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Papers by Laura Perucchetti

Script to create polygons that would include a minimum of 5 artefacts, unevenly distributed

Britannia, Aug 18, 2022

Beaded rims are a characteristic feature of late Roman silver plate vessels, many of which have b... more Beaded rims are a characteristic feature of late Roman silver plate vessels, many of which have been found in British treasures including Mildenhall and Traprain Law. This paper discusses how these beaded rims provide insights into the production of silver plate, adding to what little is known of silver plate workshops. Vessels in the Mildenhall treasure provide a case study, after which measurements from beaded rims on other treasures from Roman Britain and the western Roman Empire are compared and discussed.

This thesis considers the early copper and copper-alloy metallurgy of the entire Circum-Alpine re... more This thesis considers the early copper and copper-alloy metallurgy of the entire Circum-Alpine region. It introduces a new approach to the interpretation of chemical composition data sets, which has been applied to a comprehensive regional database for the first time. An extensive use of GIS has been applied to investigate the role of topography in the distribution of metal and to undertake spatial and geostastical analysis that may highlight patterns of distribution of some specific key compositional element. The Circum-Alpine Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age show some distinctively different patterns of metal use, which can be interpreted through changes in mining and social choices. But there are also some signs of continuity, in particular those which respect the use of major landscape features such as watersheds and river systems. Interestingly, the Alpine range does not act as a north-south barrier, as major differences in composition tend to appear on an east-west axis. Conversely, the river system seems to have a key role in the movement of metal. Geostastical analyses demonstrate the presence of a remelting process, applicable also in the case of ingots; evidence that opens new and interesting questions about the role of ingots and hoards in the distribution of metal at the beginning of the Metal Age. New tools and new analysis may also be useful to identify zones where there was a primary metal production and zones where metal was mostly received and heavily manipulated. b 3.2 A new perspective: the Flow Model .

Scientific Reports, Apr 20, 2023

Animal mummification was commonplace in ancient Egypt, with the remains of many animals placed in... more Animal mummification was commonplace in ancient Egypt, with the remains of many animals placed inside statues or votive boxes with representations of animals or hybrid human–animal creatures. Votive boxes were made from a variety of materials and often sealed; some boxes are still preserved in this state in museum collections. A prior study of sealed copper alloy votive boxes from the collection of the British Museum used X-ray computed tomography to search for animal remains, where poor image quality resulted due to attenuation from the boxes and apparent dense metals inside. In this study, neutron tomography was applied to six of the votive boxes previously examined. Animal remains, likely from lizards, and fragments of textile wrappings were discovered inside three of the boxes. Evidence of the manufacturing process and subsequent repairs of the boxes were uncovered by neutrons. Significant quantities of lead were also identified in three boxes. The findings demonstrate the effectiveness of neutron tomography for the study of mummified remains inside sealed metal containers, and give evidence linking the animal figures represented on top of votive boxes to the concealed remains.

Scientific Reports, 2023

Animal mummification was commonplace in ancient Egypt, with the remains of many animals placed in... more Animal mummification was commonplace in ancient Egypt, with the remains of many animals placed inside statues or votive boxes with representations of animals or hybrid human-animal creatures. Votive boxes were made from a variety of materials and often sealed; some boxes are still preserved in this state in museum collections. A prior study of sealed copper alloy votive boxes from the collection of the British Museum used X-ray computed tomography to search for animal remains, where poor image quality resulted due to attenuation from the boxes and apparent dense metals inside. In this study, neutron tomography was applied to six of the votive boxes previously examined. Animal remains, likely from lizards, and fragments of textile wrappings were discovered inside three of the boxes. Evidence of the manufacturing process and subsequent repairs of the boxes were uncovered by neutrons. Significant quantities of lead were also identified in three boxes. The findings demonstrate the effectiveness of neutron tomography for the study of mummified remains inside sealed metal containers, and give evidence linking the animal figures represented on top of votive boxes to the concealed remains.

