AHRC-NSF MoU: Metallurgical Practice, Technology and Social Organisation during the Middle to Late Bronze Age in the Southern Urals, Russia

AHRC-NSF谅解备忘录：俄罗斯乌拉尔南部青铜器时代中晚期（公元前2100年至公元前1500年）的冶金实践、技术和社会组织：Bryan Hanks博士，匹兹堡大学人类学系[bkh5@pitt.edu]联合主持，英国；Roger Doonan博士，谢菲尔德大学考古系[r.doonan@sheffield.ac.uk]该项目提案建立在匹兹堡大学（美国），谢菲尔德大学（英国），车里雅宾斯克国立大学（俄罗斯），车里雅宾斯克国立师范学院（俄罗斯）和乌拉尔国立大学（俄罗斯）之间富有成效的现有研究合作（NSF资助# 0726279）的基础上。自2007年夏天以来，项目组一直通过斯特普诺耶合作考古研究项目（SCARP）从事考古实地研究。该项目将于2010年5月完成，在这个阶段，只需要完成和报告2009年夏季野外季节的挖掘后分析。我们提出的为期两年的研究扩展计划将以这项重要的合作工作为基础，从2010年6月到2012年5月进行。这项新的研究旨在进一步调查青铜时代中期至晚期（公元前2100年至1500年）居住在俄罗斯南部草原的青铜时代社区的铜冶金和社会经济组织的性质。该项目将重点关注Stepnoye和Ust'ye的青铜时代定居点，并进行：1)地球化学调查；2)有针对性的小规模挖掘；3)额外的遗址集水区研究；4)考古冶金材料和相关特征的比较分析。由于许多学者将铜生产与广泛的区域和区域间贸易以及社会冲突联系起来，因此对冶金生产的性质和微观区域背景的更深入关注是合理的，这反过来又为冶金在试图解释欧亚大陆中北部辛塔什塔考古模式的出现和衰落的模型中提供了强大的地位。在辛塔什塔遗址中，冶金被视为一种无处不在的特征，在解释社会不平等和地区等级制度的出现时，冶金发挥了重要作用。该项目所追求的精细研究问题包括：1)从Stepnoye和Ust'ye定居点的金属生产证据在多大程度上支持Sintashta统一冶金传统的概念？2)在Sintashta时期，Stepnoye和Ust'ye的冶金生产规模和空间组织是否相似？在Sintashta （MBA）和Petrovka （LBA）阶段之间，Ust'ye的技术实践和资源采购策略是否发生了转变？3)金属物品的铅同位素分析（来自Stepnoye和Ust'ye的墓地和定居点环境）表明，从更明确的地方采购和交换来看，从青铜时代中期到晚期，资源开采和金属流通的连续性与更大的区域采购和交换有什么关系？这些数据对建立区域经济发展模型的影响是什么？它如何与更广泛的交换系统以及社会、政治和经济一体化联系起来？我们研究的知识价值既针对与区域社会经济发展、技术实践和社会组织之间的界面有关的持久的人类学问题，也针对与欧亚大陆中北部青铜时代中后期社会变革有关的更具体的问题。金属的生产和消费经常与史前晚期欧亚大陆的社会和经济发展模式联系在一起。然而，关于在哪里和如何开采区域矿石，区域社会组织如何与作为分段过程的冶金相联系，以及地方和区域在铜冶炼和金属生产技术方面的变化发展到何种程度，实际上所知甚少。该项目的广泛影响建立在美国、英国和俄罗斯的个人和机构之间非常成功和已经建立的合作学习计划的基础上。此外，我们目前和拟议的研究的主要目的之一是整合和训练学生在考古实地工作和实验室分析。自2007年以来，几名学生获得了重要的实地和实验室培训，并支持了几篇硕士和博士论文和论文项目。此外，还在南乌拉尔地区的几个青铜时代遗址推广了更密集的挖掘技术（包括筛分和浮选）和遥感方法（地球物理、土壤地球化学和地理信息系统技术）。

AHRC-NSF MOU: Metallurgical Practice, Technology and Social Organization during the Middle to Late Bronze Age (2100 to 1500 BC) in the Southern Urals, RussiaPI, USA: Dr Bryan Hanks, University of Pittsburgh, Dept. of Anthropology [bkh5@pitt.edu]Co-PI, UK: Dr Roger Doonan, University of Sheffield, Dept. of Archaeology [r.doonan@sheffield.ac.uk]This project proposal builds on productive, existing research collaboration (NSF grant # 0726279) between the University of Pittsburgh (USA), University of Sheffield (UK), Chelyabinsk State University (Russia), Chelyabinsk State Pedagogical Institute (Russia) and Ural State University (Russia). The project team has been engaged in archaeological field research since the summer of 2007 through the Stepnoye Collaborative Archaeological Research Project (SCARP). This project will be completed in May 2010 and at this stage only post-excavation analysis of the 2009 summer field season remains to be completed and reported. Our proposed two-year extension program of research will build on this important collaborative work and will be undertaken from June 2010 through May 2012.The new research aims to further investigate the nature of copper metallurgy and socio-economic organization as practiced by Bronze Age communities who inhabited the Southern Russian steppe from the Middle to Late Bronze Age phases (2100 to 1500 BC). This project will focus on the Bronze Age settlements of Stepnoye and Ust'ye and undertake: 1) geochemical survey, 2) targeted small-scale excavation, 3) additional site catchment study and 4) the comparative analysis of archaeometallurgical materials