Table of Contents

Preface and acknowledgementsIntroduction: achievements and challengesMining and smelting* Chalcolithic copper smelting* Zambujal and the beginnings of metallurgy in southern Portugal* The use of experimental archaeology/archaeometallurgy for the understanding and reconstruction of Early Bronze Age mining and smelting technologies* On the edge of success: the scientific examination of the products of the Early Mines Research Group smelting experiments* Towards a functional and typological classification of crucibles* Records of palaeo-pollution from mining and metallurgy as recorded by three ombrotrophic peat bogs in Wales, UKCopper, tin and bronze* Prehistoric copper production at Timna: thermoluminescence (TL) dating and evidence from the East* On the origins of metallurgy in prehistoric Southeast Asia: the view from Thailand* Coals to Newcastle, copper to Magan? Isotopic analyses and the Persian Gulf metals trade* The first use of metal on Minoan Crete* Cross-cultural Minoan networks and the development of metallurgy in Bronze Age Crete* One hundred years on: what do we know about tin and bronze production in southern Africa?Brass and zinc* Of brass and bronze in prehistoric Southwest Asia* Brasses in the early metallurgy of the Iberian peninsula* The beginning of the use of brass in Europe with particular reference to the southeastern Alpine region* Roman brass and lead ingots from the western Mediterranean* Copper-based metal in the Inland Niger delta: metal and technology at the time of the Empire of Mali* Preliminary multidisciplinary study of the Miaobeihou zinc-smelting ruins at Yangliusi village, Fengdu county, Chongqing* The origin and invention of zinc-smelting technology in ChinaIron and steel* Slags and the city: early iron production at Tell Hammeh, Jordan and Tell Beth- Shemesh, Israel* Innovations in bloomery smelting in Iron Age and Romano-British England* Decisions set in slag: the human factor in African iron smelting* The anatomy of a furnace ... and some of its ramifications* Early Chinese ferrous swords from the British Museum collections* Crucible steel in medieval swordsIndex