Animal mummification was commonplace in ancient Egypt, with the remains of many animals placed in... more Animal mummification was commonplace in ancient Egypt, with the remains of many animals placed inside statues or votive boxes with representations of animals or hybrid human–animal creatures. Votive boxes were made from a variety of materials and often sealed; some boxes are still preserved in this state in museum collections. A prior study of sealed copper alloy votive boxes from the collection of the British Museum used X-ray computed tomography to search for animal remains, where poor image quality resulted due to attenuation from the boxes and apparent dense metals inside. In this study, neutron tomography was applied to six of the votive boxes previously examined. Animal remains, likely from lizards, and fragments of textile wrappings were discovered inside three of the boxes. Evidence of the manufacturing process and subsequent repairs of the boxes were uncovered by neutrons. Significant quantities of lead were also identified in three boxes. The findings demonstrate the effectiveness of neutron tomography for the study of mummified remains inside sealed metal containers, and give evidence linking the animal figures represented on top of votive boxes to the concealed remains.

Scientific Reports

Animal mummification was commonplace in ancient Egypt, with the remains of many animals placed in... more Animal mummification was commonplace in ancient Egypt, with the remains of many animals placed inside statues or votive boxes with representations of animals or hybrid human–animal creatures. Votive boxes were made from a variety of materials and often sealed; some boxes are still preserved in this state in museum collections. A prior study of sealed copper alloy votive boxes from the collection of the British Museum used X-ray computed tomography to search for animal remains, where poor image quality resulted due to attenuation from the boxes and apparent dense metals inside. In this study, neutron tomography was applied to six of the votive boxes previously examined. Animal remains, likely from lizards, and fragments of textile wrappings were discovered inside three of the boxes. Evidence of the manufacturing process and subsequent repairs of the boxes were uncovered by neutrons. Significant quantities of lead were also identified in three boxes. The findings demonstrate the effec...

This study concerns the origin of large hollow casting technique. It is well known that hollow br... more This study concerns the origin of large hollow casting technique. It is well known that hollow bronze casting using the direct lost-wax technique is an ancient Egyptian invention, but traditionally it has been thought that the indirect lost-wax technique was introduced later, by the Greeks. However, the results of recent studies on some smaller ancient Egyptian statues suggest the 'Greek' invention of indirect lost-wax was pre-dated by several centuries, in ancient Egypt. In the proposed experiment we aim to use neutron imaging to study details of the production of three large hollow cast Egyptian statues, dated to the 9th-8th century BC. These statues have features that could suggest the use of the indirect lost-wax casting technique. This study will be fundamental to understand the development of the techniques used to cast large statues in ancient history.

The experiment proposed is part of a larger study on the production of large cast bronze statues ... more The experiment proposed is part of a larger study on the production of large cast bronze statues in ancient Egypt. Many archaeometallurgical innovations occurred in ancient Egypt, as, for example, the introduction of the lost-wax technique. Therefore, it is of a great interest understanding as many details as possible about how large hollow cast statues were produced in ancient Egypt, to better understand the development of casting techniques in antiquity. ENGIN-X is proposed to be used in combination with IMAT to acquire microstructural information on points of interest that will be highlighted with the neutron images. In particular, it will be used to understand how details of the decoration were produced, the possible original presence of textile and details about the joins and the core material.

This proposal is part of TEMPI, a two-year Marie Slodowska-Curie project at Newcastle University ... more This proposal is part of TEMPI, a two-year Marie Slodowska-Curie project at Newcastle University (2015-2017).The wider project seeks to reassess the development of early metalwork in Italy from ca 4500 to 2000 BC through a combination of radiocarbon dating and new artefact classification criteria which take into account the technological transformations undergone by the objects during their life-cycles. The experiment involves 18 copper alloy prehistoric artefacts from the British Museum collections. Main goals of the experiment are: a) to reconstruct the technological alterations of the objects with the spatially resolved maps of composition and crystallographic texture obtained through Neutron Diffraction analysis; and b) to compare and contrast these results with data previously gained from the same objects through an optical microscopy technique, Wear analysis.

