Colloque sur l'archéologie expérimentale du 8 au 10 avril 2011

Metallurgy and experimentation

In antiquity, metallurgy developed in many areas, and each population
interjected its own cultural characteristics, in the form of
methodologies, procedures and techniques. Sometimes the cultural
choices were dictated by practical circumstances, such as the
availability of a certain ore. We can thus speak of Cypriot, Etruscan,
Celtic, African, Japanese or Turkish metallurgy, each one with its own
special features. While smelting methods for copper and copper alloys
developed first in Europe and Asia. In Africa, the first metal to be
used was iron, and iron smelting and processing methods developed
fairly early.

The workshop will be held in Etruria, a region rich in deposits of
metal-bearing minerals. Here metallurgy developed in the late
Neolithic, and contributed substantially to the development and wealth
of Etruscan civilization.

Our knowledge of the skills used in the earliest metallurgies is
relatively limited, due in part to the fact that very little
documentation has come down to us. An important contribution to
research comes from experimental archaeology, which, seeking to
reconstruct ancient metallurgical processes, gives scientific
researchers irreplaceable information. Unlike the situation in Italy,
this type of research has been pursued for decades elsewhere in Europe
and in the United States.

Experimental archaeology also offers the possibility of communicating
directly with the contemporary world, making it easier for the general
public – especially the younger generation – to study and understand
archaeological problems, and arousing interest in research that is
often confined to small groups of specialists.

There is still no general agreement on the procedures to be followed
in this type of experimentation. One of the purposes of this
conference is thus to open a discussion aimed at working out common
strategies and methodologies to delineate an innovative concept of
experimentation in archaeometallurgy.



The scientific problem

The Antiquitates Center for Experimental Archaeology is situated in
the heart of Viterban Etruria, on the slopes of the Tolfa Mountains. A
good deal of evidence indicates that Tolfa ores have been mined since
antiquity. The Center has long engaged intensely in scientific
activities related to archaeological experimentation, upon which
researchers and scholars have drawn. The organization – unique in
Latium – is thus able to offer the indispensable logistical support
and know-how needed for the upcoming workshop.

The workshop program has two purposes: to examine the potential and
the applications of experimental archaeology for disseminating
knowledge and in education; and to bring together archaeometallurgy
scholars in order to create the basis for an international
experimentation protocol. The meetings will be held over three days,
during which experts and experimenters will be able to suggest and
plan out the best methods for obtaining the maximum scientific results
from experiments. The investigative methodologies they work out will
be field-tested at the Antiquitates Center. During the workshop,
different methodological approaches to metallurgy will be tested,
based on data provided by archaeological research. Furnaces from
different historical/cultural traditions will be built, such as the
ones used in the Etruscan, Cypriot, Celtic, central-African, Japanese
and Turkish worlds.

Details

 From April 8 to 10, 2011, the Antiquitates Center for Experimental
Archaeology, at Civitella Cesi (Viterbo), will host the Third
International Conference on Experimental Archaeology, “Metallurgies
Compared: Archaeology and Experimentation.” The conference, organized
in three sessions of presentations alternating with experimental
activities, will be attended by many Italian and European scholars.
Participants may present works in the form of posters, according to
the rules to be announced by the organizing committee. The deadline
for communication is by February, 8, 2011.

The registration fee is €100 and includes the opportunity to
participate in the poster session. Admission applications should be
submitted by March 30, 2011. Regarding meals and accommodations,
attendees may stay at Antiquitates’s facilities at a special rate, or
at hotels and hostels in nearby Blera. The conference will be open to
a maximum of 70 attendees.  Participants will be selected based on the
CVs submitted with their admission application, which should specify
all relevant information (activities conducted, course of study,
scientific qualifications, publications, etc.). Admission applications
should be submitted by March 20, 2011, at the conference website:
www.antichemetallurgie.com. The conference proceedings will be made
available to the scientific community in Italian and English on a
website that will include experiment results and videos.

Committees

Scientific committee: A.M. Bietti Sestieri, C. Caneva, G. Fiorentino,
C. Giardino, M. Pearce, S. Rovira

Organizating committee: A. Bartoli, C. Cappelletti, C. Giardino, G.
Lattanzi, L. Santella

Coordinating Committee: C. Fierro, L. Maltese, T. Mastracci , S.
Moscatelli, C. Traina, U. Savarerse



Scientific program

Friday, April 8, 2011

Session I

Experimentation and Scientific Popularization. Comparing experiences
in disseminating knowledge of archaeological research through
experimental activities.

09:30 A. Bartoli (Italy): The decades-long experience of the
Antiquitates Center

10:00 S. Rovira (Spain): Research on the Iberian Peninsula

10:30 P. Halkon (U.K.): The role of experimental archaeology in
understanding Iron Age archaeology

11:00 Coffee break and visit to the smelting furnaces

11:30 Discussion and comments on the furnaces

12 p.m. T. Burka (Ethiopia): Between experimental archaeology and
ethnoarchaeology. Research on Ethiopian furnaces

12:30 D. Leopp (U.S.A.): Experiments in gold refining

1:00 Lunch

3:30 C. Bottini, R. Villaça (Portugal): Archaeometallurgical research
in the Portuguese area

4:00 Discussion

4:30 Coffee break

5:00 M. Pearce (U.K.)

5:30 Experimental activity: Opening the iron-smelting furnaces



Saturday, April 9, 2011

Session II

Experimentation and Archaeological Science: In search of an
archaeometallurgical protocol.

9:00 Nagai Yutaka (Japan): Shagudo and other ancient Japanese techniques

9:30 I. Montero (Spain)

10:00 C. Giardino (Italy)

10:30 A. M. Bietti Sestieri (Italy)

11:00 Coffee break and visit to the smelting furnaces

11:30 Discussions and comments on the furnaces

12 p.m. C. Caneva (Italy)

12:30 G. E. Gigante (Italy)

1:00 Lunch

3:30 C. M. Cavallini (Italy)

4:30 Coffee break

5:00 E. Formigli, D. Ferro (Italy)

5:30 Experimental activity: Opening iron-smelting furnaces



Sunday, April 10, 2011

Session III

Experimentation, education and scientific tourism: Potential and
limitations of the experimental approach.

9:00 R. Poggiani Keller, M. Baioni, C. Mangani (Italy): The experience
of the Lombardy museum network

9:30 Poster presentation and discussion

11:00 Coffee break and visit to the smelting furnaces

11:30 A. De Santis, G. Pulitani (Italy) : Educational activities in Rome

12 p.m. Discussions and comments on furnaces used to smelt metals and
craft objects (copper, copper alloys, iron, gold)

1:00 Lunch

3:00 C. Demarez: The experience of the Archéosite d’Aubechies (Belgium)

3:30 Final remarks and discussion

6:00 Conclusions