Support for Coordinated, Regional Trace-Element Studies at the OSU-RC Archaeometry Lab

在国家科学基金会的支持下，这个合作项目汇集了一个由学者和高级学生组成的国际团队，以确定陶瓷生产的来源，并追踪两个重要的古代文明中心--美索不达米亚及其邻国和墨西哥瓦哈卡谷--的陶瓷器皿的本地和区域间交流。在Leah Minc博士的指导下，将通过高灵敏度的仪器中子激活分析(INAA)进行微量元素分析，以确定血管来源(地理来源)。项目参与者将从现有的博物馆藏品以及代表每个地区关键遗址的最近发掘中为INAA选择考古陶瓷，并贡献他们在陶瓷年代学、类型学和文化史方面的专业知识。在这两个地理研究领域，由此产生的微量元素数据将提供必要的实物证据，以解决长期存在的和最近的巩固和分裂的政治周期模式，及其对经济组织的影响。在瓦哈卡谷，参与的项目侧重于陶瓷生产相对于政治权力中心的规模和地点。关键问题包括政治中心是否也作为从事基本商品(如陶瓷)生产的经济城市场所，以及此类物品的交换是否是古典萨波特克国家(约公元300-750年)的一股整合力量。在伊拉克、伊朗和叙利亚的案例中，共同参与的项目将允许学者们重新审视区域间相互作用的模式(例如低地和高地之间)，并从考古上证实各种伊朗和美索不达米亚政治实体历史上记录的扩张和收缩周期。最令人感兴趣的是在‘乌鲁克扩张’(美索不达米亚的影响突然出现在邻近高地的主要贸易中心)期间形成的可能的交换联系，以及原始伊兰人和伊兰人贸易网络的形成。这些地理上和主题上相关的项目的协调使得对古代交换的分析具有前所未有的空间规模和范围。虽然每个参与的学者都会针对他或她自己的网站提出具体的研究问题和目标，但项目之间的思想交流的潜力是巨大的。此外，随着每个项目扩大其研究区域可获得的痕量元素数据的地理和/或时间范围，这些结果的整合为考古陶瓷成分的可变性提供了更广阔的视角。因此，这种协作方法是在关键地理区域进行考古测量研究的一种更有效的手段，因为它通过将任何一个地点或研究放在一个区域环境中来最大化从它获得的信息。这项建议的更广泛的影响是，它将为未来两个主要考古兴趣中心的交流研究建立一个亟需的区域视角和基础。此外，该项目将在对年轻博士后学者和知名学者的考古调查中推广综合材料科学方法。该项目还将为研究生提供INAA和成分分析技术方面的强化实践培训，并让本科生考古学专业的学生有机会通过实验室和工作经验参与“现实世界的科学”。

With support from the National Science Foundation, this collaborative project brings together an international team of scholars and advanced students to identify sources of ceramic production and to trace local and interregional exchange of ceramic vessels within two important centers of ancient civilization: Mesopotamia and its neighbors, and the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico. Under the direction of Dr. Leah Minc, trace-element analyses will be conducted to determine vessel provenance (geographic origin) via high-sensitivity Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA). Project participants will select archaeological ceramics for INAA from existing museum collections as well as from recent excavations representing key sites in each area, and contribute their expertise on ceramic chronology, typology, and culture history.In both geographic study areas, the resulting trace-element data will provide physical evidence necessary to address both long-standing and recent models of political cycles of consolidation and fragmentation, and their impact on economic organization. Within the Valley of Oaxaca, participating projects focus on the scale and location of ceramic production relative to centers of political power. Key questions include whether political centers also functioned as economic urban sites engaged in the production of basic commodities (such as ceramics), and whether the exchange of such items was an integrating force for the Classic Zapotec state (ca. 300-750 AD). In the case of Iraq, Iran, and Syria, the participating projects collectively will allow scholars to re-examine patterns of inter-regional interaction (such as between the lowlands and highlands), and to archaeologically substantiate historically recorded cycles of expansion and contraction of various Iranian and Mesopotamian political entities. Of central interest are possible exchange linkages forged during the 'Uruk expansion' (when Mesopotamian influences suddenly appear to dominate key trading centers in the adjacent uplands), and the formation of proto-Elamite and Elamite trading networks.The coordination of these geographically and thematically related projects allows for an unprecedented spatial scale and scope in analyses of ancient exchange. Although each participating scholar will address research questions and objectives specific to his or her own site, the potential for cross-fertilization of ideas among projects is great. Further, as each project expands the geographical and/or chronological range of trace-element data available for their study area, the integration of these results provides an even broader perspective of compositional variability in archaeological ceramics. Such a collaborative approach is therefore a more efficient means of conducting archaeometric research in key geographic areas, as it maximizes the information gained from any one site or study by placing it in a regional context.The broader impacts of this proposal are that it will establish a much-needed regional perspective and foundation for future studies of exchange for two major centers of archaeological interest. Further, the project will promote an integrated materials science approach in archaeological investigations of both young post-doctoral scholars as well as established scholars. The project will also provide graduate students with intensive hands-on training in the technical aspects of INAA and compositional analyses, and give undergraduate archaeology students the opportunity to participate in 'real world science' through labs and work experience.