Our long-term aim is a detailed study of the Arms & Armour in the Wallace Collection, London, whi... more Our long-term aim is a detailed study of the Arms & Armour in the Wallace Collection, London, which contains over two thousand items and is one of the most important collections of European arms and armour in Europe. Many items of plate armour can be investigated non-invasively by metallography, depending on the shape of the plates. However, many helmets have rolled edges and so metallography is difficult without taking samples. so only neutron diffraction is an ethical method of analysis. There are a number of helmets which stylistically might be products of the Imperial Workshop at Innsbruck, but their makers' marks have not survived. Characterising them as having microstructures of tempered martensite (in the late 15th century) would be strong evidence for their having been made in Innsbruck.

Britannia

Beaded rims are a characteristic feature of late Roman silver plate vessels, many of which have b... more Beaded rims are a characteristic feature of late Roman silver plate vessels, many of which have been found in British treasures including Mildenhall and Traprain Law. This paper discusses how these beaded rims provide insights into the production of silver plate, adding to what little is known of silver plate workshops. Vessels in the Mildenhall treasure provide a case study, after which measurements from beaded rims on other treasures from Roman Britain and the western Roman Empire are compared and discussed.

This project concerns Ancient Egyptian bronze containers, known as relic-boxes. Believed to conta... more This project concerns Ancient Egyptian bronze containers, known as relic-boxes. Believed to contain the mummified body of the creature represented on the box, they form a significant material expression of the animal cult which flourished in Egypt during the 1st millennium BC. The proposed experiment would investigate with neutron imaging the content of six still sealed leaded bronze boxes, topped with figures of lizard, cobra and eel, and, dated to the 7th-4th century BC. Recent X-ray CT-scans have determined the presence of material in most, though the identification of the content remains limited due to the high attenuation of X-rays from the leaded bronze cases. Neutrons can easily penetrate dense materials and are very sensitive to organic matter, making neutron imaging the ideal method to reveal the boxes' sacred content.

Archaeometry, 2020

This paper discusses the reorganisation of archaeometallurgical legacy data for future research. ... more This paper discusses the reorganisation of archaeometallurgical legacy data for future research. When archaeometallurgical research aims to answer questions that involve significant movements of raw material or metal objects, it needs to rely on large sets of data. These data are available but scattered across hundreds publications, where they are differently organised, based on the focus of the original papers. The FLAME-D database aims to collect this corpus of data and include it in a versatile structure that also maintains the information about the original data organization. The production of such a database requires transparent data transformations. The database is complemented by a series of online tools that make data available to answer new questions.

Journal of Archaeological Science, 2020

Abstract Traditionally, archaeometallurgical projects have visualised information through distrib... more Abstract Traditionally, archaeometallurgical projects have visualised information through distribution maps of the find spots for different metal compositions or types of objects. However, this is limiting, and more innovative styles of communication are required to engage with more dynamic technological questions such as what underpins the use and circulation of metal. This paper compares four ways to process and represent the archaeometallurgical chemical composition dataset for Copper Age Iberia, and the different conclusions they tend to support. Using distribution maps, the wide spread of arsenical copper is clear, however more nuanced features are obscured. Through employing ubiquity analysis, with regular or irregular grids, it is possible to understand the relative importance of arsenical copper within the local consumption of metal, and how this relates to local extraction. While Relative Risk maps can suggest links between metal circulation and geographical features, particularly rivers. Rather than just being an aesthetic concern, we aim to demonstrate that visualisation of georeferenced data is an important research method.

