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.

西北北美（北极中部，亚北极和西北海岸）中存在三个不同的区域，并具有本地铜的来源和史前使用的证据，为对与猎人 - 猎人 - 猎人 - 猎人群体中社会多样性群体中的单一物质创新相关的技术变革提供了比较研究。一个具有北部考古和人种学，地质和材料科学背景背景的合作跨学科团队，将在西北北美猎人 - 北美猎人（North American American Hunter-Gatherers）中，进行一项为期三年的研究计划，调查本地铜创新的研究及其与新兴社会复杂性（即世袭级别的发展）的关系。自然发生的纯本机铜被整个地区的土著群体使用，用于个人装饰的工具，武器和物体。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）展示财富的尝试，因此类似于对史前冶金的讨论，通常在这些地区使用本地铜与新兴的社会复杂性有关。对源和工件的区域内和区域间空间分析，博物馆收藏中伪影的组成分析，铜工生产的详细实验研究以及与Ahtna社区合作收集的口述历史的详细实验研究，将提供本机铜创新的定量和定性数据。这些数据将使用设计理论框架进行集成，该框架将提供对与狩猎采集者在不同社会和环境环境中采用该技术相关的收益和约束的整体多量表的理解。尽管专注于围绕狩猎采集者中特定材料使用的创新，但该项目将有助于更一般的人类学讨论创新，并将生成数据，以开发用于未来测试的技术创新模型。此外，该项目还包括跨学科研究生和本科教育，培训和动手研究的重要机会，以及与Ahtna社区的跨代互动机会。