Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Las Minas Archaeometallurgical Project

博士论文改进补助金：拉斯米纳斯考古冶金项目

• 批准号: 1249579
• 负责人: Richard Burger
• 金额: $ 2.52万
• 依托单位: Yale University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-02-01 至 2016-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1249579&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Improvement; Grant; Las

With NSF support, Mr. Colin Thomas will excavate the smelting site of Las Minas. Las Minas is a terraced natural hill site located along the Zaña river in the Department of Lambayeque, Peru. The primary purpose of the site appears to have been the extraction of metal from ore material, and surface survey indicates that Las Minas was inhabited from the Early Horizon (800-200 B.C.) to the Chimu period (A.D. 1000-1470). Las Minas has the potential of being the earliest smelting site yet excavated on the Peruvian coast as well as one of very few Chimu metallurgical sites known to date. Thomas' research will focus on the physical and chemical analysis of recovered smelting byproducts and furnace remains to determine the exact physical processes that were used at Las Minas through time. This project will also involve the excavation of the residences of the metalworkers and the analysis of resulting ceramic and subsistence remains in order to determine the social standing and affiliation of the smelters at Las Minas. The laboratory component of this project will require the use of optical metallography as well as elemental analysis techniques, and Mr. Thomas will oversee the creation of a new optical metallography laboratory at a local museum in Lambayeque, Peru to facilitate this analysis.The Andean region, and the North Coast of Peru in particular, was the site of large scale and long- term metallurgical activity. However, nearly all available information about the nature of Andean metallurgy currently comes from the study of finished artifacts. This stands in contrast to the understanding of metallurgical developments in other regions, such as Africa, Anatolia and Europe, where the development of smelting has played a central role. In order to advance the understanding of metallurgy in Peruvian prehistory it is necessary to combine the analysis of finished artifacts with the full range of steps necessary to create them, including the preceding steps necessary to acquire ore and smelt it to metal.Acquiring this detailed information about the physical processes used at Las Minas is a first step towards understanding the broader social context of smelting in the Andes. It is known that Andean smiths were concerned with the use of certain colors to indicate social status and ritual information as well as other guiding ideological principles. It is very likely that the smelting processes were directed by a similarly intricate web of non-technical meaning. Understanding this web requires a detailed study of the remnants of smelting, so that one can identify the traces of technological choice encoded within the physical data. Excavations at Las Minas will also result in the creation of a new optical metallography lab in Lambayeque as well as the training of several Peruvian graduate students in both field and laboratory techniques. The research will be disseminated in peer-reviewed journals both in the United States and Peru, and the raw data will be made available to the public online. Mr. Thomas will also present the findings of his research at the SAA meetings as well as other archaeological conferences.

在国家科学基金会的支持下，科林托马斯先生将挖掘拉斯米纳斯的冶炼遗址。 拉斯米纳斯是一个梯田自然山网站位于沿着萨尼亚河在兰巴耶克，秘鲁部。 该遗址的主要目的似乎是从矿石中提取金属，表面调查表明，拉斯米纳斯从早期地平线（公元前800-200年）就有人居住。Chimu时期（公元1000-1470年）。 拉斯米纳斯有可能成为秘鲁海岸迄今为止挖掘出的最早的冶炼遗址，也是迄今为止已知的极少数奇穆冶金遗址之一。 托马斯的研究将集中在回收的冶炼副产品和熔炉遗骸的物理和化学分析，以确定在拉斯米纳斯使用的确切物理过程。该项目还将挖掘金属工人的住所，并分析由此产生的陶瓷和生活遗迹，以确定拉斯米纳斯冶炼厂的社会地位和从属关系。 该项目的实验室部分将需要使用光学金相学以及元素分析技术，托马斯先生将监督在秘鲁兰巴耶克的一个当地博物馆建立一个新的光学金相学实验室，以便利这一分析，安第斯地区，特别是秘鲁的北海岸，是大规模和长期冶金活动的场所。 然而，目前几乎所有关于安第斯冶金学性质的信息都来自对成品文物的研究。 这与对非洲、安纳托利亚和欧洲等其他区域冶金发展的理解形成对照，在这些区域，冶炼的发展发挥了核心作用。 为了加深对秘鲁史前冶金学的理解，有必要将联合收割机成品的分析与制造它们所需的全部步骤结合起来，包括获取矿石并将其熔炼成金属所需的前几步。获取拉斯米纳斯使用的物理过程的详细信息是了解安第斯山脉更广泛的冶炼社会背景的第一步。 众所周知，安第斯铁匠关注的是使用某些颜色来表明社会地位和仪式信息以及其他指导思想原则。 冶炼过程很可能是由一个类似的复杂的非技术意义的网络指导的。 要理解这个网络，就需要对冶炼的残余物进行详细研究，这样人们就可以识别出物理数据中编码的技术选择的痕迹。在Las Minas的扩建还将导致在Lambayeque建立一个新的光学金相实验室，并培训几名秘鲁研究生进行现场和实验室技术培训。 这项研究将在美国和秘鲁的同行评审期刊上传播，原始数据将在网上向公众提供。 托马斯先生还将在SAA会议以及其他考古会议上介绍他的研究成果。