Support for Coordinated, Regional Trace-Element Studies at the OSU-RC Archaeometry Lab

Oregon State University, Corvallis OR

Investigators

Abstract

With support from the National Science Foundation, this collaborative project brings together an international team of scholars and advanced students to identify sources of ceramic production and to trace local and interregional exchange of ceramic vessels within two important centers of ancient civilization: Mesopotamia and its neighbors, and the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico. Under the direction of Dr. Leah Minc, trace-element analyses will be conducted to determine vessel provenance (geographic origin) via high-sensitivity Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA). Project participants will select archaeological ceramics for INAA from existing museum collections as well as from recent excavations representing key sites in each area, and contribute their expertise on ceramic chronology, typology, and culture history. In both geographic study areas, the resulting trace-element data will provide physical evidence necessary to address both long-standing and recent models of political cycles of consolidation and fragmentation, and their impact on economic organization. Within the Valley of Oaxaca, participating projects focus on the scale and location of ceramic production relative to centers of political power. Key questions include whether political centers also functioned as economic urban sites engaged in the production of basic commodities (such as ceramics), and whether the exchange of such items was an integrating force for the Classic Zapotec state (ca. 300-750 AD). In the case of Iraq, Iran, and Syria, the participating projects collectively will allow scholars to re-examine patterns of inter-regional interaction (such as between the lowlands and highlands), and to archaeologically substantiate historically recorded cycles of expansion and contraction of various Iranian and Mesopotamian political entities. Of central interest are possible exchange linkages forged during the 'Uruk expansion' (when Mesopotamian influences suddenly appear to dominate key trading centers in the adjacent uplands), and the formation of proto-Elamite and Elamite trading networks. The coordination of these geographically and thematically related projects allows for an unprecedented spatial scale and scope in analyses of ancient exchange. Although each participating scholar will address research questions and objectives specific to his or her own site, the potential for cross-fertilization of ideas among projects is great. Further, as each project expands the geographical and/or chronological range of trace-element data available for their study area, the integration of these results provides an even broader perspective of compositional variability in archaeological ceramics. Such a collaborative approach is therefore a more efficient means of conducting archaeometric research in key geographic areas, as it maximizes the information gained from any one site or study by placing it in a regional context. The broader impacts of this proposal are that it will establish a much-needed regional perspective and foundation for future studies of exchange for two major centers of archaeological interest. Further, the project will promote an integrated materials science approach in archaeological investigations of both young post-doctoral scholars as well as established scholars. The project will also provide graduate students with intensive hands-on training in the technical aspects of INAA and compositional analyses, and give undergraduate archaeology students the opportunity to participate in 'real world science' through labs and work experience.