahara Africa. Additionally, the proposed dams and expansion of agriculture in the study area at the 5th and 6th cataracts of the Nile will have a serious impact on archaeological sites in the region, lending the project some urgency.