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

论文研究：手工艺生产和政治集权：马达加斯加中部的炼铁业

• 批准号: 9213165
• 负责人: Henry Wright
• 金额: $ 0.71万
• 依托单位: Regents of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1992
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1992-07-01 至 1994-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9213165&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Dissertation; Research; Craft; Production; Political

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.

在 Henry Wright 博士的指导下，密歇根大学研究生 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，重点关注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。加布勒女士将考察安凯地区的三个地点。她将根据文物密度绘制地表发现图，定位潜在的渣堆并收集地表文物样本。在第二阶段，她将对特征进行地下测试，特别是炼铁作业场所。 在最后的现场阶段，将进行仔细的水平暴露，以发现炼铁作业场所。将测量渣堆的大小以确定产量。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并确定发生的活动。随后的冶金分析将有助于重建冶炼过程。 马达加斯加最初是东南亚人民定居的，而不是来自非洲大陆。在史前时期，酋邦得到了发展，最早的欧洲观察者发现了高度集权的社会。 然而，酋长国是如何在这个孤立而受限制的岛屿上出现的，人们却不得而知。 近年来，考古学家非常关注复杂社会是如何产生的，因为这个过程在世界许多地方都可以看到。他们认为，专业化和对劳动力的控制以及社会分层发挥着重要作用，但其本身是原因还是次要表现尚不清楚。 加布勒女士的研究将解决这个问题。 由于铁冶炼的副产品在考古学上非常明显，并且在考古记录中保存完好，马达加斯加的数据为解决这个问题提供了一个极好的切入点。 大量的历史记录为解释史前数据提供了背景。 这项研究很重要，原因有几个。它将极大地增加我们对世界上一个知之甚少的地区的了解。它将为复杂社会的起源提供新的线索，并有助于培养有前途的学生。