The Movement of Technical Knowledge: Cross-Craft Perspectives on Mobility and Knowledge in Production Technologies
Part of: Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)
This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "The Movement of Technical Knowledge: Cross-Craft Perspectives on Mobility and Knowledge in Production Technologies," at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.
The mechanisms by which technical knowledge moves through time and space provides the basis of much material culture research, spanning studies that explore technological change and innovation as well as those that examine technological stability and continuity. However, there are challenges facing archaeologists who reconstruct the learning processes and knowledge networks of past craft practitioners and the implications of the movement of such knowledge and/or craftspeople. In particular, there is a gap between identifying technological change and knowledge transfer in specific local contexts and developing an understanding of regional technological trends, especially in light of the growing use of ‘big data’ to examine research questions at very broad scales.
This session brings together archaeomaterials research that considers how and why technological knowledge moves (temporally and geographically) on all scales, and asks for a reflection on how these interpretations are formed, in relation to – for example – ethnographic and/or experimental data. It seeks to stimulate discussion on all aspects of knowledge transmission, to share approaches and perspectives from different materials, and bridge the gap between local and regional technological landscapes. This session should interest those working in materials-focused excavation, ethnoarchaeology, experimental archaeology, and analysis of production remains and artefacts.
Other Keywords
Material Culture and Technology •
Archaeometry & Materials Analysis: Metallurgical Analysis •
Ceramic Analysis •
Craft Production •
Historic •
Bronze Age •
Iron Age •
Archaeometry & Materials Analysis •
Lithic Analysis •
Ethnohistory
Geographic Keywords
Republic of Turkey (Country) •
Republic of Panama (Country) •
Netherlands Antilles (Country) •
Aruba (Country) •
Italian Republic (Country) •
Hellenic Republic (Country) •
Republic of Albania (Country) •
The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedoni (Country) •
Republic of Bulgaria (Country) •
Republic of Montenegro (Country)
Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-12 of 12)
- Documents (12)
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Accidental Innovation? Using Isotopic Analysis to Test Possible Iron Production as a By-Product of Advanced Copper Smelting (2019)
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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...
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Artisanal Lineages, Communities of Practice and Learning Traditions in Muisca otive goldwork (Colombia): An Initial Exploration (2019)
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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....
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Did the student become the master? The development of the glaze technology in Cyprus during the 13th to 17th centuries AD (2019)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
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. Despite marking the beginning of glazed ware production in Cyprus in the 13th century, the Paphos-Lemba production was a short-lived one and was replaced by other productions in the Famagusta, Lapithos, and Nicosia region. However, we know very little about the glaze...
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From Local to Regional Technological Landscapes – The Mobility of Aeginetan Potters (2019)
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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. This paper stems from a project entitled TRACT (TRAvelling Ceramic Technologies as markers of human mobility in the Aegean), funded through Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, which aims to demonstrate that the informed and interdisciplinary study of ancient pottery can shed...
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The medieval Basque iron industry, cultural traits in technological traditions (2019)
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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...
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Niche Construction and Iron Smelting Technology: Some Thoughts on the Development of Regional Metallurgical Economies (2019)
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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. Linking the evolution of smelting technology to the development of regional economies remains one of the greatest challenges for archaeometallurgy. It is neither possible to explain technological evolution without reference to its costs and benefits in a given...
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The Origin and Spread of Antimony as a Raw Material in Metal and Vitreous Materials Making: From the Bronze Age to the Roman Period (2019)
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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. Antimony has a long history of use in metallurgy and glass making. The first attestation of Cu-Sb alloys dates to the 5th millennium BC (e.g. Nahal Mhismar), while its widespread adoption started around 3500 BC. Metallic antimony objects are reported in Mesopotamia (e.g....
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Post-fire incising as a means of controlling esoteric knowledge in the Andean Formative (2019)
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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. Post-fire incision as method of surface "decoration" is extremely rare in the Central Andean region. This technique was used almost exclusively by the Cupisnique culture on the Peruvian North Coast during the Formative Period, primarily on ritual pottery. The technique was...
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Technical Knowledge, Metal Artisans, and Moche Visual Culture: A View from Piura, Peru (2019)
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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. Technical knowledge is passed along through individuals and the exchange of objects. While technical studies of artifacts illuminate the physical evidence of evolutions in manufacturing processes, what are the mechanisms via which ideas are exchanged? What is the role of...
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Trade networks and selective cultural transmission of ceramic technologies in Neolithic southern Vietnam (2019)
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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. New research on trade networks amongst early sedentary Neolithic communities, c. 4200-3000 BP, in southern Vietnam has shown that domesticated cereals and stone resources were imported to the coastal site of Rach Nui. While the stone likely came from quarry locales in the...
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Transferable Skills: Crafts and Knowledge Transmission in the Ancient Caribbean (2019)
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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. In this paper, we examine the development of craftsmanship and knowledge transmission in the pre-colonial and early colonial Caribbean. By adopting a chaîne opératoire approach to different crafts, we aim to investigate processes of circulation of materials and knowledge...
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Transferring Technological Knowledge: Becoming Craft Specialists and Craft Items through Ritual Reproduction (2019)
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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. How do we identify the transfer of technological knowledge on the local scale and how it might change through time and in regional contexts? The Gamo of southern Ethiopia offer that their Indigenous way of knowing the world enlightens understanding of transformations in...