Prehistoric Native Copper Technology in Northwest North America: Innovation, Diffusion, and Heritage

北美西北部史前本土铜技术：创新、传播和传承

• 批准号: 1108250
• 负责人: Harold Cooper
• 金额: $ 51.3万
• 依托单位: Purdue University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-09-01 至 2022-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1108250&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Prehistoric; Native; Copper; Technology; Northwest

The existence of three distinct regions within northwest North America (central Arctic, western Subarctic, and Northwest Coast) with sources of native copper and evidence for its prehistoric use provides the opportunity for a comparative study of technological change related to the innovation of a single material among socio-politically diverse groups of hunter-gatherers. A collaborative interdisciplinary team with backgrounds in northern archaeology and ethnography, geology, and materials science will undertake a three-year program of research investigating native copper innovation, and its relationship to emergent social complexity (i.e., the development of hereditary rank), among northwest North American hunter-gatherers. Naturally occurring pure native copper was used by indigenous groups throughout the region for tools, weapons, and objects of personal adornment. This latter use has been traditionally viewed by archaeologists as attempts to display wealth using prestige goods (prestige technology) and as a result, and similar to discussions of prehistoric metallurgy in general, the use of native copper in these regions has been associated with emergent social complexity. Intra- and inter-regional spatial analysis of sources and artifacts, compositional analysis of artifacts in museum collections, detailed experimental studies of copper-working manufacturing, and oral history collected in collaboration with the Ahtna community, will provide quantitative and qualitative data on native copper innovation. These data will be integrated using a design theory framework that will provide a holistic multi-scalar understanding of the benefits and constraints associated with the adoption of this technology by hunter-gatherers in different social and environmental contexts. Though focused on innovation surrounding the use of a specific material among hunter-gatherers, this project will contribute to more general anthropological discussions of innovation and will generate data for use in developing models of technological innovation for future testing. Additionally, the project includes significant opportunities for interdisciplinary graduate and undergraduate education, training, and hands-on research, and opportunities for multi-generational engagement with the Ahtna community.

北美西北部存在三个不同的地区（北极中部、亚北极西部和西北海岸），这些地区具有天然铜的来源和史前使用的证据，为对与单一材料创新相关的技术变革进行比较研究提供了机会社会政治多元化的狩猎采集者群体。一个具有北方考古学、民族志、地质学和材料科学背景的跨学科协作团队将开展一项为期三年的研究计划，调查西北地区的本土铜创新及其与新兴社会复杂性（即世袭等级的发展）的关系。北美狩猎采集者。整个地区的土著群体将天然存在的纯铜用于制作工具、武器和个人装饰品。传统上，考古学家将后一种用途视为试图使用声望商品（声望技术）来展示财富，因此，与一般史前冶金学的讨论类似，这些地区原生铜的使用与新兴的社会联系在一起。复杂。对来源和文物的区域内和区域间空间分析、博物馆藏品的成分分析、铜加工制造的详细实验研究以及与 Ahtna 社区合作收集的口述历史，将提供有关原生铜的定量和定性数据创新。这些数据将使用设计理论框架进行整合，该框架将提供对不同社会和环境背景下的狩猎采集者采用该技术相关的好处和限制的整体多尺度理解。尽管该项目的重点是围绕狩猎采集者使用特定材料的创新，但该项目将有助于对创新进行更普遍的人类学讨论，并将生成用于开发技术创新模型以供未来测试的数据。此外，该项目还包括跨学科研究生和本科生教育、培训和实践研究的重要机会，以及与 Ahtna 社区多代人参与的机会。