TAG2019-UCL

Studies of innovation and cultural transmission in material culture are scholarly obsessions as well as fundamental building blocks for regional and global archaeological narratives. The traditional emphasis on macroscopic artefact traits to explore shifting patterns of cultural variation remains dominant whilst the use of material science data to examine these questions, particularly in the context of production technology, has been slow to develop. Traits that define style and form take precedent over composition and texture.This session explores how we can better utilise material science data in building explanatory models for the evolution of technologies worldwide. It brings together a range of cross-disciplinary research projects that span different materials and continents, yet all using elemental and microscopic analyses to investigate variability in artefact production processes. Participants will demonstrate the utility of micro-scale characterizations for exploring themes ranging from purely aesthetical and sensorial to environmental and mechanical stimulants of change. Seeing no fundamental difference in the abilities of micro- and macro-scale artefact traits to address archaeological problems, we wish to probe the extent to which materials science data can generate new insights on patterns of technological behaviour.

Organisers: Miljana Radivojević; UCL Institute of Archaeology • Mike Charlton; UCL Institute of Archaeology

14:00 | Miljana Radivojević, UCL Institute of Archaeology | Intro

14:05 | Sally Herriett, Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Bristol / Truro College, University of Plymouth | What sort of fibre is that? An experimental approach to distinguishing aspects of skin-based material culture.

14:20 | Kate Fulcher, British Museum | Molecular evidence for the use of complex organic preparation methods for the treatment of the dead in Egypt in the 1st millennium BC

14:35 | Waka Kuboyama, University of Southampton | The Society Behind Crafting: Technologies and Chaîne Opératoire of Costa Rican Axe-god Jade Pendants

14:50 | Maja Miše, UCL Institute of Archaeology | Imitate, Assimilate, Innovate: technological aspects of ceramic production in Mediterranean city-states in the last centuries BC

15:05 | Patrick Degryse, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and Leiden University; Andrew J. Shortland, Cranfield University; Sarah Dillis, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven;
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and Vrije Universiteit Brussel; Alicia van Ham-Meert, University of Exeter; Peter Leeming, University of Exeter | Isotopic evidence for the equivalence of gold and yellow glass in the late Bronze Age

15:20 | - | BREAK

15:50 | Ian Freestone, UCL Institute of Archaeology | The Origins and Evolution of Early Glass-making Technologies: The Near East and China

16:05 | Ole F. Nordland, UCL | Slag chemistry to fill the gaps

16:20 | Peter Northover, School of archaeology, Oxford University | The Empirical Metallurgist

16:35 | Mike Charlton, UCL Institute of Archaeology | Bending the law:exploring technological opportunities in bloomery ironmaking

16:50 | Miljana Radivojević, UCL Institute of Archaeology; Mike Charlton, UCL Institute of Archaeology | Discussion

17:30 | - | END