European Journal of Archaeology, 2015

This paper considers the early copper and copper-alloy metallurgy of the entire Alpine region. It... more This paper considers the early copper and copper-alloy metallurgy of the entire Alpine region. It introduces a new approach to the interpretation of chemical composition data sets, which has been applied to a comprehensive regional database for the first time. The Alpine Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age each have distinctive patterns of metal use, which can be interpreted through changes in mining, social choice, and major landscape features such as watersheds and river systems. Interestingly, the Alpine range does not act as a north-south barrier, as major differences in composition tend to appear on an east-west axis. Central among these is the prevalence of tin-bronze in the western Alps compared to the east. This ‘tin-line’ is discussed in terms of metal flow through the region and evidence for a deeply rooted geographical division that runs through much of Alpine prehistory.

This book considers the early copper and copper-alloy metallurgy of the entire Circum- Alpine reg... more This book considers the early copper and copper-alloy metallurgy of the entire Circum- Alpine region. It introduces a new approach to the interpretation of chemical composition data sets, which has been applied to a comprehensive regional database for the first time.

Script to create polygons that would include a minimum of 5 artefacts, unevenly distributed

Britannia, Aug 18, 2022

Beaded rims are a characteristic feature of late Roman silver plate vessels, many of which have b... more Beaded rims are a characteristic feature of late Roman silver plate vessels, many of which have been found in British treasures including Mildenhall and Traprain Law. This paper discusses how these beaded rims provide insights into the production of silver plate, adding to what little is known of silver plate workshops. Vessels in the Mildenhall treasure provide a case study, after which measurements from beaded rims on other treasures from Roman Britain and the western Roman Empire are compared and discussed.

This thesis considers the early copper and copper-alloy metallurgy of the entire Circum-Alpine re... more This thesis considers the early copper and copper-alloy metallurgy of the entire Circum-Alpine region. It introduces a new approach to the interpretation of chemical composition data sets, which has been applied to a comprehensive regional database for the first time. An extensive use of GIS has been applied to investigate the role of topography in the distribution of metal and to undertake spatial and geostastical analysis that may highlight patterns of distribution of some specific key compositional element. The Circum-Alpine Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age show some distinctively different patterns of metal use, which can be interpreted through changes in mining and social choices. But there are also some signs of continuity, in particular those which respect the use of major landscape features such as watersheds and river systems. Interestingly, the Alpine range does not act as a north-south barrier, as major differences in composition tend to appear on an east-west axis. Conversely, the river system seems to have a key role in the movement of metal. Geostastical analyses demonstrate the presence of a remelting process, applicable also in the case of ingots; evidence that opens new and interesting questions about the role of ingots and hoards in the distribution of metal at the beginning of the Metal Age. New tools and new analysis may also be useful to identify zones where there was a primary metal production and zones where metal was mostly received and heavily manipulated. b 3.2 A new perspective: the Flow Model .

Scientific Reports, Apr 20, 2023

Animal mummification was commonplace in ancient Egypt, with the remains of many animals placed in... more Animal mummification was commonplace in ancient Egypt, with the remains of many animals placed inside statues or votive boxes with representations of animals or hybrid human–animal creatures. Votive boxes were made from a variety of materials and often sealed; some boxes are still preserved in this state in museum collections. A prior study of sealed copper alloy votive boxes from the collection of the British Museum used X-ray computed tomography to search for animal remains, where poor image quality resulted due to attenuation from the boxes and apparent dense metals inside. In this study, neutron tomography was applied to six of the votive boxes previously examined. Animal remains, likely from lizards, and fragments of textile wrappings were discovered inside three of the boxes. Evidence of the manufacturing process and subsequent repairs of the boxes were uncovered by neutrons. Significant quantities of lead were also identified in three boxes. The findings demonstrate the effectiveness of neutron tomography for the study of mummified remains inside sealed metal containers, and give evidence linking the animal figures represented on top of votive boxes to the concealed remains.

