The Bronze Age, a World of Specialists? Metalworking from the Perspective of Skill and Material Specialization

Abstract

This article starts from the observation that the social persona of 'specialist' is an important analytical unit in archaeology, typically to model social (craft) organization from a Marxist perspective. This has caused this concept to solidify around economic rather than material concerns. I argue that the 'specialist' has become too much an ideational concept that is no longer accurately rooted in archaeological artefacts. Hence, through a brief exploration of Early Bronze Age axes, my aim is to highlight technical skill and use this to reveal different levels of material specialization. On this basis, I suggest moving beyond the umbrella term of 'specialist' and using four, more precise analytical units that are better equipped to accommodate the qualitative diversity of material cultures: the amateur, showing basic knowledge but little refinement; the craftsperson, producing well-made practical objects; the master, striving for perfection and setting the norm; and the virtuoso, taking risks in creating original and unique products.

Bronze Age Swordsmanship: New Insights from Experiments and Wear Analysis

“…A second issue concerns the relevance of early weapon and combat studies-a rather specialised research strand-for the broader field of European prehistory. Here, the answer comes from the many unexpected insights that the research has provided into burning issues in social archaeology including craftsmanship, apprenticeship, and skill (Kuijpers 2018a(Kuijpers , 2018b. While their indepth discussion lay outside the scope of this paper, the data and interpretations presented in these pages show clear potential for addressing these problems from a new angle.…”

“…This strongly suggests that Bronze Age sword production did not follow a standardised manufacturing process, not even within a single region and period. It appears that swords, as much as other bronze tools and weapons, were manufactured based on the smith's technical skill and experience, in relationship to the material properties of the metal and cultural notions of what a finished sword should be like (Kuijpers 2018a(Kuijpers , 2018b.…”

Technology, Use and Reuse of Gold during the Middle Period: The Case of Casa Parroquial, Atacama Desert, Chile

“…While conscious of the risks of value judgements, we can state that the vast majority of the objects are cursory and quite rudimentary in their manufacture and appearance, in the sense that they did not engage particularly complex techniques. Therefore, we find it useful to discriminate objects showing evidence of more sophisticated skills and/or careful manufacture from those displaying a more limited range and/or a more cursory approach to manufacture (Kuijpers 2015; 2017; 2018).…”

“…The rounded torus of vessel 18.089 was made by embossing from the interior and chiselling from the front. The differences between these goblets suggest that they were made independently; the three of them, however, display skill and knowledge in a range of techniques that are conspicuously absent in the rest of the assemblage (Kuijpers 2015; 2017; 2018).…”

The Provenance, Use, and Circulation of Metals in the European Bronze Age: The State of Debate

“…Fourthly, the development of use-wear analyses on Bronze Age objects is starting to see more widespread application as are better recording systems, fewer untested assumptions, and a greater awareness of the complexities of interpretations (see Dolfini and Crellin 2016;Gutiérrez-Sáez and Martín-Lerma 2015;Horn 2013;Kristiansen 1978Kristiansen , 1984Kristiansen , 2002Kristiansen and Suchowska-Ducke 2015;Kuijpers 2017Kuijpers , 2018Molloy 2008Molloy , 2009Molloy , 2010Molloy et al 2016;Roberts and Ottaway 2003;Uckelmann and Mödlinger 2011). What is required is an approach to analyzing and understanding Bronze Age metal circulation and use that can evaluate and further advance the established models and interpretations based on morphologies, typologies, and distributions of Bronze Age copper and bronze objects throughout Europe.…”