1st Edition
An Archaeology of Skill Metalworking Skill and Material Specialization in Early Bronze Age Central Europe
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