Scientific Reports, 2023

Animal mummification was commonplace in ancient Egypt, with the remains of many animals placed in... more Animal mummification was commonplace in ancient Egypt, with the remains of many animals placed inside statues or votive boxes with representations of animals or hybrid human-animal creatures. Votive boxes were made from a variety of materials and often sealed; some boxes are still preserved in this state in museum collections. A prior study of sealed copper alloy votive boxes from the collection of the British Museum used X-ray computed tomography to search for animal remains, where poor image quality resulted due to attenuation from the boxes and apparent dense metals inside. In this study, neutron tomography was applied to six of the votive boxes previously examined. Animal remains, likely from lizards, and fragments of textile wrappings were discovered inside three of the boxes. Evidence of the manufacturing process and subsequent repairs of the boxes were uncovered by neutrons. Significant quantities of lead were also identified in three boxes. The findings demonstrate the effectiveness of neutron tomography for the study of mummified remains inside sealed metal containers, and give evidence linking the animal figures represented on top of votive boxes to the concealed remains.

Animal mummification was commonplace in ancient Egypt, with the remains of many animals placed in... more Animal mummification was commonplace in ancient Egypt, with the remains of many animals placed inside statues or votive boxes with representations of animals or hybrid human–animal creatures. Votive boxes were made from a variety of materials and often sealed; some boxes are still preserved in this state in museum collections. A prior study of sealed copper alloy votive boxes from the collection of the British Museum used X-ray computed tomography to search for animal remains, where poor image quality resulted due to attenuation from the boxes and apparent dense metals inside. In this study, neutron tomography was applied to six of the votive boxes previously examined. Animal remains, likely from lizards, and fragments of textile wrappings were discovered inside three of the boxes. Evidence of the manufacturing process and subsequent repairs of the boxes were uncovered by neutrons. Significant quantities of lead were also identified in three boxes. The findings demonstrate the effectiveness of neutron tomography for the study of mummified remains inside sealed metal containers, and give evidence linking the animal figures represented on top of votive boxes to the concealed remains.

Scientific Reports

Animal mummification was commonplace in ancient Egypt, with the remains of many animals placed in... more Animal mummification was commonplace in ancient Egypt, with the remains of many animals placed inside statues or votive boxes with representations of animals or hybrid human–animal creatures. Votive boxes were made from a variety of materials and often sealed; some boxes are still preserved in this state in museum collections. A prior study of sealed copper alloy votive boxes from the collection of the British Museum used X-ray computed tomography to search for animal remains, where poor image quality resulted due to attenuation from the boxes and apparent dense metals inside. In this study, neutron tomography was applied to six of the votive boxes previously examined. Animal remains, likely from lizards, and fragments of textile wrappings were discovered inside three of the boxes. Evidence of the manufacturing process and subsequent repairs of the boxes were uncovered by neutrons. Significant quantities of lead were also identified in three boxes. The findings demonstrate the effec...

This study concerns the origin of large hollow casting technique. It is well known that hollow br... more This study concerns the origin of large hollow casting technique. It is well known that hollow bronze casting using the direct lost-wax technique is an ancient Egyptian invention, but traditionally it has been thought that the indirect lost-wax technique was introduced later, by the Greeks. However, the results of recent studies on some smaller ancient Egyptian statues suggest the 'Greek' invention of indirect lost-wax was pre-dated by several centuries, in ancient Egypt. In the proposed experiment we aim to use neutron imaging to study details of the production of three large hollow cast Egyptian statues, dated to the 9th-8th century BC. These statues have features that could suggest the use of the indirect lost-wax casting technique. This study will be fundamental to understand the development of the techniques used to cast large statues in ancient history.

The experiment proposed is part of a larger study on the production of large cast bronze statues ... more The experiment proposed is part of a larger study on the production of large cast bronze statues in ancient Egypt. Many archaeometallurgical innovations occurred in ancient Egypt, as, for example, the introduction of the lost-wax technique. Therefore, it is of a great interest understanding as many details as possible about how large hollow cast statues were produced in ancient Egypt, to better understand the development of casting techniques in antiquity. ENGIN-X is proposed to be used in combination with IMAT to acquire microstructural information on points of interest that will be highlighted with the neutron images. In particular, it will be used to understand how details of the decoration were produced, the possible original presence of textile and details about the joins and the core material.

