CAREER: Training In Scientific Methodology

Humanity is characterized by complex behaviors and social interactions. Understanding what fueled these developments, and when and how they enabled people to migrate, adapt, and thrive in new and changing environments are topics of importance. To examine these themes, archaeologists often turn to artifact provenance and materials characterization studies to ask questions about mobility, resource use, symbolic expression, and the development of social networks.

Dr. Brandi L. MacDonald’s program focuses on two interrelated areas of materials research: the procurement, exchange, and use of ochre mineral pigments, and the properties and materiality of those pigments used in social and symbolic expressions, such as rock art.

Despite having much to offer, rock art and ochre provenance research have been underutilized for reconstructing object biographies and social networks. Studies have been limited in scope by small sample sizes, slow advancements in minimally-destructive methods, a dearth of expertise in understanding geochemical constraints for provenance, and an overall lack of theorizing on the role of ochre mineral pigments in social and symbolic contexts.

The scientific objectives of this program are to apply archaeometric techniques for ochre provenance and rock art analysis to enhance the research outcomes in two collaborative projects in contexts of multiple geographic regions and time periods. This research uses novel scientific and community-engaged approaches for understanding complex behaviors and social networks.

By integrating several case studies, this project produces the datasets needed to reconstruct ochre mineral pigment provenance, and social contexts of its exchange and use for creating rock art. Conventional research on ochre has centralized its focus on early human cognition and symbolically mediated behaviors, often overlooking its utility as a proxy for mobility, social exchanges, and long-term human-environment adaptations.

Yet, geochemical datasets are important to the study of social networks and communities of practice because the ability to reconstruct the ochre production procedures as one way to identify behavioral patterns over time, signaling sustained or changing social contexts. Through the lens of archaeological science, geochemical datasets can produce specific and accurate descriptions of social networks, thus advancing theoretical understandings of cultural adaptations and preferences.

The scope of this project sets several new benchmarks for ochre provenance and rock art research. The educational goals of this CAREER award are to integrate this research with early scholar training to: (1) support graduate and undergraduate educational training of US scholars; (2) make leading-edge, NSF-supported analytical infrastructure and expertise available to early scholars in archaeology; (3) deliver a series of outreach events and educational training to relevant local communities; and (4) improve public perceptions of science through community engagement, including the scientific methods used to study rock art and mineral pigments in the past and present.

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.