Understanding the Origins and Institutionalization of Social and Economic Hierarchies through Archaeological Settlement Survey

在现代之前，北极很少有地区经历过社会不平等的发展。然而，这种不平等在冰岛最初殖民化后不久就出现了。这个考古项目探讨了冰岛北部Hjaltadalur的Hólar如何以及为什么在中世纪时期成为一个强大的社会，经济和宗教中心。拟议的区域分析不是孤立地研究个别地点，而是跟踪整个Hjaltadalur的地点建立、居住和废弃的顺序。这些广泛的社会经济过程被认为是在当地的地理和环境背景下的霍拉尔网站，以促进有利于发展的社会等级和中央集权的因素的理解。该项目采用取芯，地球物理调查，并测试挖掘，以开发一个解决序列霍拉尔地区，确定何时农场和教堂建立，居住，并放弃。将对Hjaltadalur的21个农场进行取样测试。山谷中存在的火山灰年代学将有助于确定年代，有人类活动证据的岩心将描绘出农场的周边。对垃圾坑的试掘将建立地层学，并提供动物和植物样本。财产文件和农业生产力措施的历史研究将补充考古实地考察。在Hólar的工作将为美国学生提供国际领域的经验和论文数据集;与冰岛教师和学生的工作将促进国际合作和交流。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

Few regions in the Arctic experienced the development of social inequalities prior to the modern era. Yet such inequalities emerged in Iceland soon after its initial colonization. This archaeological project explores how and why Hólar in Hjaltadalur, North Iceland, became a powerful social, economic, and religious center during the medieval period. Rather than studying individual sites in isolation, the proposed regional analysis tracks the sequence of site establishment, habitation and abandonment throughout Hjaltadalur. These broad socioeconomic processes are considered within the local geographic and environmental context of the Hólar site to advance understanding of the factors favoring the development of social hierarchies and centralized power.This project employs coring, geophysical investigation, and test excavations to develop a settlement sequence for the Hólar area, determining when farms and churches were established, inhabited, and abandoned. Twenty-one farm sites in Hjaltadalur will be tested by coring. The tephrochronology that exists for the valley will facilitate dating, and cores with evidence for human activity will delineate farm perimeters. Test excavations of middens (trash pits) will establish stratigraphy and provide faunal and floral samples. Historical study of property documents and measures of agricultural productivity will complement archaeological fieldwork. Work at Hólar will provide American students with international field experience and thesis datasets; work with Icelandic faculty and students will foster international collaboration and exchange.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.