This proposal is part of TEMPI, a two-year Marie Slodowska-Curie project at Newcastle University ... more This proposal is part of TEMPI, a two-year Marie Slodowska-Curie project at Newcastle University (2015-2017).The wider project seeks to reassess the development of early metalwork in Italy from ca 4500 to 2000 BC through a combination of radiocarbon dating and new artefact classification criteria which take into account the technological transformations undergone by the objects during their life-cycles. The experiment involves 18 copper alloy prehistoric artefacts from the British Museum collections. Main goals of the experiment are: a) to reconstruct the technological alterations of the objects with the spatially resolved maps of composition and crystallographic texture obtained through Neutron Diffraction analysis; and b) to compare and contrast these results with data previously gained from the same objects through an optical microscopy technique, Wear analysis.

Our long-term aim is a detailed study of the Arms & Armour in the Wallace Collection, London, whi... more Our long-term aim is a detailed study of the Arms & Armour in the Wallace Collection, London, which contains over two thousand items and is one of the most important collections of European arms and armour in Europe. Many items of plate armour can be investigated non-invasively by metallography, depending on the shape of the plates. However, many helmets have rolled edges and so metallography is difficult without taking samples. so only neutron diffraction is an ethical method of analysis. There are a number of helmets which stylistically might be products of the Imperial Workshop at Innsbruck, but their makers' marks have not survived. Characterising them as having microstructures of tempered martensite (in the late 15th century) would be strong evidence for their having been made in Innsbruck.

Britannia

Beaded rims are a characteristic feature of late Roman silver plate vessels, many of which have b... more Beaded rims are a characteristic feature of late Roman silver plate vessels, many of which have been found in British treasures including Mildenhall and Traprain Law. This paper discusses how these beaded rims provide insights into the production of silver plate, adding to what little is known of silver plate workshops. Vessels in the Mildenhall treasure provide a case study, after which measurements from beaded rims on other treasures from Roman Britain and the western Roman Empire are compared and discussed.

This project concerns Ancient Egyptian bronze containers, known as relic-boxes. Believed to conta... more This project concerns Ancient Egyptian bronze containers, known as relic-boxes. Believed to contain the mummified body of the creature represented on the box, they form a significant material expression of the animal cult which flourished in Egypt during the 1st millennium BC. The proposed experiment would investigate with neutron imaging the content of six still sealed leaded bronze boxes, topped with figures of lizard, cobra and eel, and, dated to the 7th-4th century BC. Recent X-ray CT-scans have determined the presence of material in most, though the identification of the content remains limited due to the high attenuation of X-rays from the leaded bronze cases. Neutrons can easily penetrate dense materials and are very sensitive to organic matter, making neutron imaging the ideal method to reveal the boxes' sacred content.

Archaeometry, 2020

This paper discusses the reorganisation of archaeometallurgical legacy data for future research. ... more This paper discusses the reorganisation of archaeometallurgical legacy data for future research. When archaeometallurgical research aims to answer questions that involve significant movements of raw material or metal objects, it needs to rely on large sets of data. These data are available but scattered across hundreds publications, where they are differently organised, based on the focus of the original papers. The FLAME-D database aims to collect this corpus of data and include it in a versatile structure that also maintains the information about the original data organization. The production of such a database requires transparent data transformations. The database is complemented by a series of online tools that make data available to answer new questions.

