Archaeometallurgy in Global Perspective Methods and Syntheses

“Benjamin Roberts and Christopher Thornton have brought together the right people to produce a superb book … that will be of useful service for some decades. … It deserves to become the standard text for a decade, while the first part, which should age more slowly, deserves to be even longer. … Roberts and Thornton book is the more accessible and will probably have the greater shelf-life and influence.” (Rob A. Ixer, European Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 18 (3), 2015)

Ben Roberts is a specialist in the early metallurgy and later prehistoric archaeology of Europe. He was the Curator of the European Copper and Bronze Age collections at the British Museum between 2007 and 2012 and is now a Lecturer in Prehistoric Europe in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Durham, UK.

Chris Thornton is a specialist in the ancient metallurgy of the Middle East, combining anthropological theory with archaeometrical analysis to understand the development and diffusion of metallurgical technologies throughout Eurasia. His is currently a Consulting Scholar of the University of Pennsylvania Museum, where he received his PhD in 2009, and the Lead Program Officer of research grants at the National Geographic Society.