DEWA 2023. From Mine to Object: Dialogues Between Eastern and Western Archaeometallurgy 3rd-1st Millennium BC)
Year: 2026
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: Archaeometallurgy (of non-ferrous alloys) is a discipline which encompasses the entire field of ancient metallurgy, from the extraction of metals from their ores to the present state of archaeological objects, and has been rapidly expanding over the last two decades. Considerable progress in advancing the field is enhancing our knowledge, whether about ore extraction and mining activities, production processes (from ore to metal) or artefact transformation (from metal to finished product), as well as the lifecycle of metallic products (from finished products to their current status and location).This structuring of archaeometallurgical research has been accompanied by several bulkheads: researchers are often specialists in one step of the chaîne opératoire, a type of approach, a category of scientific analysis, a specific material or a particular geographic area or time period. It makes for research compartmentalized between different approaches such as mining archaeology, archaeometry, technology and archaeology on one hand, and, for example, between Europe and the Near East on the other. Although interdisciplinarity, which is now the norm, relativize this observation, the various specialists often have difficulty gathering and exchanging ideas due to their disparate methods, training, research traditions and questions.Otherwise, it seems that archaeometallurgical research is developing in parallel in Europe and in the Near East, with relatively few bridges between these two regions, although some researchers navigate between these very different chrono-cultural, technical, environmental, and socio-political contexts.This is why, in the framework of this conference, we wanted to create a dialogue between these two worlds. Our objective was to provoke a disciplinary, methodological, geographical, and chronological decompartmentalization to bring together researchers who are rarely in contact despite the complementarity of their approaches. We hope, in the long run, that this approach will allow us to strengthen ties, weave collaborations, and create an interdisciplinary research group on archaeometallurgy in the entire Old World.The conference was organized around four axes, making four main sessions:1. Mining and ore extraction activities2. Tools, actors and production loci: specialization and organization3. The production process (chaînes opératoires), from metal to finished product4. Exchanges and uses of metallic objects: from archaeological contexts to the laboratoryThis conference was part of a series of meetings organised by the Société préhistorique française (SPF), in conjunction with the Association pour la promotion des recherches sur l’âge du Bronze (Aprab).
Source: HAL
Institutions: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Archéologies et Sciences de l’Antiquité, Maison des Sciences de l'Homme Mondes, Centre de Recherche en Archéologie, Archéosciences, Histoire, Université Rennes 1, Université de Rennes, Université de Bourgogne, Archéologie, Terre, Histoire, Sociétés
Language: English
Subfield: Archeology
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7204020034