Rewriting the Prehistory of Jordan

约旦史前史始于人类祖先在非洲进入欧洲和亚洲的关键路线上留下的痕迹。这个最早的阶段主要是从分散的燧石工具制造，使用和废弃。大约2万年前，考古学的保护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，以及使人们能够在日益庞大且定居的社区中共同生活的社会和意识形态的发展：这些社区已被确定为最早的现代社会（例如Cauvin 2000）。类似的发展独立地发生在地球仪的一些地区（巴克2006年），但它们最早的表现是在西南亚。直到最近，约旦被认为是边缘的这一进程，但考古证据现在表明，约旦是重要的地区，这一转变。Epipalaeolithic中的Kharaneh IV等遗址显示了约20，000年前的生存和社会复杂性的发展，而最近在Shubayqa的发掘现在提供了约14，000年前Natufian时期永久建筑的证据。最早的新石器时代，前陶器新石器时代A（12，000 - 10，300年前），甚至在十年前在约旦几乎不为人所知，但现在从多个地点得知。前陶器新石器时代B（10，300 - 8，700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融入了当地的创新。虽然现场证据仍然很少，但新石器时代晚期（8，300 - 6，500年前）继续了当地的历史轨迹，当时农业包装得到巩固。除了耶尔穆克大学的Zeidan Kafaran教授和约旦大学的Maysoon al-Nahar教授等著名学者外，早期史前考古学研究一直由国际研究人员主导，在约旦国内的考古学和文化遗产展示方面一直处于边缘地位。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区域和全球背景下。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（例如提到大型的新石器时代晚期前陶器B遗址），约旦并没有在区域综合中登记，约旦的关键早期发展往往被忽略。史前史在约旦的学校教育中没有出现，尽管史前史与当代的定居问题、定居社区的发展以及仍然是约旦人生存核心的农业一揽子计划的早期发展有许多共鸣。该项目旨在培养新一代从事早期史前研究的约旦学者和文化资源管理人员。我们将重点关注约旦的参与，帮助约旦发展研究和管理史前史的技能、政策和程序，并培养一个符合约旦观点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，在那里，缺乏当地兴趣意味着缺乏对这些遗址的保护。我们将提高史前的形象，展示其与现代生活的相关性，如畜牧业、农业和水资源管理的起源，这些都对现代约旦社会至关重要。我们希望展示这是一个人类和地方的故事，而不仅仅是学术和全球性的。我们将开发史前的旅游潜力，在当地和国际上，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.