Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Development of Mediterranean Long Distance Exchange

New York University, New York NY

Investigators

Abstract

Under the supervision of Dr. Rita Wright, doctoral candidate Matthew Spigelman will study the technology and organization of ceramic production in Cyprus during the Middle Bronze Age (ca. 1900-1500 BCE), when people on the island first began to trade goods abroad. This work will focus on ceramics decorated in the Red-on-Black style, which were produced in Cyprus and traded to Anatolia, the Levant and North Africa. Provenance and technological studies will be used to investigate if the technology and organization of ceramic production changed as communities engaged in long distance exchange. The importance of the proposed work rests on the fact that it will provide insight into how, at traditional levels of technology, international economic networks develop and are maintained. It also will shed light on how social inequality develops within traditional societies. The study will generate provenance and technological data using Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA), petrographic analysis, and Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). This constellation of techniques will allow for the determination of both where and how ceramics were made. Provenance data, from INAA and petrography, will determine the chemical signatures of Red-on-Black style ceramic production centers within Cyprus. Conducting INAA on ceramics found abroad will allow them to be traced back to their place of origin on Cyprus and identify those centers that were engaged in production for long distance exchange. Technological data, from LA-ICP-MS, will be used to investigate the range of techniques for producing the two color decoration of Red-on-Black ceramics. The variability in the "recipes" practiced within each technique provides evidence for the organization of production, potentially ranging from households to large specialized workshops. This project addresses the relationship between technology, the organization of production, and the development of inequality and social complexity. It contrasts with previous investigations by focusing on the role of craft producers, rather than elites, in initiating technological and social change. This work will provide graduate student training, enhance research infrastructure, create linkages between laboratories in the United States, and demonstrate the effectiveness of using archival data in conjunction with new analyses. The results of the study will impact scholarship on the cross cultural study of social change, the archaeology of the Eastern Mediterranean, and the anthropological study of small group learning and craft production.