This volume, the latest in the Historical Metallurgy Society’s Occasional Publication series, presents a set of papers arising from a conference on experimental archaeometallurgy held at West Dean College in 2010. The conference was unusual in that it combined conventional lectures with a range of events and experiments and the twenty papers in this publication cover a series of topics from the scientific reconstruction of furnaces to archaeological street theatre.
The majority of the papers are concerned with iron metallurgy and especially iron smelting but there are also accounts of early copper smelting and smithing, metallurgical ceramics and the assaying of silver-lead ores. The papers on iron production deal principally with the experimental reconstruction and operation of early bloomery furnaces and range from specialist interest reports to more anecdotal accounts of how craft skill and improvisation are applied to archaeological experimentation. There is also an ethnoarchaeological account of modern iron production by Dogon smiths in Mali, West Africa. Of particular interest is the paper by Peter Crew which reviews his experience of twenty five years of bloomery experiments; this work began out of a desire to answer specific questions raised by excavations at prehistoric sites in Snowdonia and developed into a dedicated experimental programme looking at early iron production throughout Britain and Europe.
In addition to descriptions of controlled experiments there are a number of more general papers, notably by the editors, which explore the theoretical context of experimental archaeometallurgy. There is discussion of the role of experience and craft skill, the tensions that can exist between craft based and scientific approaches and the consequent diversity in practice, recording and reporting. And there is a constant reminder, particularly from Roger Doonan, that craftsmanship cannot be reduced to simple process - the experimental archaeologist must recognise the key role of the human agent.
Conference volumes are always something of a mixed bag and this is no exception. The contributions range from detailed metallurgical reports to humorous anecdote and at times it is difficult to see who the target audience is meant to be. But the volume’s combination of science, craft, experiment and accident seems to reflect the eclectic form of the conference and the inclusive nature of contemporary experimental archaeometallurgy.
The volume is well produced, uses colour images throughout and all the papers are fully referenced. For those who want to find out more about experimental archaeometallurgy this is an accessible, informative and at times intriguing publication.