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

这个博士论文研究项目调查了考古冶金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和铁匠、他们的精英赞助人和宗教消费者之间的关系。“铁匠传统”是一种知识和技能体系，工匠们一生都在实践，通过学徒制代代相传，并在考古记录中创造了技术模式。揭示创造铁制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细心。铁匠的赞助人可能需要尽可能快的铁器来快速建造宗教建筑，或者赞助人可能希望铁器精心制作，以提高其质量和寿命，以满足宗教团体的需要。此外，出于一种精神责任感，铁匠可能在最初的建造之后以一种特殊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。在研究区域，女性铁匠已经是常见的从业者，但在劳动力市场和STEM领域仍然存在较大的性别差异。通过展示早期铁匠独特的材料和对社会的贡献，该项目希望表彰和激励在世的男女铁匠，并教育公众了解他们的手艺。两个问题指导着这个项目。首先，对于精英和铁匠来说，哪个更重要，是快速建造宗教纪念碑带来的声望，还是把宗教纪念碑建好带来的虔诚？第二，现代科学家如何利用古代铁器揭示锻造传统和影响这些传统的社会关系？用光学和扫描电子显微镜，创新的图像分析，以及残余金属和渣夹杂物的化学分析来研究铁物体。通过这些分析，研究人员量化了由锻造传统引起的铁物体的化学和微观结构特征模式。这些签名表明，在铁匠传统中，速度或细心是受到激励的。此外，在视觉和算法创建的类型学背景下检查铁匠传统，这些类型学的群体和子群体使研究人员能够看到铁匠是在一个局部的大群体中一起工作，还是在多个分离的大群体中一起工作，或者他们是否以一种特殊的方式在较小的群体中工作。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.