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Archaeometallurgy: Evidence of a Paradigm Shift?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2011

Martha Goodway
Martha Goodway*
Affiliation:
Conservation Analytical Laboratory, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC 20560, USA
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Abtract:

Practitioners of archaeological and historical metallurgy have begun to identify their discipline by a new term: “archaeometallurgy.” Tracing the roots of this discipline shows that up to about 1980 the focus of study was on the technical examination of metal objects and determining site plans of metallurgical installations. Essentially it was a study of ancient metals of interest to historians of art or of technology. The focus then shifted to other materials and their archaeological contexts, processing byproducts such as slag, matte, furnace linings and furnace bottoms, crucibles, molds, cupels and tuyeres which are often more abundant on sites than metal. Thus the field of study has been enlarged beyond metallurgy to an interdisciplinary undertaking of materials science, archaeology, and material culture. Simultaneously with this shift in focus came the application of newly-developed instrumentation which supported a parallel shift in methodology from one emphasizing chemical analysis and microstructure to one of materials charactexrization, emphasising properties and performance.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 185: Symposium G – Materials Issues in Art and Archaeology II , 1990 , 705
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1990

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