Archaeometry & Materials Analysis: Metallurgical Analysis (Other Keyword)

1-25 (45 Records)

Accidental Innovation? Using Isotopic Analysis to Test Possible Iron Production as a By-Product of Advanced Copper Smelting (2019)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Brady Liss. Thomas Levy. James Day.

This is an abstract from the "The Movement of Technical Knowledge: Cross-Craft Perspectives on Mobility and Knowledge in Production Technologies" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Faynan region of Southern Jordan is one of the largest copper ore deposits in the Levant. These ores were exploited throughout history, and during the Iron Age (ca. 1200-800 BCE), copper production in Faynan reached an industrial scale. However, excavations at Khirbat...


Análisis morfológico y químico de escorias de cobre del sitio Jicalán Viejo, en el Occidente de México (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Berenice Pedroza. Luis Velázquez. Fernando May. Blanca Maldonado. David Larreina.

This is an abstract from the "Technological Transitions in Prehispanic and Colonial Metallurgy: Recent and Ongoing Research at the Archaeological Site of Jicalán Viejo, in Central Michoacán, West Mexico" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Este trabajo presenta los avances de la clasificación morfológica, caracterización química elemental (pXRF), y microscopía estereoscópica y óptica de las escorias de cobre recuperadas entorno a las áreas productivas...


Archaeometallurgy and Productive Processes: Understanding Copper Smelting Production in the Prehispanic and Colonial Site of Jicalán, Michoacán, Mexico (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Andres Francisco Sanchez Guerrero. Blanca Maldonado. David Larreina. Luis Velázquez. Fernando May.

This is an abstract from the "Technological Transitions in Prehispanic and Colonial Metallurgy: Recent and Ongoing Research at the Archaeological Site of Jicalán Viejo, in Central Michoacán, West Mexico" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This paper focuses on the characterization of technological processes used for producing copper at the archaeological site of Jicalán Viejo, Michoacán, in Western Mexico, which includes both prehispanic and colonial...


Artisanal Lineages, Communities of Practice and Learning Traditions in Muisca otive goldwork (Colombia): An Initial Exploration (2019)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Marcos Martinón-Torres. Maria Alicia Uribe Villegas.

This is an abstract from the "The Movement of Technical Knowledge: Cross-Craft Perspectives on Mobility and Knowledge in Production Technologies" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Technological and stylistic regularities in material culture are often used to define archaeological ‘cultures’, and variously interpreted as resulting from communities of practice, learning traditions and/and imitation, together with consumer or patron demands....


The “Bronze Age” of Southern Africa: Insights from Isotopes and Trace Elements (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Jay Stephens. Wayne Powell. Ryan Mathur. David Killick.

This is an abstract from the "Archaeological Science and African Archaeology: Appreciating the Impact of David Killick" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Southern Africa project (2015–present) uses lead and tin isotopes plus trace element concentrations to infer the geological provenance of copper and tin in Iron Age copper alloys, and to investigate the behaviors responsible for moving these objects from their geological source to the eventual...


Changing Times, Changing Ways? Evidence for Metallurgy at the Cividade de Bagunte (2018)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Nadya Prociuk.

The Iberian Peninsula has been a rich source of metallic ores for millennia, and the quest for control of those resources has profoundly impacted the history of the Peninsula. Iberia has followed a unique trajectory in the development of metallurgy, with a case for the independent invention of copper smelting in the southwest, and small-scale production of bronze and other metals across the Peninsula until Roman occupation. The advent of Roman imperial control of labour and mines constituted a...


A Complex History of Human-Environment Interaction Revealed by the Study of Metal Production Industries in Imperial China (2018)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Siran Liu. Thilo Rehren. Wei Qian. Jianli Chen. Marcos Martinón-Torres.

The study of technology with archaeological science approaches is a powerful proxy for investigating the history of human-environment interactions and provides essential information which could not be revealed by other types of evidence. This great potential was however not fully exploited in previous works. Here we present an on-going project of archaeometallurgical investigation of 7th-15th century silver-lead production sites in China. Environmental history study agreed that during this...


The Diversity of Old Copper Culture Projectile Points (2019)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Richard Meindl. Michelle Bebber.

This is an abstract from the "Defining and Measuring Diversity in Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Old Copper Culture (OCC) (4000-1000 B.C.) of the Lake Superior Region of North America features a wide variety of utilitarian tools manufactured from native copper. Here, we assess the technological diversity of copper projectile points found in the region spanning Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota U.S.A., as well as artifacts found...