and associated features.A more intensive focus on the nature and micro-regional contexts of metallurgical production is justified as many scholars have tied copper production to both extensive regional and inter-regional trade and societal conflict, which in turn has afforded the role of metallurgy a powerful position in models that seek to explain the emergence and decline of the Sintashta archaeological pattern in north central Eurasia. Being viewed as an ever-present feature of Sintashta sites, metallurgy has factored significantly into explanations that address the emergence of social inequality and regional hierarchies.The refined research questions pursued through this project include:1) to what extent does the evidence for metal production from the Stepnoye and Ust'ye settlements support the concept of a uniform Sintashta metallurgical tradition?2) Was the scale of production and spatial organization of metallurgy similar at Stepnoye and Ust'ye during the Sintashta period and is there evidence for a shift in technological practices and resource procurement strategies at Ust'ye between the Sintashta (MBA) and Petrovka (LBA) phases?3) What does lead isotope analysis of metal goods (from both cemetery and settlement contexts at Stepnoye and Ust'ye) indicate about the continuity of resource exploitation and metal circulation from the Middle to Late Bronze Age in terms of more defined local vs. larger regional procurement and exchange? What are the implications of such data for modelling regional economic development and how does this connect with wider systems of exchange and social, political and economic integration? The intellectual merits of our research target both persistent anthropological questions relating to the interface between regional socio-economic development, technological practice and social organization and more specific questions connected with social change during the Middle to Late Bronze Age in north central Eurasia. Metal production and consumption are frequently tied to models of social and economic development in Eurasia during the late prehistoric period. Yet, very little is actually known about where and how regional ores were being exploited, how regional social organization varied in connection with metallurgy as a segmented process, and to what degree local and regional variability in copper smelting and metal production technologies developed. The broader impacts of this project build on a highly successful and already established collaborative program of study between individuals and institutions in the United States of America, United Kingdom and Russia. Moreover, our current and proposed research has as one of its principal aims the integration and training of students in both archaeological fieldwork and laboratory analysis. Since 2007, several students have gained significant field and laboratory training and several MA and PhD thesis and dissertation projects have been supported. In addition, the implementation of more intensive excavation techniques (including sieving and flotation) and remote sensing methods (geophysics, soil geochemistry and GIS technology) has been promoted at several Bronze Age sites within the Southern Urals region.