Coordination of Political Integration and Nomadic Statehood

通过分享权力和权威实现政治一体化似乎是一个独特的现代话题，代表了民主政治进程的基础。然而，几千年来，人类社区一直在区域范围内组织起来，建立国家和帝国，并以不同的方式实现了多种版本的融合。考古学家特别有能力研究早期融合，以便更好地了解随着时间的推移，是什么因素促进了具有弹性和包容性的政治组织形式。在当今世界，这类问题尤其相关，因为许多所谓的“失败国家”显然缺乏实现公平权力分享安排的基础，这些安排促进了种族、语言和文化上不同人口的融合。历史学和人类学研究都表明，某些田园游牧政体通过贵族血统之间的权力分享赋予了一种融合制度的权利，作为一种从分散的、可能具有军国主义色彩的游牧社区创建大规模国家的方式。尽管这些看似不利的政治条件，游牧政体持续了几个世纪，并被认为发展了独特的内部政治谈判制度，作为鼓励稳定的一种手段。这些“无头国家”非但不是民主机构，反而是在权衡中央和地方领导形式随时间推移和不断变化的条件方面的重要案例研究。这些早期的政治例子为我们共同的现在和未来提供了经验教训，这是我们考古学研究的指导原则。这个项目测试了游牧国家早期融合的理论模型。这项研究试图发现，在国家建设过程中，权力分享的作用是否确实是一种比强制合并的典型假设情景更有效的政治手段。为了实现这一点，考古学家和学生将进行系统的地面调查和停尸房挖掘，并结合广泛的实验室分析，以评估对多社区政治融合的相互矛盾的解释。此外，该项目还打算作为多个机构的学生和年轻学者的培训基地。这项研究的合作性质在考古学、STEM分析技能和文化遗产管理领域建立了可持续的科学能力。我们通过直接培训、教育支持以及与同事、本科生和研究生分享想法和经验来实现这些目标。因此，该项目促进了科学研究努力最终依赖的各种国际关系、理解和互动。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The making of political integration by way of sharing power and authority might seem a uniquely modern topic representing the foundations of democratic political process. However, human communities have been organizing at regional scales to create states and empires for millenia and have achieved many versions of integration in different ways. Archaeologists are particularly well equipped to study early integration in order to better understand what factors promote resilient and inclusive forms of political organization over time. Such issues are particularly relevant in today’s world where many so-called “failed states” explicitly lack a basis for achieving equitable power sharing arrangements that promote the integration of ethnically, linguistically, and culturally diverse populations. Historical and anthropological scholarship both suggest that certain pastoral nomadic polities enfranchised a system of integration through power sharing among aristocratic lineages as a way to create large-scale states from dispersed and potentially militaristic nomadic communities. Despite these seemingly untoward political conditions, nomadic polities lasted for centuries and are believed to have developed unique systems of internal political negotiation as a means to encourage stability. Far from being democratic institutions, these “headless states” are nevertheless important case-studies in the art of balancing centralized and local forms of leadership over time and changing conditions. That these early political examples hold lessons for our collective present and future is a guiding precept of our archaeological research. This project tests theoretical models for the early integration of the nomadic state. The research seeks to discover whether the role of power sharing was indeed a more effective political device in the process of state building than the typical hypothesized scenario of coercive incorporation. To accomplish this, archaeologists as well as students will conduct systematic ground survey and mortuary excavations in conjunction with a broad suite of laboratory analyses to evaluate competing explanations for multi-community political integration. In addition, the project is intended as a training ground for students and younger scholars at multiple institutions. The collaborative nature of this research builds sustainable scientific capacity in the field of archaeology, STEM analytical skills, and cultural heritage management. We achieve these objectives through direct training, support of education, and the sharing of ideas and experience with colleagues and with undergraduate and graduate students. The project therefore promotes the kinds of international relationships, understandings, and interactions upon which the endeavor of scientific research ultimately depends.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.