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金相学和计算机科学如何通过研究铁器时代的早期历史材料来揭示铁匠、他们的精英赞助人和宗教消费者之间的关系。“铁匠传统”指的是工匠一生实践的知识和技能，这些知识和技能通过学徒制度代代相传，并在考古记录中创造出技术模式。揭示创造了铁器的铁匠传统，可以揭示社会关系如何激励钢铁生产中的速度或关爱。铁匠的赞助人可能需要尽快的铁器来快速建造宗教建筑，或者赞助人可能为了宗教团体而想要精心制作的铁器来提高它们的质量和寿命。此外，铁匠可能在最初建造后以临时方式向宗教团体提供铁器，以修复建筑物，出于精神责任感。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，女铁匠已经是常见的从业人员，但在劳动力市场和STEM领域仍然存在很大的性别差距。这个项目希望通过揭示相关早期铁匠的独特物质和社会贡献，表彰和激励在世的男性和女性铁匠，并教育广大公众了解他们的手艺。首先，对精英和铁匠来说，快速建造宗教纪念碑的威望和建造好宗教纪念碑的虔诚哪个更重要？其次，现代科学家如何使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？用光学显微镜和扫描电子显微镜、创新的图像分析以及残留金属和炉渣夹杂物的化学分析来研究铁物体。通过这些分析，研究人员量化了铁器的化学和微观结构特征中的模式，这些特征是由铁匠传统(S)造成的。这些签名显示了铁匠传统中是否鼓励速度或谨慎(S)。此外，铁匠传统(S)是在视觉和算法创建的类型学的背景下进行审查的，其组和子组使研究人员能够了解铁匠是在一个局部的大组中一起工作，还是在多个独立的大组中工作，或者他们是否以特别的方式在较小的组中工作。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智力优势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.