Early Iron Metallurgy in the Caucasus: Filling in a Technological "Missing Link" (2018)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Nathaniel Erb-Satullo.

In the study of technological transformations, there is often much discussion of how innovations are conditioned by earlier systems of technical knowledge. Identification of transitional features is often challenging, however, particularly for questions about the origins of iron smelting and its relationship with copper-base metallurgy. This paper discusses some unusual technological features in iron metallurgical debris (circa 8th-6th c. BC) from a fortified hilltop site in the Caucasus,...


Economic Changes through Time along the Tanzanian Swahili Coast, as Seen through the Examination of Non-ferrous Metals and Metallurgical Technologies (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Ella Brewer-Jensen. Thomas Fenn. Lekha Sripathi. Jeffrey Fleischer. Stephanie Wynne-Jones.

This is an abstract from the "Archaeological Science and African Archaeology: Appreciating the Impact of David Killick" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Historic Swahili towns along the East African coast played prominent roles in the triangular Indian Ocean maritime trade linking East Africa with India and the Persian Gulf/Red Sea, but the impact and extent of economic changes through time in these towns are still poorly understood. Examining...


The Economies of Twentieth-Century Blacksmith Shops in Idaho (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Kristina McDonough.

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In March 2022, the site of an early twentieth-century blacksmith shop on my family’s 90-acre sheep ranch in Montour Valley of southwestern Idaho was excavated due to dilapidation and subsequent collapse of the structure. In the early twentieth century, the valley was the site of intensive agriculture and ranching, and the establishment of the railroad in...


Experimental Investigation of Primary Copper Smelting in Central Michoacan (2019)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Blanca Maldonado. Patricia Castro. Peter Tropper.

This is an abstract from the "From Materials to Materiality: Analysis and Interpretation of Archaeological and Historical Artifacts Using Non-destructive and Micro/Nano-sampling Scientific Methods" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Copper was the main metal produced and worked in Mesoamerica, but data for pre-modern primary production and processing remain elusive. Systematic research at Itziparátzico, a Late Postclassic location in Central...


Extracting Copper from Sulphidic Ores: The Jicalán Viejo Smelting Site (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only David Larreina-Garcia. Blanca Maldonado Maldonado.

This is an abstract from the "Technological Transitions in Prehispanic and Colonial Metallurgy: Recent and Ongoing Research at the Archaeological Site of Jicalán Viejo, in Central Michoacán, West Mexico" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Contrary to other Mesoamerican cultural and political entities, the Purépecha Empire is renowned for its remarkable development of metallurgical production. Ongoing research at the site of Jicalán Viejo involves the...


High Energy Generation and Elevated Temperature Potential of an Archaic Furnace in Ancient Peru (2018)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Jose-Luis Sagripanti. Dan Wise. Ralph A. Anthenien Jr.. Elias Yoon. Christopher Kleihege.

We present an aerodynamic and thermal study of the architectonic complex including a fire pit (locally named Fogon Mayor) on top of the largest pyramid in Caral, a society that flourished between 2627 and 2020 cal B.C. near the Pacific coast of present day Peru.The air flow produced by wind on the corridor and ducts feeding the fogon was estimated by various engineering approaches that agreed (within 7-18%) with calculations obtained by fluid-dynamics-modeling of the whole pyramid. Results were...


IRANGKOR Project: Production, Trade and Consumption of Iron in the Khmer Empire, Cambodia (9th to 15th c. CE) (2018)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Stéphanie Leroy. Mitch Hendrickson. Emmanuelle Delque-Kolic. Enrique Vega. Philippe Dillmann.

Investigation into material production and distribution is an important way of understanding the political and socioeconomic organization of premodern states. Iron, with its specific technological characteristics and diverse cultural utility, can be perceived as one of the most dynamic materials for facilitating social and cultural transformation. Reconstructing how iron was managed in the Khmer Empire is therefore a critical perspective for documenting the interrelationship between its multiple...


Iron Production at Marginal Settlements in Northern Iceland (2018)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Nicholas Zeitlin.

The environment of Iceland was rapidly and severely affected by the Norse Settlement, in particular by deforestation. In Iceland’s changing environment the production of iron, an essential material, became limited not by access to iron ore but by availability of wood to make charcoal fuel. The large-scale production of iron may be one of the primary processes that led to deforestation in Iceland due to the large need for charcoal. Investigations at Stekkjarborg on the farm of Keldudalur in...


