ARCHAEOLOGY TO BUSINESS IN FAYNAN: EMPOWERING AND ALLEVIATING THE POVERTY OF BEDOUIN WOMEN IN SOUTHERN JORDAN

“从考古学到Faynan商业”项目将利用澳大利亚人权委员会资助的研究成果，支持约旦南部Faynan/Greigra贝都因社区的减贫和两性平等。这一地区的经济贫困程度很高，贝都因妇女尤其如此。最近发展灌溉农业种植西红柿和甜瓜，但受益的家庭有限，部分原因是社区分为五个部落，获得农业就业的机会不同。旅游业越来越受欢迎的Faynan，这是由一个单一的酒店，迎合富裕的西方人，是由一家公司从安曼。虽然这家旅馆通过就业及其供应链为费南带来了收入，但大多数贝都因人，特别是妇女，却无法从中受益。与农业一样，利益的分配受到费南部落结构的限制。Faynan博物馆最近的发展，由AHRC资助奖的支持，通过促进Faynan的考古遗址和古迹吸引了更多的游客，Faynan遗产步行道将进一步加强。在这一发展过程中，贝都因妇女与PI及其同事接触，表达了她们制作手工艺品出售给游客的愿望，约旦的手工艺品市场很大，但来自中国和印度的廉价进口品越来越多。游客，尤其是来到费南的富裕游客，正在寻找与他们访问过的特定地点相关的高度独特和高质量的产品。尽管存在基本的手工艺技能，但目前Faynan妇女不能生产、销售和出售这些产品。因此，贝都因手工艺基金项目将支持开发一系列新的手工艺品，将贝都因人的传统编织技能和其他技术与受古代法南艺术启发的设计相结合，以制作当地特色产品。这件古老的艺术品是在AHRC资助的在Faynan的WF 16新石器时代遗址的挖掘中发现的。2008年至2010年期间进行了重新调查，产生了大量关于黎凡特南部经济变化关键时期的新信息，这一时期见证了从移动的狩猎和采集到定居的农业社区的转变，11，800 - 10，200年前。WF 16的一个关键发现是一系列雕刻物品，提供了约旦最古老的艺术品收藏。这些主要有几何图案刻在石头和骨头上，与一些人和动物的肖像。这一艺术可以很容易地转化为新的手工艺品的设计，为Faynan创造一个独特的产品系列。ABIF项目将涉及来自英国阅读的大学考古学家，他们挖掘了WF 16，“未来赋予社区权力的先锋”（FPEC），一个致力于国际发展的约旦非政府组织，以及约旦理事会英国黎凡特研究，拥有贝都因传统文化和手工艺方面的专业知识。FPEC在支持当地社区发展自己的可持续商业企业以减轻贫困方面拥有丰富的经验和良好的记录。这三个机构将与来自Faynan所有五个贝都因部落的妇女合作，发展“Faynan和Gregira妇女合作社”。这将生产，营销和销售受WF 16艺术启发的高品质手工艺品。将提供手工艺品设计和生产以及一系列商业技能（包括营销、定价和客户关系）方面的培训课程，以期在资助期结束时发展一个财务上自给自足的企业。

The 'Archaeology to Business in Faynan' (ABIF) project will draw on the outcomes of AHRC funded research to support poverty alleviation and gender equality in the Bedouin community of Faynan/Greigra, southern Jordan. This area has a high level of economic deprivation, which is especially felt amongst the Bedouin women. The recent development of irrigation agriculture to grow tomatoes and melons is only benefiting a restricted number of families, this partly arising from the community being divided into five tribes with different levels of access to agricultural employment. Tourism is increasingly popular to Faynan, this being supported by a single hotel that caters for affluent westerners and is run by a company from Amman. While this hotel has brings income into Faynan, via employment and its supply chains, the majority of Bedouin, and especially the women, have been unable to benefit. As with agriculture, the distribution of benefits is inhibited by the tribal structure within Faynan. The recent development of the Faynan Museum, supported by AHRC funding awards, has attracted further tourists by promoting the archaeological sites and monuments in Faynan, to be further enhanced by a Faynan Heritage Walking Trail. During the course of this development, Bedouin Women have approached the PI and his colleagues to express their desire to produce handicrafts to sell to the tourists.The handicraft market in Jordan is substantial, but is increasingly flooded with cheap imports from China and India. Tourists, and especially the affluent tourists coming to Faynan, are looking for highly-distinctive and high-quality products, relating to the specific localities they have visited. Despite the presence of base-line handicraft skills, the Faynan women cannot at present, produce, market, and sell such products. As such, the ABIF project will support the development of a new range of handicrafts, combining traditional Bedouin skills in weaving and other techniques with designs inspired from the ancient art of Faynan to make locally distinctive products. That ancient art was discovered during the AHRC funded excavations at the Neolithic site of WF16 in Faynan. Excavations were undertaken between 2008 and 2010, producing a wealth of new information about this critical period of economic change in the southern Levant, one which saw the transition from mobile hunting & gathering to sedentary farming communities, 11,800-10,200 years ago. A key discovery at WF16 was a collection of engraved objects that provides the oldest collection of art objects from Jordan. These primarily have geometric patterns engraved onto stone and bone, with some human and animal depictions. This art can be readily translated into the design of new handicraft products, creating a unique line of products for Faynan.The ABIF project will involve collaboration between University-based archaeologists from Reading, UK, who excavated WF16, 'Future Pioneers for Empowering Communities (FPEC)', a Jordanian-based NGO committed to international development, and the Jordan-based Council for British Research in the Levant, that has expertise about traditional Bedouin culture and handicrafts. FPEC has extensive experience and an excellent track record in supporting local communities to develop their own sustainable business enterprises to alleviate poverty. These three bodies will work together with women from all five Bedouin tribes in Faynan to develop the 'Women's Cooperative of Faynan and Gregira'. This will produce, market and sell high-quality handicrafts inspired by the art from WF16. Training programs in handicraft design and production, and in a range of business skills including marketing, pricing and customer relations, will be delivered with a view to the development of a financially self-sustaining business at the completing of the funding period.