Doctoral Dissertation Research: Blacksmithing Traditions and Social Relationships of Early Historic Ironworkers

University Of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison WI

Investigators

Abstract

This doctoral dissertation research project investigates how archaeometallurgy and computer science can reveal blacksmithing traditions and the relationships between blacksmiths, their elite patrons, and religious consumers by examining early historic Iron Age materials. A “blacksmithing tradition,” is a body of knowledge and skills that craftspeople practice throughout their lives that is passed down through apprenticeships from one generation to the next and creates technological patterns in the archaeological record. Uncovering the blacksmithing traditions that created iron tools can reveal how social relationships incentivized speed or care in iron production. Blacksmiths’ patrons may have needed iron objects as quickly as possible to rapidly construct religious buildings, or patrons may have wanted iron objects carefully crafted to promote their quality and longevity for the sake of religious groups. Additionally, blacksmiths may have supplied religious groups with iron objects after the initial construction in an ad hoc manner to repair structures out of a sense of spiritual duty. Revealing relationships between blacksmiths, their patrons, and religious officials in the ancient past allows for comparison to modern blacksmiths who have been marginalized. In the research region female blacksmiths have been common practitioners, but large gender disparities in the labor market and STEM fields still exist. By revealing the unique material and social contributions of relevant earlier ironworkers, this project hopes to honor and inspire living blacksmiths, both male and female, and educate the general public about their craft. Two questions guide this project. First, which was more important to the elites and the blacksmiths, the prestige of having the religious monument built quickly, or the piety of having the religious monument built well? Second, how can present day scientists use ancient iron objects to reveal blacksmithing traditions and the social relationships influencing those traditions? Iron objects are studied with optical and scanning electron microscopy, innovative image analysis, and chemical analysis of both residual metal and slag inclusions. Through these analyses, the researcher quantifies the patterns in chemical and microstructural signatures of iron objects caused by blacksmithing tradition(s). These signatures show if speed or care was incentivized in the blacksmithing tradition(s). Moreover, blacksmithing tradition(s) are examined in the context of visually and algorithmically created typologies whose groups and sub-groups enable researchers to see if blacksmiths worked together in one localized large group, multiple separated large groups, or if they worked in smaller groups in an ad hoc manner. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.