1st Edition

An Archaeology of Skill Metalworking Skill and Material Specialization in Early Bronze Age Central Europe

By Maikel Kuijpers Copyright 2018
    334 Pages
    by Routledge

    334 Pages
    by Routledge

    Material is the mother of innovation and it is through skill that innovations are brought about.

    This core thesis that is developed in this book identifies skill as the linchpin of – and missing link between – studies on craft, creativity, innovation, and material culture. Through a detailed study of early bronze age axes the question is tackled of what it involves to be skilled, providing an evidence based argument about levels of skill.

    The unique contribution of this work is that it lays out a theoretical framework and methodology through which an empirical analysis of skill is achievable. A specific chaîne opératoire for metal axes is used that compares not only what techniques were used, but also how they were applied. A large corpus of axes is compared in terms of what skills and attention were given at the different stages of their production.

    The ideas developed in this book are of interest to the emerging trend of ‘material thinking’ in the human and social sciences. At the same time, it looks towards and augments the development in craft-studies, recognising the many different aspects of craft in contemporary and past societies, and the particular relationship that craftspeople have with their material. Drawing together these two distinct fields of research will stimulate (re)thinking of how to integrate production with discussions of other aspects of object biographies, and how we link arguments about value to social models.

    PREFACE

    A MATTER OF SKILL

    1.1 Introduction

    1.2 The current perception of metalworking skill

    1.3 Why study skill?

    1.4 Research aims and setting the scene

    1.5 Metalworking through a craft perspective

    1.6 A brief exploration of the data used for this study

    1.7 Approach

    HARD AND SOFT APPROACHES TO ANCIENT METALLURGY; TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN

    2.1 Introduction

    2.2 The hard approach

    2.3 The soft approach

    2.4 Discussion; what should archaeometallurgy be about?

    CRAFT THEORY

    3.1 A framework for the study of skill

    3.2 Craft and the crafts

    3.3 A return to the physical

    3.4 Skill as a tripartite concept

    3.5 The inner workings of technical skill

    3.6 Conclusions

    PERCEPTIVE CATEGORIES AND THE STANDARD OF THE TIME

    4.1 Introduction

    4.2 The three frameworks of prehistoric craftsmanship

    4.3 Psychophysics and Weber fractions: a quantitative phenomenology

    4.4 Perceptive categories

    4.5 Chaîne opératoire

    4.6 The standard of the time

    4.7 Drawing the arguments together: a method to analyse skill

    METAL AXES AND METALLOGRAPHIC SAMPLES

    5.1 Introduction

    5.2 Data collection

    5.3 Chronological distribution and context

    5.4 Metallographic samples; possibilities and limitations

    5.5 Technological and cognitive aspects of prehistoric metalworking

    APPROACHING THE DATA FROM A CRAFTSPERSON’S PERSPECTIVE

    6.1 Combining disparate views

    6.2 Metallic elements and their effect on the properties of copper

    6.3 From individual elements and properties to metalleity and qualities

    6.4 Perceptive categories for copper-compositions

    6.5 Perceptive categories for casting quality

    6.6 Perceptive categories for hardness

    6.7 Perceptive categories for hammering

    6.8 Perceptive categories for annealing

    6.9 Perceptive categories for morphology

    LATE COPPER AGE AXES

    7.1 Introduction to the data chapters

    7.2 The Late Copper Age standard of the time

    7.3 Axes corresponding to the Late Copper Age standard

    7.4 Superior technical skill

    7.5 Inferior technical skill and flawed axes

    7.6 Failed and unfinished axes

    7.7 Exceptional axes

    7.7 Recognition of and response to different material behaviour

    7.8 Summarising analyses

    EARLY BRONZE AGE PERIOD I AXES

    8.1 Introduction

    8.2 The Early Bronze Age I standard of the time

    8.3 Axes corresponding to the Early Bronze Age I standard

    8.4 Superior technical skill

    8.5 Inferior technical skill and flawed axes

    8.6 Failed and unfinished axes

    8.7 Exceptional axes

    8.8 The recognition of different material behaviour

    8.9 Summarising analysis

    EARLY BRONZE AGE PERIOD II AXES

    9.1 Introduction

    9.2 The Early Bronze Age II standard of the time

    9.3 Axes corresponding to the Early Bronze Age II standard

    9.4 Superior technical skill

    9.5 Inferior technical skill and flawed axes

    9.6 Failed and unfinished axes

    9.7 Exceptional axes

    9.8 The recognition of different material behaviour

    9.9 Summarising analyses

    MATERIAL SPECIALISATION AND SKILL

    10.1 Introduction

    10.2 material specialisation

    10.3 The political economy and material specialisation

    10.4 Conclusions

    THE RIGHT BEGINNING; INTENTIONALITY AND AXE-RECIPES

    11.1 Introduction

    11.2 Intentionality

    11.3 Axe-making recipes

    11.4 Abstract versus applied function as a delimiting factor in technological recipes

    11.5 Conclusion

    FINAL REFLECTIONS: WHAT IS SKILL AND WHAT DOES IT BRING ABOUT?

    12.1 Introduction

    12.2 What is skill?

    12.3 The development of skill through time

    12.4 Axe-recipes

    12.5 What does skill bring about?

    12.6 What does metal do?

     

    APPENDICES

    Appendix 1 General information on the axes

    Appendix 2 Morphological, metallographic, and compositional information on the axes

    Appendix 3 Chaîne opératoires of the axes

    Biography

    Maikel Kuijpers holds a PhD from Cambridge university and is currently a lecturer in European Prehistory at the Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University. His main research topics are technology, craftsmanship, and skill which he explores both in archaeology as well as contemporary society. 

    "An archaeology of skill will foster a new consideration of archaeological objects from the perspective of the objects’ making and provide new insights into objects beyond usual data points of metal content and find context, which reflect only one moment in an object’s life. A focus on skill also allows new conclusions about makers’ intentions, object purpose and use, change over time, and may provide insight into technological innovation. Scholars from many disciplines, including the history of craft,  anthropology, and material culture, will appreciate this book because it enables the assessment and discussion of skill in an empirical manner." - Pamela H. Smith, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute