The Making of Ancient Eurasia ProjectThe Making of Ancient Eurasia (MAE) project is an integrated interdisciplinary research program in which researchers from the Department of Anthropology at the University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) are collaborating in the simultaneous investigation of early ceramic and metal technologies in the Eurasian steppes, the Caucasus, and Central China. The MAE investigations are advancing the first combined, comparative anthropological and archaeometric study of ancient Eurasian ceramics and metalwork from the macro-, meso-, and micro- scales of analysis. This simultaneous analysis of ceramic and metal materials allows for a broader understanding of production techniques, organization, and social and technical goals on an interregional scale. Through intensive interactions with ANL scientists this project offers opportunities for new analytical techniques and applications to be developed in direct conjunction with anthropological questions. ArchaeometryOur analytic goals are directly derived from the project interests in the material foundations of ancient Eurasia. To this end we have implemented a multi-dimensional scale approach to ancient technologies that integrates multi-modal analyses of the structure, elemental composition, and mineralogy of large assemblages of ceramic and metal artifacts. This integrated and collaborative approach has required us to develop basic protocols for defining relevant parameters for intra- and inter-regional comparison in order to understand the approaches to material production and exchange within and between ancient communities in three regions of Eurasia: the Caucasus, the Steppe, and northern China and has provided a setting for programmatic scientific discussions between archaeologists at the University of Chicago and ANL scientists that can develop new methods for solving archaeological questions and raise new issues in the understanding of human prehistory through novel understandings of ceramics, metals, and other material categories. At our largest scale of analysis we are employing digital radiography and XCT to characterize macro- and meso-structural characteristics of our materials. Microstructural analyses are peformed via traditional instruments such as FESEM and through less common techniques such as microfocus XCT and Small Angle X-Ray Scattering (SAXS) performed at Argonne National Laboratory's Advanced Photon Source Synchrotron. This suite of archaeometric techniques provide broad characterizations of the metalworking and ceramic production practices which were essential components of Bronze and Iron Eurasian materiality.
AnthropologyThe Making of Ancient Eurasia (MAE) is an integrated interdisciplinary research program in which researchers from the Department of Anthropology at the University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) are collaborating in the simultaneous investigation of early ceramic and metal technologies in the Eurasian steppes, the Caucasus, and Central China. Much of the historical significance accorded to Eurasia emerges from our understanding of the Silk Road, a legendary series of trade routes that extended from China to the Near East and the Mediterranean. However, parts of Eurasia appear to have been tied together by less-formal exchange routes as early as the 2nd millennium BC. This earlier network provided the foundation for the flow of technologies, arts, armies, and empires that linked the Old World into a vast interconnected web. In order to understand the origins of Eurasian exchange networks, we must examine both the extraordinary objects serendipitously found far from their places of origin, as well as the ordinary, mundane artifacts that were shaped by knowledge and techniques that flowed from community to community more steadily and quickly than the occasional treasure. What links were established between communities from China, to the Eurasian steppe, to the Caucasus in the 3rd through 1st millennia B.C. that made possible Eurasias emergence as a pivot of world history? This project examines the material foundations of Eurasian social life from the 3rd through the 1st millennia B.C. in order to understand both the communities of each region and the ways of life that may have bound them together across vast distances to make ancient Eurasia. The MAE investigations are advancing the first integrated comparative anthropological and archaeometric study of ancient Eurasian ceramics and metalwork from the macro-, meso-, and micro- scales of analysis. The simultaneous analysis of ceramic and metal materials allows for a broader understanding of production techniques, organization, and social and technical goals. Through ongoing analysis of inter- and intra-regional variation in ancient Eurasian ceramics we are examining patterns of interaction that underlay the emergence of social complexity and long distance trade. InstrumentationDigital radiographic (DR) and x-ray computed tomographic (XCT) analyses at Argonne's Nuclear Engineering Division (NED) are being utilized to provide non-destructive views of macro- and meso-structural object features and evidence of formational techniques. Micro-scale structures, important to defining cultural preferences for materials and the preparation of raw ingredients, are being investigated by x-ray fluorescence (XRF) and x-ray diffraction (XRD) beamlines at Argonne's Advanced Photon Source (APS) synchrotron and via scanning electron microscopy (SEM) at ANL's Electron Microscopy Center (EMC). This programmatic research via the Argonne APS represents one of the first large-scale synchrotron analyses of archaeological materials. For further information on the MAE Project, please contact co-PIs Adam T. Smith (University of Chicago Department of Anthropology) and William Ellingson (Argonne National Laboratory Nuclear Engineering Division). Manuals References Personnel Contact Info Forms Certifications |