Prehistoric Native Copper Technology in Northwest North America: Innovation, Diffusion, and Heritage

北美西北部史前本土铜技术：创新、传播和传承

• 批准号: 1108250
• 负责人: Harold Cooper
• 金额: $ 51.3万
• 依托单位: Purdue University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-09-01 至 2022-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1108250&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Prehistoric; Native; Copper; Technology; Northwest

The existence of three distinct regions within northwest North America (central Arctic, western Subarctic, and Northwest Coast) with sources of native copper and evidence for its prehistoric use provides the opportunity for a comparative study of technological change related to the innovation of a single material among socio-politically diverse groups of hunter-gatherers. A collaborative interdisciplinary team with backgrounds in northern archaeology and ethnography, geology, and materials science will undertake a three-year program of research investigating native copper innovation, and its relationship to emergent social complexity (i.e., the development of hereditary rank), among northwest North American hunter-gatherers. Naturally occurring pure native copper was used by indigenous groups throughout the region for tools, weapons, and objects of personal adornment. This latter use has been traditionally viewed by archaeologists as attempts to display wealth using prestige goods (prestige technology) and as a result, and similar to discussions of prehistoric metallurgy in general, the use of native copper in these regions has been associated with emergent social complexity. Intra- and inter-regional spatial analysis of sources and artifacts, compositional analysis of artifacts in museum collections, detailed experimental studies of copper-working manufacturing, and oral history collected in collaboration with the Ahtna community, will provide quantitative and qualitative data on native copper innovation. These data will be integrated using a design theory framework that will provide a holistic multi-scalar understanding of the benefits and constraints associated with the adoption of this technology by hunter-gatherers in different social and environmental contexts. Though focused on innovation surrounding the use of a specific material among hunter-gatherers, this project will contribute to more general anthropological discussions of innovation and will generate data for use in developing models of technological innovation for future testing. Additionally, the project includes significant opportunities for interdisciplinary graduate and undergraduate education, training, and hands-on research, and opportunities for multi-generational engagement with the Ahtna community.

北美西北部三个不同地区（北极中部、亚北极西部和西北海岸）的自然铜资源及其史前使用证据的存在，为比较研究社会政治多样的狩猎采集者群体中与单一材料创新相关的技术变革提供了机会。一个具有北方考古学和人种学、地质学和材料科学背景的跨学科合作团队将开展一项为期三年的研究计划，调查自然铜的创新及其与新兴社会复杂性的关系（即，遗传等级的发展），在北美西北部狩猎采集者中。整个地区的土著群体都使用天然纯铜作为工具、武器和个人装饰品。考古学家传统上认为，后者的使用是试图利用声望商品（声望技术）来展示财富，因此，与一般史前冶金学的讨论类似，这些地区使用自然铜与新兴的社会复杂性有关。区域内和区域间的来源和文物的空间分析，博物馆藏品中文物的成分分析，铜加工制造的详细实验研究，以及与Ahtna社区合作收集的口述历史，将提供关于原生铜创新的定量和定性数据。这些数据将使用设计理论框架进行整合，该框架将提供对狩猎采集者在不同社会和环境背景下采用这项技术的好处和限制的全面多标量理解。虽然该项目的重点是围绕狩猎采集者使用特定材料的创新，但它将有助于对创新进行更一般的人类学讨论，并将产生用于开发技术创新模型的数据，供未来测试。此外，该项目还包括跨学科研究生和本科生教育，培训和实践研究的重要机会，以及与Ahtna社区多代参与的机会。