Rewriting the Prehistory of Jordan

约旦的史前史始于人类祖先在一条从非洲进入欧洲和亚洲的关键路线上留下的痕迹。这一最早的阶段主要是通过散落的制造、使用和废弃的燧石工具来了解的。大约2万年前，考古保护得到改善，为人类历史上一些最深刻的变化提供了证据。其中包括粮食生产技术的发展，植物和动物的驯化，以及社会和意识形态的发展，这些发展使人们能够在越来越大的、定居的社区中共同生活：这被确定为最早的现代社会（例如Cauvin 2000）。类似的发展在全球许多地区独立发生（Barker 2006），但它们最早的表现是在西南亚。直到最近，约旦被认为是这一过程的边缘，但考古证据现在表明，约旦是这一转变的重要地区。诸如上石器时代的Kharaneh IV遗址显示了大约2万年前的生存和社会复杂性的发展，而最近在Shubayqa的挖掘现在提供了大约1.4万年前纳图夫时期永久性建筑的证据。最早的新石器时代，Pre-Pottery Neolithic A（12,000-10,300年前），甚至在十年前在约旦几乎不为人所知，但现在从多个地点都知道了。前陶器新石器B（10300 - 8700年前），以前被认为是来自其他地方的发展，现在被认为是在约旦高原成为世界上人口最稠密的地区之一时，结合了当地的创新。尽管实地证据仍然很少，新石器时代晚期（8,300-6,500年前）在农业一揽子计划巩固时继续了当地的历史轨迹。随着绵羊和山羊的驯化，约旦在游牧畜牧业的发展中发挥了重要作用。除了耶尔穆克大学的Zeidan Kafafi教授和约旦大学的Maysoon al-Nahar教授等著名的例外，早期史前考古研究一直由国际研究人员主导，在约旦的考古学和文化遗产展示中一直处于边缘地位。早期史前史的叙述主要是由国际学者撰写的，他们的重点是将约旦的证据置于更广泛的地区和全球背景下。除了直接研究约旦材料的学者外，大多数近东新石器时代考古学家继续淡化约旦的重要性，事实上，除了极少数例外（例如提到大型的前陶器晚期新石器时代B遗址），约旦没有在区域综合中登记，而且约旦明显的关键早期发展经常被省略。史前史并没有出现在约旦的学校教育中，尽管它与当代定居问题、定居社区的增长以及农业的早期发展有很多共鸣，而农业仍然是约旦人生存的核心。该项目旨在培养新一代从事史前早期研究的约旦学者和文化资源管理者。我们将把重点放在约旦的参与上，帮助发展约旦的技能、政策和程序，以研究和管理史前历史，并培育一个具有约旦视角和议程的新研究环境。该项目将寻求让更广泛的约旦公众参与史前史，因为当地人对这些史前史缺乏兴趣，导致这些遗址缺乏保护。我们将提高史前史的形象，展示其与现代生活的相关性，包括放牧、农业和水管理的起源，这些都对现代约旦社会至关重要。我们想要展示的是，这是一个人类和当地的故事，而不仅仅是学术和全球的故事。我们将在当地和国际上开发史前旅游的潜力，为农村社区和约旦经济提供直接的经济利益。

Jordanian prehistory begins with the traces left by human ancestors on a key route out of Africa into Europe and Asia. This earliest phase is mainly known from scatters of flint tools made, used, and abandoned. Around 20,000 years ago, archaeological preservation improves providing evidence for some of the most profound changes in human history. These include the development of food producing technologies, the domestication of plants and animals, and the social and ideological developments that enabled living together in increasingly large and sedentary communities: what have been identified as the earliest modern societies (e.g. Cauvin 2000). Similar developments took place independently in a number of regions across the globe (Barker 2006), but their earliest manifestation was in Southwest Asia. Until recently, Jordan was considered as marginal to this process, but archaeological evidence now suggests that Jordan was important region to this transformation. Sites such as Kharaneh IV in the Epipalaeolithic show developments in subsistence and social complexity from c 20,000 years ago, while recent excavations at Shubayqa now provide evidence of permanent architecture from the Natufian period c 14,000 years ago. The earliest Neolithic, the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (12,000-10,300 years ago), was barely known in Jordan even a decade ago, but is now known from multiple sites. The Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (10,300 - 8,700 years ago), previously thought to derive from developments elsewhere, is now seen to incorporate local innovations when the Jordanian plateau became one of the most densely populated parts of the world. Although field evidence remains scarce, the Late Neolithic (8,300-6,500 years ago) continues a local historical trajectory when the farming package consolidates. Jordan plays an important role in the development of nomadic pastoralism following the domestication of sheep and goats.With notable exceptions, such as Profs Zeidan Kafafi of Yarmouk University and Maysoon al-Nahar of the University of Jordan, early prehistoric archaeological research has been dominated by international researchers, and has been marginal to archaeology and cultural heritage presentation within Jordan. The narrative of early prehistory has been largely written by international scholars, whose focus has been to place Jordanian evidence into a wider regional and global context. With the exception of scholars working directly on Jordanian material, most Near Eastern Neolithic archaeologists continue to downplay the significance of Jordan, indeed, with rare exceptions (such as mention of the large Late Pre-Pottery Neolithic B sites), Jordan does not register in regional syntheses, and the crucial early developments evident in Jordan are often omitted. Prehistory does not figure in Jordanian school education, despite the many resonances with contemporary issues of settling down, the growth of sedentary communities, and the early development of an agricultural package that still lies at the core of Jordanian subsistence.This project aims to develop a new generation of Jordanian scholars and cultural resource managers working in early prehistoric research. We will focus on Jordanian engagement, helping develop Jordanian skills, policies and procedures to research and manage prehistory, and to foster a new research environment with Jordanian perspectives and agendas.The project will seek to engage the wider Jordanian public in prehistory, where a lack of local interest translates into a lack of protection for these sites. We will raise the profile of prehistory, show its relevance to modern life in the origins of herding, farming, and water management, all vital to modern Jordanian society. We want to show this is a human and local story, not just academic and global.We will develop the tourism potential of prehistory, locally and internationally, to provide direct economic benefits to rural communities and the Jordanian economy.