Beyond Purple and Ivory ‒ An investigation of the Phoenician economy in their homeland based on agriculture and amphora production and distribution in southern Lebanon during the late Iron Age and Persian Period (ca 750‒350 BC)

本项目将以多学科和多维度的方法对景观和考古数据进行严格的分析，为研究腓尼基人的故乡在铁器时代晚期和波斯时期的经济战略提供新的见解。直到今天，主要是外部文本资料被用于研究腓尼基人的经济，导致了很大程度上不完整的图景和一些误解。由于黎巴嫩的考古研究与周边地区相比要少得多，关键数据缺失，阻碍了制定区域一级解释框架的努力。在黎巴嫩南部的一个案例研究中，该项目试图通过史无前例的大规模数据收集和解释来纠正这种情况，使人们对腓尼基经济有了新的了解。本案例研究以三个目标为基础：a.通过建立一个关于该地区地理和地质信息的详细数据库，评估农牧生产及其组织的潜力。b.了解初级部门生产的组织，包括生产什么类型的农牧产品以及它们是如何加工的。c.确定两栖类生产在农业生产的组织、分配和消费方面所起的作用。这些目标将通过对涉及景观分析、考古田野工作、对植物和动物遗骸的分析以及对两栖动物的宏观和考古测量分析。目标A将通过结合遥感技术、地质调查和调查结果的景观分析来实现，这将为我们提供对研究区土地潜力和农业组织的详细见解。目标B包括在Tell el-Burak的挖掘及其腹地的调查，以及对该遗址的原始人类遗骸的科学研究，这将为我们提供农业战略和农产品加工方面的信息。目标C包括对研究区域内三个不同地点的大量腓尼基双孔目动物进行多学科分析，结合类型学调查和创新的考古方法，这将为我们提供关于双孔目动物在腓尼基经济中的角色和规模的信息。该项目的结果将为莱万丁考古学提供急需的可靠数据集，这些数据将被基于理论的经济模型解释，以了解腓尼基经济。这个项目的意义并不局限于莱万丁考古。由于腓尼基人出现在地中海的更大部分，许多学者热切地等待来自祖国的新研究结果，以将他们的数据放在背景中。

This project will provide new insights into economic strategies in the Phoenician homeland during the late Iron Age and Persian Period based on a rigorous analysis of landscape and archaeological data using a multidisciplinary and multidimensional approach.Until today, mainly external textual sources have been used for the study of the Phoenician economy leading to a largely incomplete picture and a number of misconceptions. As Lebanon has seen much less archaeological research relative to surrounding areas key pieces of data are missing hindering efforts to develop region-level explanatory frameworks. In a case study in southern Lebanon, this project attempts to rectify this situation through the ambitious collection and interpretation of data on an unprecedented scale, granting a new understanding of the Phoenician economy. This case study builds on three objectives:A. To assess the potential for agro-pastoral production and its organization through the building of a detailed database of information on the geography and geology of the area.B. To understand the organization of primary sector production including what kind of agro-pastoral goods were produced and how they were processed.C. To define the role amphora production played in relation to agricultural production regarding the organization of production, distribution and consumption.These objectives will be reached through the multidisciplinary analysis of diverse and robust datasets involving landscape analysis, archaeological fieldwork, analysis of plant and animal remains as well as macroscopic and archaeometric analyses of amphorae.Objective A will be reached through a landscape analysis combining remote sensing techniques, geological investigations and the results of the surveys, which will provide us with detailed insights into land potential and agricultural organization in the study area.Objective B consists of excavations at Tell el-Burak and a survey of its hinterland as well as the scientific study of primary human residue from this site, which will provide us with information on agricultural strategies and the processing of agricultural produce.Objective C includes the multidisciplinary analysis of a large corpus of Phoenician amphorae from three different sites within the study area combining typological investigations with an innovative archaeometric approach, which will provide us with information on the role and scale of amphorae production, distribution and consumption in the Phoenician economy.The results of this project will provide Levantine archaeology with much needed robust datasets, which will be interpreted using theory based economic models to gain an understanding of the Phoenician economy. The significance of this project is not limited to Levantine archaeology. Due to the presence of the Phoenicians in larger parts of the Mediterranean, a great number of scholars eagerly awaits new research results from the homeland to put their data into context.