| NSF Org: |
BCS Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences |
| Recipient: |
|
| Initial Amendment Date: | June 25, 2002 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | June 25, 2002 |
| Award Number: | 0223692 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
John Yellen
jyellen@nsf.gov (703)292-8759 BCS Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences SBE Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences |
| Start Date: | July 1, 2002 |
| End Date: | June 30, 2003 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $11,994.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $11,994.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
|
| History of Investigator: |
|
| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
150 MUNSON ST NEW HAVEN CT US 06511-3572 (203)785-4689 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
|
| Primary Place of Performance: |
150 MUNSON ST NEW HAVEN CT US 06511-3572 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
|
| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
|
| Parent UEI: |
|
| NSF Program(s): | Archaeology |
| Primary Program Source: |
|
| Program Reference Code(s): |
|
| Program Element Code(s): |
|
| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.075 |
ABSTRACT
With the support of the National Science Foundation, Geoffrey Cunnar will conduct his dissertation research on the Liangchengzhen site, one of the largest known Longshan Period (2,600-1,900 BC) archaeological sites on the east coast of Shandong Province, China. The Longshan period existed just before the rise of Xia and Shang dynasties when numerous types of Longshan groups spread throughout a vast area of eastern China and appear to have consisted of well stratified, competitive, territorial polities, which often engaged in regional exchange of wealth items and warfare. Specialized production and exchange of ceramics, jade and other wealth items, along with the appearance of large towns, proto-writing and incipient bronze metallurgy are seen as hallmarks of the period. Seven years of collaborative systematic survey in the eastern Shandong region and three seasons of collaborative excavations (1999-2001), supported by the National Science Foundation and directed by Dr. Anne Underhill and Dr. Gary Feinman and their colleagues at Shandong University, have identified Liangchengzhen as the center of a multi-tiered settlement hierarchy. The excavation team has uncovered numerous important finds from the Late Neolithic period including houses, burial remains, and finely made craft goods. Analysis of these finds will enable the project to achieve their goal of understanding the origins and development of civilization in the region.
Mr. Cunnar's dissertation work focuses on the production and use of ground and polished stone tools. By the Late Neolithic period in China, ground and polished stone tools appear to have become the dominant form of stone tools. In an effort to better understand the role of stone tools in Longshan society, Mr. Cunnar's research will focus on three questions: 1. How were stone tools used? 2. Where were stone tools made and what type of stone were they made from? 3. What was the organization of production? Mr. Cunnar will replicate and then use many of the ancient tool forms. The use of the tools will be guided in part by ethnographic observations of modern Chinese farmers in the region and their use of contemporary hand tools. The microscarring and polish formation on the edges of the replicated tools will be compared to that present on the ancient tools. Such a systematic study will aid in determining the use of ancient tools and elucidating the ancient manufacturing methods. A number of studies have proposed that elite control over economic systems is a major causal factor in the development of complex societies. Typically, "elites" hold the highest valued positions from which they control significant portions of the economy serving to bolster their own status, prestige and authority. Mr. Cunnar's research will explore what control, if any, the elite population might have exerted of the production of stone tools such as ritual battle-axes. The recent excavations systematically employed the use of screens and the collection of numerous soil samples. These procedures have resulted in the recovery of a very large amount of stone tools and tool fragments, a first for Shandong archaeology. Typological and contextual analysis of the several thousand stone tools will help understand where tools were being manufactured, what types of tools were made, and who was making them. The stone raw materials will be identified. These data can be correlated with the materials corresponding source location and frequency of use to understand the relative importance and role of the various stone types in the Longshan economy. Collaborative research projects are in their infancy in China. The results of this research will provide data of interest to many scholars studying the development of complex society in China.
Please report errors in award information by writing to: awardsearch@nsf.gov.
