Reshaping Archaeological Metallurgy: a new role for science in Britain's heritage sector

金属是考古学的核心：它渗透到古代社会，将遥远的地区联系在一起，是经济的核心，并为自我表达开辟了独特的途径。然而，目前在英国，对铜合金的科学研究是断裂的，与现代考古学的现实脱节。这个项目有两个重要的、相关的任务：在国家遗产部门为考古化学创造新的联系，同时，重新想象化学分析可以揭示我们过去的物质。它将提供一个雄心勃勃的分析项目，追踪铁器时代、罗马和中世纪早期世界（从公元前50年到公元1066年）金属的细微流动和影响。这将通过新的化学和概念模型来实现，这些模型超越了来源和对象传记。我将解决阻碍化学成为遗产社区包容性标准工具的结构性障碍。我将建立一个全国性的研究人员网络，并以各级培训、实习和研讨会为基础，为持久的合作和辩论创造真正的机会。这将形成有史以来第一个分析公元一千年英国铜合金文物的国家方案，并解决一些当前的问题。我的研究表明，一个金属单位的化学性质不是静态的，也不是完全由地质条件决定的。相反，它是物质生命史的微妙和可变的记录。以前被忽视的化学记录中的变化记录了人类行为和技术进程。这些数据直接说明了当今人文学科和考古学所关注的问题。我的新方法捕捉了过去围绕金属使用的流动、交换、回收和人类选择，因为真实的人既被技术塑造又被技术塑造。便携式文物计划记录了惊人的33万铜合金的发现，这些铜合金来自铁器时代、罗马时代和中世纪早期，都是由公众报告的。这一成就显示了公民科学的力量和英国冶金历史的真实规模，这是一个新的档案，补充了英国博物馆世界领先的收藏和商业考古单位的大量工作。这如山的历史迫切需要全英国的关注，以提高分析的质量，并解释地区和国家的趋势。我们将与30个合作伙伴组织合作，在雷丁大学的一个专门实验室对选定的文物进行10000次精确分析，涉及100个主题案例研究。这将是对英国所有地区和物质文化的系统调查，而不是集中在遗产的口袋上。对文物管理者来说，对文物进行化学分析往往很昂贵，而且被边缘化。该项目的几个合作伙伴抱怨说，他们没有经过多少培训就把结果翻译出来，或者更令人担忧的是，他们被实验室的专家忽视了。遗产界各部门之间几乎没有信任或对话。即使是物质文化专家也不知道化学能为他们做些什么，很少有人有机会去了解。该计划将通过各级培训和知识交流活动直接解决这些根深蒂固的问题。为了理解我们物质的过去，我们必须从根本上改变我们现在讨论它的方式。该计划将改进我们现有的所有工具：化学数据、英国覆盖范围、考古联系、模型、开放获取档案和出版物。但更重要的是，它将汇集遗产界的所有声音，并将科学置于我们社会辩论的核心。未被发现的公元第一个千年所提供的机会和未来领袖奖学金的力量，为英国考古景观提供了持久而关键的改变。

Metal is at the heart of archaeology: it permeated ancient societies, drew together far-flung regions, was central to economies, and opened unique avenues for self-expression. However, the scientific study of copper-alloy is currently fractured and cut off from the realities of modern archaeology in the UK. This programme has two important, related missions: to create new connections across the national heritage sector for archaeological chemistry, and at the same time, to reimagine what chemical analysis can reveal about our material past. It will deliver an ambitious analysis programme, tracing the nuanced flow and impact of metal around the Iron Age, Roman and Early Medieval world, from 50 BC to AD 1066. This will be delivered by new chemical and conceptual models, which move beyond provenance and object biographies. I will tackle the structural barriers that have stopped chemistry becoming an inclusive, standard tool across the heritage community. I will establish a national network of researchers and create real opportunities for lasting collaboration and debate, based around tiers of training, internships and workshops. This will form the first ever national programme for the analysis of first millennium AD British copper-alloy artefacts and address a number of current problems.My research has shown that the chemistry of a unit of metal is not static or solely determined by geology. Instead, it is a subtle and mutable record of the life history of the material. Previously overlooked shifts within the chemical record document human behaviour and technological processes. The data directly speaks to the concerns of the humanities and archaeology today. My new approach captures the flow, exchange, recycling, and human choices surrounding the use of metal in the past, as real people both shaped and were shaped by technology.The Portable Antiquities Scheme has recorded a staggering 330,000 copper alloy finds from the Iron Age, Roman, and Early Medieval periods, all reported by the general public. This achievement shows the power of citizen science and the true scale of the UK's metallurgical past, a new archive to complement the world-leading collections of Britain's museums and the huge volume of work by commercial archaeology units. This mountain of history urgently requires UK-wide attention, to improve the quality of analyses and to interpret regional and national trends. We will work with 30 partner organisations to produce 10,000 precise analyses of selected artefacts, across 100 themed case studies, in a dedicated laboratory at the University of Reading. Rather than focus on pockets of heritage, this will be a systematic investigation of all British regions, and the full array of material culture.The chemical analysis of artefacts is often expensive and marginalising for heritage managers. Several partners on this project have complained of being left to translate results with little training, or more worryingly, being ignored by specialists in laboratories. There is little trust or dialogue between sectors of the heritage community. Even material culture specialists do not know what chemistry can do for them, with few having the opportunity to find out. This programme will directly tackle these engrained problems through tiers of training and knowledge exchange events.In order to understand our material past, we have to fundamentally change the way we discuss it in the present. This programme will improve all the tools that we have available: the chemical data, UK coverage, archaeological connections, models, open access archives and publications. But more importantly it will bring together all voices within the heritage community and place science at the heart of our social debates. The opportunity offered by the undiscovered first millennium AD and the power of the Future Leaders Fellowships, provide the leverage to deliver lasting and crucial change to the British archaeological landscape.