Making Pots and Breaking Rocks: Understanding the Organization of Craft Production in Ancestral Polynesian Society on Tutuila Island, American Samoa

该奖项由2009年美国复苏和再投资法案(公法111-5)资助。在国家科学基金会的支持下，Suzanne Eckert博士将在美属萨摩亚图图伊拉岛的波利尼西亚平原陶器时期调查陶器和石器的生产。虽然民族志波利尼西亚是比较世界其他地区酋长发展的模范社会之一，手工艺生产也被认为是这种发展的一个重要方面，但人们对祖先波利尼西亚社会生产的具体情况知之甚少。早期的波利尼西亚人在自己家里制作物品供自己使用吗？才华横溢的工匠是否生产了更多难以制作的物品供他们的社区使用？专家们是否专门为首席执行官制造备受追捧的物品？对这些问题的回答将有助于解开手工艺生产如何与政治组织相联系的复杂性，并创建一条途径，通过这一途径，可以评估和完善整个时间和空间中酋长级别社会的生产组织模式。回答上述问题需要了解文物是如何以及在哪里生产的。对形式、功能和风格的属性分析将提供对图图伊拉陶器和石器生产技术的洞察，并提供对单个工匠的技能水平以及生产者的相对数量和集中度的洞察。要了解文物是在哪里生产的，需要进行更多的技术研究。具体地说，激光烧蚀电感耦合等离子体质谱(LA-ICP-MS)将用于确定岛上哪些粘土用于生产陶器，而能量色散X射线荧光(EDXRF)将用于确定在此期间哪些玄武岩采石场用于生产石器工具。通过使用探索性数据分析，收集的LA-ICPMS和EDXRF数据将分别用于将陶瓷样品和石英砂样品分组为化学成分分组。当这些分组与地质来源相匹配时，将代表特定地区或村庄内生产的证据。一旦完成，这项研究将至少在五个领域产生更广泛的影响。首先，作为第一项专门为探索萨摩亚这一时期陶器和石器生产的组织而设计的研究，这项研究将大大增加有关波利尼西亚祖传手工艺生产发展的知识。第二，通过提供可与在其他岛屿上进行的研究相比较的数据，这项研究将使我们能够与南太平洋其他地区的生产组织一起讨论萨摩亚的生产组织。第三，这项研究将加深对生产和在酋长王国的发展和维持中所扮演的角色的理解。第四，萨摩亚和美国学生将参与这个项目，以加强他们的培训，增加他们对波利尼西亚史前历史的了解。第五，在这项研究期间，将向萨摩亚人民通报正在进行的研究，以提高考古意识。近年来，一些萨摩亚人质疑历史保护的价值；作为回应，这项研究将有助于为萨摩亚人的考古学和历史保护观点提供一个积极的框架。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).With National Science Foundation support, Dr. Suzanne Eckert will investigate pottery and stone tool production during the Polynesian Plain Ware Period on Tutuila Island, American Samoa. Although ethnographic Polynesia is one of the model societies for which the development of chiefdoms in other parts of the world is compared, and craft production is recognized as an important aspect of such development, very little is known about the specifics of production in ancestral Polynesian society. Were early Polynesians making items in their own homes for their own uses? Were talented craftspeople producing more difficult-to-make items for use by their community? Were specialists making highly sought after items specifically for chiefs to use? Answers to these questions will help unravel the complexities of how craft production articulated with political organization as well as create an avenue through which models for production organization in chiefdom-level societies throughout time and space can be evaluated and refined archaeologically.Answering the above questions requires an understanding of how and where artifacts were produced. Attribute analyses focused on form, function, and style will provide insights into the technology of pottery and stone tool production on Tutuila, nd provide insight into the skill level of individual artisans, as well as the relative number and concentration of producers. Data informing on where artifacts were produced requires more technical studies. Specifically, Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) will be used to determine which clays on island were used to produce pottery, while Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence (EDXRF) will be used to determine which basalt quarries were used for stone tool production during this period. Through the use of exploratory data analyses, the collected LA-ICP-MS and EDXRF data will be used to group ceramic and lithic samples, respectively, into chemical compositional groupings. These groupings, when matched to geological sources, will represent evidence of production within a specific area or village.Once completed, this study will have broader impacts in at least five realms. First, as the first study specifically designed to explore the organization of both pottery and stone-tool production during this period in Samoa, this study will add substantially to the growing body of knowledge on the development of ancestral Polynesian craft production. Second, by providing data comparable to studies performed on other islands, this study will allow for a discussion of production organization in Samoa in perspective with production organization in other areas of the South Pacific. Third, this study will augment understanding of the roles that production and played in the development and maintenance of chiefdoms. Fourth, Samoan and U.S. students will participate in this project to enhance their training and increase their knowledge of Polynesian prehistory. Fifth, during this research the people of Samoa will be informed of the ongoing research in order to promote archaeological awareness. In recent years, some Samoans have challenged the value of historic preservation; in response, this research will help to provide a positive framework for Samoan views of archaeology and historic preservation.