Roberts B.W., Thornton C. (eds.) Archaeometallurgy in Global Perspective: Methods and Syntheses

New York: Springer, 2014. — 868 p. — ISBN: 978-1-4614-9016-6.The study of ancient metals in their social and cultural contexts has been a topic of considerable interest in archaeology and ancient history for decades, partly due to the modern dependence on technology and man-made materials. The formal study of Archaeometallurgy began in the 1970s-1980s, and has seen a recent growth in techniques, data, and theoretical movements..
This comprehensive sourcebook on Archaeometallurgy provides an overview of earlier research as well as a review of modern techniques, written in an approachable way. Covering an extensive range of archaeological time-periods and regions, this volume will be a valuable resource for those studying archaeology worldwide. It provides a clear, straightforward look at the available methodologies, including:
• Smelting processes.
• Slag analysis.
• Technical Ceramics.
• Archaeology of Mining and Field Survey.
• Ethnoarchaeology.
• Chemical Analysis and Provenance Studies.
• Conservation Studies.
With chapters focused on most geographic regions of Archaeometallurgical inquiry, researchers will find practical applications for metallurgical techniques in any area of their study.
Ben Roberts is a specialist in the early metallurgy and later prehistoric archaeology of Europe. He was the Curator of the European Copper and Bronze Age collections at the British Museum between 2007 and 2012 and is now a Lecturer in Prehistoric Europe in the Department of Archaeology at the Durham University, UK.
Chris Thornton is a specialist in the ancient metallurgy of the Middle East, combining anthropological theory with archaeometrical analysis to understand the development and diffusion of metallurgical technologies throughout Eurasia. He is currently a Consulting Scholar of the University of Pennsylvania Museum, where he received his Ph.D. in 2009, and the Lead Program Officer of research grants at the National Geographic Society.Introduction (Christopher P. Thornton and Benjamin W. Roberts).
From Ores to Metals (David Killick).
Metals (Michael R. Notis).
Metallography and Microstructure of Metallic Artifacts (David A. Scott).
The Investigation of Archaeometallurgical Slag (Andreas Hauptmann).
Technical Ceramics (Marcos Martinón-Torres and Thilo Rehren).
Methods of Mining Archaeology (Montanarchäologie) (Thomas R. Stöllner).
Experimental Archaeometallurgy (Julia Heeb and Barbara S. Ottaway).
Ethnoarchaeological and Historical Methods (Louise Iles and S. Terry Childs).
Chemical and Isotopic Studies of Ancient Metals (A. Mark Pollard and Peter Bray).
Provenance Determination of Archaeological Metal Objects (Ernst Pernicka).
A Conservator’s Perspective on Ancient Metallurgy (Deborah Schorsch).
Copper Working Technologies, Contexts of Use, and Social Complexity in the Eastern Woodlands of Native North America (Kathleen L. Ehrhardt).
Mesoamerican Metallurgy: the Perspective from the West (Dorothy Hosler).
Andean Metallurgy in Prehistory (Heather Lechtman).
Production Networks and Consumer Choice in the Earliest Metal of Western Europe (Benjamin W. Roberts).
Aspects of Metalworking and Society from the Black Sea to the Baltic Sea from the Fifth to the Second Millennium BC (Tobias L. Kienlin).
Early Metallurgy in the Central Mediterranean (Andrea Dolfini).
Cairo to Cape: The Spread of Metallurgy through Eastern and Southern Africa (David Killick).
Organization and Specialization of Early Mining and Metal Technologies in Anatolia (Joseph W. Lehner and K. Aslıhan Yener).
Who Dunnit? New Clues Concerning the Development of Chalcolithic Metal Technology in the Southern Levant (Jonathan Golden).
Ancient Metallurgy in the Caucasus From the Sixth to the Third Millennium BCE (Antoine Courcier).
The Emergence of Complex Metallurgy on the Iranian Plateau (Christopher P. Thornton).
Production and Consumption of Copper-Base Metals in the Indus Civilization (Brett C. Hoffman and Heather M.-L. Miller).
Early Metal in South India: Copper and Iron in Megalithic Contexts (Praveena Gullapalli).
Metals, Society, and Economy in the Late Prehistoric Eurasian Steppe (Roger Doonan, Bryan Hanks, Dmitry Zdanovich, Elena Kupriyanova, Derek Pitman, Natal’ya Batanina and James Johnson).
Metallurgy in Ancient Eastern Asia: Retrospect and Prospects (Katheryn M. Linduff and Jianjun Mei).
The Transmission of Early Bronze Technology to Thailand: New Perspectives (Joyce C. White and Elizabeth G. Hamilton).