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内金属开采和长途贸易的早期历史，该地区在大约公元400年至1750年之间见证了冶金的起源。采矿和冶金是该区域现代经济的主要组成部分，但该区域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，有大量的金属开采或贸易。20世纪初发现了许多殖民前的地雷，但这些零散的历史记录基本上被遗忘了，自那以后，几乎所有这些地雷都被销毁了。该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，方法是将来自古老考古遗址的物品的化学和铅同位素比率与该区域周围铜和锡矿的矿石矿物的化学和铅同位素比率进行比较。这种方法对该地区来说是相当新的，新闻媒体对该项目的结果很感兴趣。他们应该被纳入高中和大学的历史课堂。这一奖项资助一名年轻的研究人员在密苏里大学接受六个月的高级技术培训。从考古遗址挖掘的铜器中提取少量样本，这些铜器可以追溯到大约公元400年使用金属的农民首次占领这一地区，经历了公元1220年左右第一个州(马蓬古布)的崛起，公元1300年左右的崩溃，以及公元1650年左右一个新州的出现。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。为了确定这些金属来自哪些矿山，这些样品的铅同位素比率与更广泛地区矿山的矿石矿物数据库进行了匹配。由于考古遗址是用放射性碳法测定的，这个项目揭示了个别铜矿是何时开采的，以及铜分布在多远的地方。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，以及锡来自哪个矿山(S)。目前，最早的青铜器和最早的黄金都在皇家墓地，但该项目调查是否有更早的青铜器。总而言之，该项目首次直接证明了区域金属开采的起源和早期历史，以及前殖民时代国内长途贸易的发展。该奖项反映了NSF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。

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.