The Landscape of China’s Participation in the Bronze Age Eurasian Network (2018)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Li Zhang.

In the last decade, much has been learned about the network of interactions in Bronze Age Eurasia, and the importance of the steppe pastoralists in the creation of this network. However, the mechanisms that enabled societies in ancient China (both those bordering on and distant from the steppe) to participate in the Bronze Age Eurasian arena are still poorly understood. Based on the latest archaeological discoveries in China, this article focuses on the participation of four regions of ancient...


Large-Scale Craft Production and the Andean Religious Center: A Reconsideration (2019)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Izumi Shimada. Amy Szumilewicz.

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Our conventional conception of the prehispanic Andean religious or ceremonial center emphasizes a limited range of sacred, ritual activities, intermittent public gatherings, a relatively small resident population, and perhaps small-scale production of craft items for offerings. At the Middle Sicán (900-1100 CE) religious center of Sicán, however, the large...


Little Bronze Things: What They Do and How They Do It in the Early Bronze Age in NW China (2018)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Rowan Flad.

Small bronze objects, some tools, others ornaments, and yet others of undetermined function, are the earliest known Bronze objects in China. Many of these objects are found in sites from Northwest China that date to the early part of the second millennium BC. Their manufacture seems to have been conducted locally on a small scale in this region, and yet the transformation of matter that their production entailed played a role in large scale transformations of society – ultimately culminating...


The Making of Bronzes and Frontiers: An Archaeometallurgical Case Study of Bronze Finds in Southern Hunan, China, from 475 BCE–220 CE (2021)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Yuqi Xiao.

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In both historical texts and modern narratives, the southern frontiers of China throughout the Pre- and Early Imperial era have been oversimplified as a geographical and cultural composite with underdeveloped conditions that have been slowly, but effectively, penetrated by the more civilized, powerful central state. This research aims to break such conceptual...


The medieval Basque iron industry, cultural traits in technological traditions (2019)
DOCUMENT Citation Only David Larreina-Garcia. Juan Antonio Quirós-Castillo.

This is an abstract from the "The Movement of Technical Knowledge: Cross-Craft Perspectives on Mobility and Knowledge in Production Technologies" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Basquesmith project investigates ironworking production during Early Medieval times ‒mostly utilitarian iron implements such as ladles or keys‒ excavated in rural settlements in the Basque Country (northern Spain), focusing on the characterisation of the manufacture...


The Metallurgical Cycle and Human Responses to Material Fatigue (2018)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Joseph Lehner.

Innovations in metallurgy had and continue to have significant and transformative effects on society. From mineral exploration and mining to primary metal production, manufacturing, and consumption across a range of social contexts, metallurgy influenced a wide range of distinctly human conditions. However, while metals are particularly transmutable, they also rapidly corrode back into increasingly stable mineral compounds in processes that people tried to mitigate and often unsuccessfully...


A Metallurgical Study of Early Bronzes from Northern Vietnam: Some Thoughts on Methodology, Local Practices and Inter-regional Interaction (2019)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Francis Allard. Wengcheong Lam. Nam Kim.

This is an abstract from the "The Current State of Archaeological Research across Southeast Asia" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This paper presents the results of the metallurgical analysis of 43 fragments of bronze artifacts recovered from Bronze Age sites in northern Vietnam. It represents the largest systematic study undertaken so far of early north Vietnamese bronzes using a range of archeo-metallurgical techniques. The artifacts, which are...


Mining, Extractive Metallurgy and Imperialism in the Inka Empire (2018)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Colleen Zori.

The Inka empire directed significant resources and labor towards the extraction of metals from the provinces. Using the examples of Porco (silver), Viña del Cerro (copper) and the Tarapacá Valley (copper and silver), this poster explores Inka strategies for obtaining metallurgical wealth. These case studies show that, as suggested by ethnohistoric sources, large-scale silver extraction was directly overseen by the state. In contrast to models of more indirect state involvement typically...


Miskwabik’s Journey beyond Minong: Copper Production Systems among Hunger-Gatherers in the Northern Lake Superior Basin 4,000–6,000 Years Ago (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only Ryan Peterson.

This is an abstract from the "From Hard Rock to Heavy Metal: Metal Tool Production and Use by Indigenous Hunter-Gatherers in North America" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Over the past 10,000 years, hunter-gathers in the Lake Superior Basin have utilized primary and secondary deposits of native (elemental) copper in a production and exchange network that spanned across and beyond the North American Midcontinent. The production system that...