Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Metal Procurement and Regional Community Organization in the Bronze Age of Southwest Transylvania

Regents Of The University Of Michigan - Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor MI

Investigators

Abstract

Under the guidance of Dr. John O'Shea, Colin Quinn will investigate how metal procurement affected community organization in southwest Transylvania during the Bronze Age (2700-1200BC). Metals, especially copper, tin, and gold, were key resources during the Bronze Age, a period of major social transformation across Europe. Southwest Transylvania is an ideal case in which to study the articulation of metal procurement and community organization because metal resources are locally abundant, spatially discrete, and exchanged widely across the continent during the Bronze Age. The goals of this research are to understand how metal procurement was organized, what roles metal procurement played in the political economy, and the changing roles of metal procurement in the development of social complexity throughout the Bronze Age. The organization and development of metal procurement and communities will be examined through the study of change over time in the patterning of metallurgy, settlement systems, and local and non-local exchange. To generate these data, Colin Quinn will conduct systematic survey and test excavations at sites within the Geoagiu Valley. The project will examine the organization of metal procurement to evaluate three models; if it was integrated by (1) autonomous communities, (2) local elites, or (3) regional polities. These models will inform understanding of how Bronze Age communities positioned themselves on the landscape in relation to resources and neighboring settlements and how these relationships and priorities changed through time. The proposed research is the first systematic archaeological survey in southwest Transylvania and the first anthropologically-oriented study of communities in metal procurement zones in the Carpathians. As such, this research develops models of politics and the economy that are specific to metal procurement zones. This is a much-needed counterbalance to traditional models of the role of metal in society that assume that metal sources are not locally available. The revised chronology generated through radiocarbon dating will challenge and nuance our understanding of development of social complexities in southwest Transylvania and inform future models into the relationship among social, economic, and political lifeways in middle-range societies. More broadly, this research expands anthropological understanding of resource procurement and its social context. The long-term perspective provided by archaeological approaches complements approaches from other disciplines that are interested in the impact of mining, trade, and globalization on local economies, political systems, and the environment. The proposed project will critically evaluate the likely shifting role of metal procurement in the organization and evolution of societies in procurement zones. This research will serve as a template for studying the role of local resources in procurement zones and can be applied to the study of a wide range of resources in many different temporal and geographic contexts. This project contributes to and enhances larger research efforts to study the development of social complexity across the Carpathian Basin by virtue of extending these approaches into metal procurement zones. The project has broader impacts by fostering international collaborations and providing training opportunities for Romanian and U.S. students. The local community will be engaged through public outreach events and web resources. The GIS database generated as part of this project will serve as a lasting infrastructure of research and will be made available to local archaeologists and policy makers to be used in cultural heritage management.