Archaeometallurgy: The Study of Preindustrial Mining and Metallurgy

Abstract

Archaeometallurgy is an interdisciplinary and international field of study that examines all aspects of the production, use, and consumption of metals from ∼8000 BCE to the present, although this review is restricted to mining and metallurgy in preindustrial societies. Most of this literature was not written with an anthropological readership in mind, but many of its central themes are relevant to some current debates in anthropology. Since the 1970s, archaeometallurgists have been concerned explicitly with the materiality of metals and also with the highly variable value of precious metals across time and space. Exacting criteria have been developed for distinguishing past technology transfers from independent inventions. Archaeometallurgists have also done important work on the social construction of technology in precapitalist economies. In short, archaeometallurgy offers much that is of interest to anthropologists who study the growth and spread of knowledge, and of systems of value, before the capitalist era.

Defining the Anthropocene

“…Yet humans have long been engaging in industrial-type production, such as metal utilization from around 8,000 yr BP onwards, with attendant pollution 90 . Elevated mercury records are documented at around 3,400 yr BP in the Peruvian Andes 91 , while the impacts of Roman Empire copper smelting are detectable in a Greenland ice core at around 2,000 yr BP 92 .…”

Archaeometallurgical Characterization of Numismatic Artifacts

“…[10,12] For artifact analysis, it is important to use methods that do not damage the integrity of the material; the most common such techniques are those based on the interaction of ionizing radiation with matter, such as neutron activation analysis (NAA), X-ray fluorescence analysis (XRF), and proton-induced X-ray emission or gamma emission (PIXE or PIGE). [10] The counterfeiting of coins takes place continuously and has become increasingly sophisticated; thus, even the trained eye of an expert is often insufficient to discern between forgeries and real coins.…”

Paint It Black: The Rise of Metallurgy in the Balkans

“…Sillar and Tite 2000;Tite et al 2001;Jones 2004;Martinón-Torres et al 2007;Martinón-Torres and Rehren 2009;Killick and Fenn 2012). Sillar and Tite (2000) address this interaction with the idea of 'embedded technologies', which stands for the wider contextualisation of techniques within cultural and environmental surroundings.…”