Supported projects

Non-ferrous archaeometallurgy, as a discipline that studies the entire process of ancient metallurgy, from the extraction of copper, tin, gold or silver ore to the present state of archaeological objects, has become highly structured over the last two decades. Considerable progress has been made in our knowledge of these processes, whether it is a question of extractive metallurgy, elaboration (from ore to metal) or transformation (from metal to finished objects), as well as the biography of the products of metallurgy (from finished objects to their current state). This structuring of archaeometallurgical research has been accompanied by a certain compartmentalisation. As a result, research is fairly compartmentalised between mining, archaeometry, technology and archaeology on the one hand, and between Europe and the Near East on the other. In an interdisciplinary perspective, the various speakers will respectively address the issues of: 1) extraction of metal ores, 2) places, tools and actors of metallurgical production, 3) « chaînes opératoires » – from metal to finished products and 4) exchanges and uses of metallurgical products (from archaeological contexts to the laboratory).