Doctoral Dissertation Research: Blacksmithing Traditions and Social Relationships of Early Historic Ironworkers

这个博士论文研究项目调查考古学和计算机科学如何通过检查早期历史铁器时代的材料来揭示铁匠传统以及铁匠，他们的精英赞助人和宗教消费者之间的关系。“铁匠传统”是工匠一生实践的知识和技能，通过学徒从一代传到下一代，并在考古记录中创造技术模式。揭示创造铁工具的铁匠传统可以揭示社会关系如何激励铁生产的速度或护理。铁匠的赞助人可能需要铁制品尽快快速建造宗教建筑，或者赞助人可能希望精心制作铁制品，以提高其质量和寿命，为宗教团体服务。此外，铁匠可能出于精神责任感，在最初的建造之后以临时的方式向宗教团体提供铁器来修复结构。揭示古代铁匠、他们的赞助人和宗教官员之间的关系，可以与被边缘化的现代铁匠进行比较。在研究地区，女铁匠是常见的从业者，但劳动力市场和STEM领域仍然存在巨大的性别差异。通过揭示相关早期铁匠的独特物质和社会贡献，该项目希望荣誉荣誉和激励生活铁匠，男性和女性，并教育公众对他们的手艺。两个问题指导这个项目。第一，对于精英和铁匠们来说，到底是快速建造宗教遗迹的威望更重要，还是把宗教遗迹建造好的虔诚更重要？第二，现代科学家如何利用古代铁器来揭示铁匠传统以及影响这些传统的社会关系？铁的对象进行了研究，光学和扫描电子显微镜，创新的图像分析，残留金属和渣夹杂物的化学分析。通过这些分析，研究人员量化了由铁匠传统造成的铁物体的化学和微观结构特征的模式。这些特征表明，在铁匠传统中，速度或谨慎是否受到激励。此外，铁匠传统在视觉和算法创建的类型学的背景下进行了研究，这些类型学的组和子组使研究人员能够看到铁匠是否在一个本地化的大组中一起工作，多个分离的大组，这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为是值得通过使用基金会的知识产权评估来支持的。优点和更广泛的影响审查标准。

This doctoral dissertation research project investigates how archaeometallurgy and computer science can reveal blacksmithing traditions and the relationships between blacksmiths, their elite patrons, and religious consumers by examining early historic Iron Age materials. A “blacksmithing tradition,” is a body of knowledge and skills that craftspeople practice throughout their lives that is passed down through apprenticeships from one generation to the next and creates technological patterns in the archaeological record. Uncovering the blacksmithing traditions that created iron tools can reveal how social relationships incentivized speed or care in iron production. Blacksmiths’ patrons may have needed iron objects as quickly as possible to rapidly construct religious buildings, or patrons may have wanted iron objects carefully crafted to promote their quality and longevity for the sake of religious groups. Additionally, blacksmiths may have supplied religious groups with iron objects after the initial construction in an ad hoc manner to repair structures out of a sense of spiritual duty. Revealing relationships between blacksmiths, their patrons, and religious officials in the ancient past allows for comparison to modern blacksmiths who have been marginalized. In the research region female blacksmiths have been common practitioners, but large gender disparities in the labor market and STEM fields still exist. By revealing the unique material and social contributions of relevant earlier ironworkers, this project hopes to honor and inspire living blacksmiths, both male and female, and educate the general public about their craft.Two questions guide this project. First, which was more important to the elites and the blacksmiths, the prestige of having the religious monument built quickly, or the piety of having the religious monument built well? Second, how can present day scientists use ancient iron objects to reveal blacksmithing traditions and the social relationships influencing those traditions? Iron objects are studied with optical and scanning electron microscopy, innovative image analysis, and chemical analysis of both residual metal and slag inclusions. Through these analyses, the researcher quantifies the patterns in chemical and microstructural signatures of iron objects caused by blacksmithing tradition(s). These signatures show if speed or care was incentivized in the blacksmithing tradition(s). Moreover, blacksmithing tradition(s) are examined in the context of visually and algorithmically created typologies whose groups and sub-groups enable researchers to see if blacksmiths worked together in one localized large group, multiple separated large groups, or if they worked in smaller groups in an ad hoc manner.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.