Journal of Archaeological Science, 2020

Abstract Traditionally, archaeometallurgical projects have visualised information through distrib... more Abstract Traditionally, archaeometallurgical projects have visualised information through distribution maps of the find spots for different metal compositions or types of objects. However, this is limiting, and more innovative styles of communication are required to engage with more dynamic technological questions such as what underpins the use and circulation of metal. This paper compares four ways to process and represent the archaeometallurgical chemical composition dataset for Copper Age Iberia, and the different conclusions they tend to support. Using distribution maps, the wide spread of arsenical copper is clear, however more nuanced features are obscured. Through employing ubiquity analysis, with regular or irregular grids, it is possible to understand the relative importance of arsenical copper within the local consumption of metal, and how this relates to local extraction. While Relative Risk maps can suggest links between metal circulation and geographical features, particularly rivers. Rather than just being an aesthetic concern, we aim to demonstrate that visualisation of georeferenced data is an important research method.

European Journal of Archaeology, 2015

This paper considers the early copper and copper-alloy metallurgy of the entire Alpine region. It... more This paper considers the early copper and copper-alloy metallurgy of the entire Alpine region. It introduces a new approach to the interpretation of chemical composition data sets, which has been applied to a comprehensive regional database for the first time. The Alpine Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age each have distinctive patterns of metal use, which can be interpreted through changes in mining, social choice, and major landscape features such as watersheds and river systems. Interestingly, the Alpine range does not act as a north-south barrier, as major differences in composition tend to appear on an east-west axis. Central among these is the prevalence of tin-bronze in the western Alps compared to the east. This ‘tin-line’ is discussed in terms of metal flow through the region and evidence for a deeply rooted geographical division that runs through much of Alpine prehistory.

This book considers the early copper and copper-alloy metallurgy of the entire Circum- Alpine reg... more This book considers the early copper and copper-alloy metallurgy of the entire Circum- Alpine region. It introduces a new approach to the interpretation of chemical composition data sets, which has been applied to a comprehensive regional database for the first time.

The series Studies in Archaeological Sciences presents state-of-the-art methodological, technical... more The series Studies in Archaeological Sciences presents state-of-the-art methodological, technical or material science contributions to Archaeological Sciences. The series aims to reconstruct the integrated story of human and material culture through time and testifies to the necessity of inter-and multidisciplinary research in cultural heritage studies.

This book considers the early copper and copper-alloy metallurgy of the entire Circum- Alpine reg... more This book considers the early copper and copper-alloy metallurgy of the entire Circum- Alpine region. It introduces a new approach to the interpretation of chemical composition data sets, which has been applied to a comprehensive regional database for the first time.

Ambix, 2019

Why bother with archaeometallurgy? What can the numbers of analyses tell us about ancient societi... more Why bother with archaeometallurgy? What can the numbers of analyses tell us about ancient societies? This kind of question is not new: the relationship between archaeological science and archaeology has been discussed over many years. But a definitive answer cannot be provided, as both the disciplines continue to evolve and increasingly overlap.

The Numismatic Chronicle, 2020

This article examines the stylistic and metal composition differences between two variants of the... more This article examines the stylistic and metal composition differences between two variants of the bronze Odysseus/Cock type from Ithaca. It posits that Variant 2 is a forgery, which must have been produced after the Hellenistic period but before the end of the 19th century. It also identifies a historic substitution of a Variant 2 coin for a Variant 1 coin in the British Museum collection.

Archaeometry, 2022

A group of six coins from Ithaca in the British Museum collection has been analysed using a bench... more A group of six coins from Ithaca in the British Museum collection has been analysed using a bench Bruker Artax X-ray fluorescence spectrometer on a polished surface. The coins can be stylistically divided into two variants. The analysis highlighted that the two variants are chemically different, with one suspected of being a modern forgery. The first records of coins stylistically similar to the ones suspected of being forgeries are dated to the 19th century.

This paper hypothesises that these suspected forgeries have been produced by an expert forger remelting other, more common, ancient coins. We suggest that the forger was an expert smith and also a numismatist and/or antiquarian who was possibly aware of the most recent studies dedicated to the chemical composition of ancient coins. This paper presents the hypothesis that the forger may have melted ancient coins or other artefacts to produce modern forgeries with an ‘ancient’ composition.