Dissertation Research: Craft Production and Political Centralization: Iron Working in Central Madagascar

在Henry Wright博士的指导下，密歇根大学的研究生Sigrid Gabler女士将为她的博士论文收集数据。她将在马达加斯加东部地区进行考古研究，重点研究炼铁技术的出现和发展。历史记录和考古证据都表明，炼铁曾经很普遍。盖博勒女士将考察安凯地区的三个地点。她将根据人工制品密度绘制地表发现地图，定位潜在的矿渣堆，并收集地表人工制品样本。在第二阶段，她将进行地下特征测试，特别是铁工作场所。在最后的现场阶段，将进行仔细的水平暴露，以揭示铁的工作地点。将测量渣堆的大小以确定生产产量。还将收集用于测年的碳样本和植物遗骸样本。将进行陶瓷分析，以确定遗址的相对年龄和确定发生的活动。随后的冶金分析将有助于重建冶炼过程。马达加斯加最初是由东南亚人定居的，而不是来自非洲大陆。在史前时期，酋邦发展起来，最早的欧洲观察者发现了高度集中的社会。然而，在这个孤立和受限制的岛屿上出现酋长管辖地的方式尚不清楚。近年来，考古学家们把很多注意力集中在复杂社会是如何产生的，因为这个过程在世界上许多地方都可以看到。他们认为，专业化和对劳动的控制以及社会分层起着主要作用，但它本身是一个原因还是一个次要表现尚不清楚。gabler女士的研究将解决这个问题。因为铁冶炼的副产品在考古学上是如此明显，而且它们在考古记录中保存得很好，马达加斯加的数据为这个问题提供了一个很好的开端。大量的历史记录为解释史前数据提供了背景。这项研究之所以重要，有几个原因。它将大大增加我们对世界上一个知之甚少的地区的认识。它将为复杂社会的起源提供新的线索，并将有助于培养有前途的学生。

Under the direction of Dr. Henry Wright, MS Sigrid Gabler, a graduate student at the Univeristy of Michigan, will collect data for her doctoral dissertation. She will conduct archaeological research in the eastern region of Madagascar and focus on the emergence and development of iron working technology. Both historical records and archaeological evidence indicate that iron smelting was once widespread. Ms. Gabler will examine three sites in the Ankay region. She will map surface finds in terms of artifact densities, locate potential slag heaps and collect a sample of surface artifacts. In a second phase she will undertake subsurface testing for features, especially iron working locales. In the final field phase careful horizontal exposures will be made to uncover iron working locales. Size of slag heaps will be measured to determine production output. Carbon samples for dating and samples of plant remains will also be collected. Ceramic analysis will be conducted to establish both relative age of sites and to determine activities which occurred. Subsequent metallurgical analysis will serve to reconstruct the smelting process. Madagascar was originally settled by Southeast Asian peoples and not from the mainland continent of Africa. In prehistoric times chiefdoms developed and the earliest European observers found highly centralized societies. The means by which chiefdoms emerged on this isolated and circumscribed island however are not understood. Archaeologists have focussed much attention in recent years on how complex societies arise since this process is seen in many parts of the world. They believe that specialization and control over labor together with social stratification plays a major role but whether it serves as a cause per se or is a secondary manifestation is not known. Ms.Gabler's research will address this issue. Because the byproducts of iron smelting are so archaeologically visible and because they preserve well in the archaeological record, the Madagascar data provide an excellent entree to this issue. Extensive historical records give a context to interpret the prehistoric data. This research is important for several reasons. It will add significantly to our knowledge of a poorly understood region of the world. It will shed new light on the origins of complex society and will assist in the training of a promising student.