Polished axes: object biographies and the writing of world prehistories

抛光的轴：物体传记和世界史前史的书写

• 批准号: AH/I023511/1
• 负责人: Clive Gamble
• 金额: $ 6.91万
• 依托单位: University of Southampton
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Training Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2011 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FI023511%2F1
• 关键词: Polished; axes; object; biographies; writing

Research contextThe idea that objects have biographies has recently received widespread recognition in 'A History of the World in 100 objects (HoW)'. This collaboration between the BBC and the British Museum (BM) http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/ahow/all shows how the power of objects as historical sources lies in their biographical details that arise from their context of manufacture, use, recycling and deposition as well as when and how they were collected. All of these aspects are well illustrated by jade axes that are among the most distinctive artefacts in the museum. The BM has 109 of these objects collected from Europe, the Middle East, the Americas, the Pacific and China. They attract attention because of their aesthetic qualities and their complex biographies; as shown by Object 14 in HoW, a Neolithic jade axe from Canterbury. Their biographies have been revealed through the history behind their collection, their archaeological and ethnographic context and most recently the application of science to determine their provenance. But Jade axes are only a small sub-set of a much larger collection of 4500 polished stone axes held in the BM. These are made on many different raw materials reflecting the geology of the regions where they were collected. The act of polishing was regarded as significant by antiquaries such as John Lubbock who, in 1865, used them as the defining artefact of his Neolithic stage. Subsequently the Neolithic became a worldwide stage in the mental, technological and economic evolution of human societies. The polished axe was, and remains, a symbol of progress from hunting to farming and from a peripatetic existence to a settled life. In short the axe became an iconic artefact for the beginning of the modern world.Aims and objectivesThere are two main aims to this PhD. i) Through a series of case studies the student will examine the networks of artefacts and collectors that drew these polished axes into the BM from across the globe. These biographies will address issues of geographical location and the production of knowledge about the past in a world museum. The student will examine the interplay between earlier ideas of 'living prehistory' and the acceptance of a deep past based on artefacts from areas without a stone age ethnography such as Europe. Of particular interest is the pattern of collecting as revealed by region, date of accession and the collector, and the influence of ethnographic observation on the acceptance of a pre-historic past. ii) The student will then trace how these objects were used to write world prehistories of technology and society such as those by Lubbock (1865), Evans (1872) and Morgan (1877) and much later the works of Peake and Fleure (1927), Smith (1933) and Childe (1951), culminating in Clark's seminal World Prehistory of 1961.The wider research communityThe BM is a world museum. It seeks, through research, to find new ways to inform and engage a variety of audiences both national and international with its collections and the opportunity they afford for understanding world cultures and their history. This PhD will contribute to this research mission by its inter-disciplinary approach that examines a single category of artefact collected by four departments of the BM. By collaborating with RHUL's expertise in geography and archaeology the outcomes of the PhD will contribute to the AHRC's international strategy where the aim is to promote the UK as a world centre for research. Tracing the networks of collectors and axes across the world in the 250 years since the BM was founded will provide a tangible example of the inter-connectedness of people, places and things and their translation into shared knowledge. The beneficiaries of the research will be UK heritage research generally as well as the specific disciplines and collaborations identified in t

研究背景物体有传记的观点最近在《100个物体中的世界史》中得到了广泛的认可。英国广播公司和大英博物馆（BM）http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/ahow/all之间的合作展示了物品作为历史来源的力量如何体现在它们的制造，使用，回收和沉积以及何时和如何收集的背景中产生的传记细节中。所有这些方面都很好地说明了玉轴是博物馆中最具特色的文物之一。BM有109个这样的物体，从欧洲，中东，美洲，太平洋和中国收集。它们吸引人们的注意力是因为它们的美学品质和复杂的传记;如《HoW》中的第14件物品，一把来自坎特伯雷的新石器时代玉斧。他们的传记已经通过他们的收藏背后的历史，他们的考古学和人种学背景以及最近的科学应用来确定他们的出处。但玉斧只是一个小子集的一个更大的收集4500抛光石斧举行的BM。这些是由许多不同的原材料制成的，反映了它们被收集的地区的地质。1865年，约翰·拉伯克（John Lubbock）等古物学家将其视为新石器时代的标志性文物。随后，新石器时代成为人类社会精神、技术和经济进化的世界性阶段。抛光的斧头过去是，现在仍然是，从狩猎到农业，从流浪生活到定居生活的进步象征。简而言之，斧头成为现代世界开始的标志性人工制品。目的和目标这个博士学位有两个主要目的。i）通过一系列的案例研究，学生将研究从地球仪将这些抛光轴引入BM的人工制品和收藏家的网络。这些传记将涉及地理位置问题和在世界博物馆中产生关于过去的知识。学生将研究“活史前”的早期思想和接受一个深刻的过去的基础上，从没有石器时代人种学，如欧洲地区的文物之间的相互作用。特别令人感兴趣的是收集的模式所揭示的地区，加入日期和收藏家，以及民族志观察的影响，接受史前的过去。ii）学生将追溯这些物品是如何被用来撰写技术和社会的世界史前史的，如拉伯克（1865），埃文斯（1872）和摩根（1877）以及后来的皮克和弗勒（1927），史密斯（1933）和柴尔德（1951）的作品，1961年克拉克的开创性的《世界史前史》达到了顶峰。更广泛的研究团体BM是一个世界博物馆。通过研究，它寻求找到新的方法，向国内和国际的各种受众宣传和吸引他们的收藏品以及他们为了解世界文化和历史提供的机会。这位博士将通过跨学科的方法为这项研究任务做出贡献，该方法检查了BM四个部门收集的单一类别的文物。使命。通过与RHUL在地理和考古学方面的专业知识合作，博士学位的成果将有助于AHRC的国际战略，其目的是促进英国成为世界研究中心。追溯自博物馆成立以来的250年里，世界各地的收藏家和收藏家网络，将提供一个人、地、物之间相互联系的具体例子，并将其转化为共享的知识。这项研究的受益者将是英国遗产研究一般以及具体的学科和合作中确定的，