Collaborative Research: The Role of Long-distance Metallurgy Trade in Establishing Social Complexity

研究人员正在重建一个地区的采矿和长途金属贸易的早期历史，该地区在公元400年至1750年之间见证了金属的起源。采矿和冶金是该地区现代经济的主要组成部分，但该地区的大多数居民并不知道，在19世纪末欧洲殖民者开始商业采矿之前，这里有重要的采矿或金属贸易。在二十世纪初，人们注意到许多前殖民时期的地雷，但这些零散的历史记录在很大程度上被遗忘了，几乎这些地雷都被摧毁了。这个项目的重点是间接重建殖民前两种金属- -铜和锡- -的开采和贸易，方法是比较年代久远的考古遗址中物品的化学和铅同位素比率与该地区各地铜和锡矿的矿石矿物的化学和铅同位素比率。这种方法对该地区来说是相当新的，该项目的结果引起了新闻媒体的兴趣。他们应该被纳入高中和大学的历史课程。该奖项资助一名年轻研究人员在密苏里大学进行为期六个月的这些技术高级培训。从考古遗址中出土的铜器中提取的小样本可以追溯到公元400年，当时使用金属的农民首次占领了这个地区，经历了公元1220年左右第一个国家（马蓬古布韦）的兴起，公元1300年左右的崩溃，以及公元1650年左右出现的一个新国家。这些样品的化学成分和铅同位素比率是在密苏里大学测量的。为了确定这些金属的来源，样品的铅同位素比率与来自整个更广泛地区的矿山的矿石矿物数据库相匹配。由于考古遗址是用放射性碳法测定年代的，因此该项目揭示了各个铜矿开采的时间，以及铜矿与它们的分布距离。该项目还确定了青铜（铜和锡的合金）首次出现在地区记录中的时间，以及锡来自哪个矿。目前，最早的青铜器和最早的金器都在皇家墓地，但该项目将调查是否有更早的青铜器。总之，这个项目提供了关于区域金属开采的起源和早期历史以及前殖民时代内部长途贸易发展的第一个直接证据。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。

Researchers are reconstructing the early history of mining and long-distance trade of metals within a region which saw the origins of metallury between about 400 and 1750 AD. Mining and metallurgy are major portions of the modern economies in the region, but most residents of the region are not aware that there was significant mining or trade of metals before the late nineteenth century, when European colonists began commercial mining. Many precolonial mines were noted at the beginning of the twentieth century, but these scattered historical records are largely forgotten, and almost of these mines have since been destroyed. This project focuses on indirectly reconstructing precolonial mining and trade of two metals – copper and tin – by comparing the chemical and lead isotopic ratios of objects from dated archaeological sites with those of ore minerals from copper and tin mines around the region. This approach is quite new for the region, and the results of the project are of interest to news media. They should be incorporated into high school and university history classes. This award funds a young researcher for six months of advanced training in these techniques at Missouri University.Small samples are extracted from copper objects excavated from archaeological sites dating from ca. 400 AD, when metal-using farmers first occupied this region, through the rise of the first state (Mapungubwe) around 1220 AD, its collapse around 1300 AD, and the emergence of a new state around 1650 AD. The chemical compositions and lead isotope ratios of these samples are measured at Missouri University. To identify the mines from which these metals derived, the lead isotope ratios of the samples are matched to a database of ore minerals from mines throughout the broader region. Since the archaeological sites are dated by the radiocarbon method, this project reveals when individual copper mines were exploited, and how far the copper from them was distributed. The project also determines when bronze (the alloy of copper and tin) first appears in the regional record, and from which mine(s) the tin came. At present the earliest bronzes along with the earliest gold – are in the royal cemetery but the project examines whether there are earlier bronzes. In summary, this project provides the first direct evidence of the origins and early history of regional metal mining and of the development of internal long-distance trade in the precolonial era.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.