Andrea Dolfini | Newcastle University (original) (raw)

Papers by Andrea Dolfini

Scientific Reports, 2022

Open Access: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-09983-3\. The article discusses results of organic... more Open Access: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-09983-3. The article discusses results of organic residue analysis performed on ten copper-alloy daggers from Bronze Age Pragatto, Italy, c.1550–1250 BCE. Metal daggers are widespread in Chalcolithic and Bronze Age Europe, yet their social and practical roles are still hotly debated. Are they symbolic or functional? Are they tools or weapons? How were they used? For what tasks and on what materials? The research addresses these questions through a novel application of biochemical staining and SEM–EDX analysis. The method has proved successful in extracting and identifying animal residues located on cutting edges including bone, muscle, and tendons. These are interpreted as evidence of prehistoric carcass butchering and carving. Further residues were observed on blade faces and hafting plates or tangs; these are interpreted as remnants of bone handles and sheaths, the latter made of either wood fibers or processed hide and fur. The readings proposed in the article are validated by original experiments with replica daggers, as detailed in the Supplementary Materials. The analysis and experiments shed new light on Bronze Age metal daggers, showing that they were fully functional tools (and perhaps tool-weapons) primarily utilized for the processing of animal carcasses. This original research result contributes significant knowledge towards interpreting an under-studied, yet socially salient, prehistoric metal artifact.

Rivista di Scienze Preistoriche, 2021

The article discusses an original seriation and chronology for prehistoric Italian metalwork, c.4... more The article discusses an original seriation and chronology for prehistoric Italian metalwork, c.4500-2100 BC, which these authors developed as part of the EU-funded TEMPI project, 2015-2017. The research is grounded in a critical reclassification of early copper-alloy axes, daggers and halberds; a reassessment of metal-rich burial assemblages from northern and peninsular Italy, organised into geographically and chronological coherent groupings; and an evaluation and Bayesian statistical modelling of radiocarbon dates from metal-rich burials, integrated by fresh AMS determinations and typological comparisons with selected non-Italian metalwork. Thus reassessed and modelled, the data have enabled these authors to suggest that early Italian metalwork could newly be organised into five discrete horizons charting the evolution of copper-alloy technology and object design over two and a half millennia. The research significantly contributes to a 50-year-long debate that has engaged some of the foremost specialists in later Italian prehistory and provides solid ground on which future research on early Italian metallurgy can build.

Journal of Archaeological Science, 152: 105741, 2023

Open Access: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2023.105741 This paper discusses an interdisciplinary... more Open Access: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2023.105741
This paper discusses an interdisciplinary research project testing the efficiency of European Bronze Age axes through experiments with replica tools and the usewear analysis of prehistoric axe-heads from the collections of the Great North Museum, Newcastle upon Tyne (UK). The project explores whether changes in axe-head design and hafting arrangement from early to late Bronze Age might have been motivated by a desire to improve tool efficiency. The team, comprising researchers with backgrounds in archaeology, engineering, and statistical data modelling, carried out several field and laboratory tests to address the research problem. They subsequently validated the test results through the microscopic analysis of original Bronze Age axe-heads. The data suggest that hafting technology, and especially the resilience of the haft-blade assembly, is more important than axe-head design per se in determining the efficiency and working performance of Bronze Age axes. The research provides a fresh answer to a question rooted in 19th century archaeology and charts an innovative multidisciplinary pathway for studying human technology through the ages.

Kunst, M. & D. Steiniger (eds.), Settlement Structures and Metallurgy: The relations between Italy and the Iberian Peninsula in the Early Chalcolithic (Palilia 33). Wiesbaden: Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, pp. 37-58., 2021

World Archaeology, 2021

Open Access: https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.2021.2013307 The article proposes a new interpretat... more Open Access: https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.2021.2013307
The article proposes a new interpretation of Chalcolithic and early Bronze Age warrior graves grounded in the ‘Rinaldone’ burial tradition of central Italy, 4th and 3rd millennia BC. In European archaeology, warrior graves are frequently thought to signal the rise of sociopolitical inequality rooted in metal wealth. The work questions the empirical and conceptual foundations of this reading, arguing that, in early Europe, copper was not as rare and valuable as it is often presumed to be; that metalworking did not demand uniquely complex skills; and that metal-rich burials cannot be interpreted in light of modernising ideas of identity. It is argued instead that the key to decoding prehistoric warrior graves lies in context-specific notions of gender, age, and the life course. In particular, life and death circumstances including violence (both inflicted and suffered) would determine why certain individuals were laid to rest with lavish weapon assemblages.

Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 2020

The article presents a new picture of sword fighting in Middle and Late Bronze Age Europe develop... more The article presents a new picture of sword fighting in Middle and Late Bronze Age Europe developed through the Bronze Age Combat Project. The project investigated the uses of Bronze Age swords, shields, and spears by combining integrated experimental archaeology and metalwork wear analysis. The research is grounded in an explicit and replicable methodology providing a blueprint for future experimentation with, and wear analysis of, prehistoric copper-alloy weapons. We present a four-step experimental methodology including both controlled and actualistic experiments. The experimental results informed the wear analysis of 110 Middle and Late Bronze Age swords from Britain and Italy. The research has generated new understandings of prehistoric combat, including diagnostic and undiagnostic combat marks and how to interpret them; how to hold and use a Bronze Age sword; the degree of skill and training required for proficient combat; the realities of Bronze Age swordplay including the frequency of blade-on-blade contact; the body parts and areas targeted by prehistoric sword fencers; and the evolution of fighting styles in Britain and Italy from the late 2nd to the early 1st millennia BC. All primary data discussed in the article are available as supplementary material (Appendix) so as to allow scrutiny and validation of the research results. Keywords European Bronze Age. Experimental archaeology. Metalwork wear analysis. Warfare and violence. Combat archaeology Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory https://doi.

Anzidei A.P., and Carboni G., Roma Prima del Mito. Abitati e necropoli dal Neolitico alla prima età dei Metalli nel territorio di Roma. VI-III millennio a.C. Vol. 2., pp. 59-568. , 2020

The paper illustrates the Wear analysis of a sample of Eneolithic copper-based artefacts, (9 axes... more The paper illustrates the Wear analysis of a sample of Eneolithic copper-based artefacts, (9 axes/adzes and 6 daggers), from the area of Rome in the framework of a wider research project concerning early metallurgy in Italy. The sample includes in majority artefacts found in the recently excavated cemetery of Casetta Mistici, dating to the mid-late 4th millennium BC and others from Rome and southern Latium (Sgurgola). Macro- and microscopic observations reveal that axe-heads and daggers are the final palimpsests of manifold technical acts, mainly centred on the mechanical alteration of the original casts, from forging to polishing, adding a shaft, re-sharpening, and wear. The resulting picture shows a surprising diversification of manufacturing procedures and a high variety of accuracy and skills.

PLoS ONE, 2020

Open access; free download from https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0227259 The paper discusses ... more Open access; free download from https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0227259
The paper discusses results of an interdisciplinary research project integrating lead isotope, chemical, and archaeological analysis of 20 early metal objects from central Italy. The aim of the research was to develop robust provenance hypotheses for 4th and 3rd millennia BC metals from an important, yet hitherto neglected, metallurgical district in prehistoric Europe, displaying precocious copper mining and smelting, as well as socially significant uses of metals in ‘Rinaldone-style’ burials. All major (and most minor) ore bodies from Tuscany and neighbouring regions were characterised chemically and isotopically, and 20 Copper Age axe-heads, daggers and halberds were sampled and analysed. The objects were also reassessed archaeologically, paying special attention to find context, typology, and chronology. This multi-pronged approach has allowed us to challenge received wisdom concerning the local character of early metal production and exchange in the region. The research has shown that most objects were likely manufactured in west-central Italy using copper from Southern Tuscany and, quite possibly, the Apuanian Alps. A few objects, however, display isotopic and chemical signatures compatible with the Western Alpine and, in one case, French ore deposits. This shows that the Copper Age communities of west-central Italy participated in superregional exchange networks tying together the middle/upper Tyrrhenian region, the western Alps, and perhaps the French Midi. These networks were largely independent from other metal displacement circuits in operation at the time, which embraced the north-Alpine region and the south-eastern Alps, respectively.

Journal of Archaeological Research , 2020

Open access; free download from 10.1007/s10814-019-09141-w The Late Neolithic and Copper Age were... more Open access; free download from 10.1007/s10814-019-09141-w
The Late Neolithic and Copper Age were a time of change in most of Europe. Technological innovations including animal traction, the wheel, and plow agriculture transformed the prehistoric economy. The discovery of copper metallurgy expanded the spectrum of socially significant materials and realigned exchange networks away from Neolithic “greenstone,” obsidian, and Spondylus shells. New funerary practices also emerged, signifying the growing importance of lineage ancestors, as well as new ideas of personal identity. These phenomena have long attracted researchers’ attention in continental Europe and the British Isles, but comparatively little has been done in the Italian peninsula. Building on recent discoveries and interdisciplinary research on settlement patterns, the subsistence economy, the exchange of
socially valuable materials, the emergence of metallurgy, funerary practices, and notions of the body, I critically appraise current models of the Neolithic-Bronze Age transition in light of the Italian regional evidence, focusing on central Italy. In contrast to prior interpretations of this period as the cradle of Bronze Age social inequality and the prestige goods economy, I argue that, at this juncture, prehistoric society reconfigured burial practices into powerful new media for cultural communication and employed new materials and objects as novel identity markers. Stratified political elites may not be among the new identities that emerged at this time in the social landscape of prehistoric Italy.

Archaeological and anthropological research into prehistoric warfare and violence was long framed... more Archaeological and anthropological research into prehistoric warfare and violence was long framed by two competing meta-narratives harking back to the work of political philosophers Hobbes and Rousseau. Whereas for some researchers violence is a key part of what makes us human, for others, it emerges as a result of specific types of socio-political relationships. This contribution explores the ways in which these competing narratives, as well as Europe’s history of 20th century warfare, have influenced the way in which we have approached the subject. The paper argues that a turning point came in the wake of Keeley’s War before Civilization (1996), which has led to the creation of a vibrant field of specialist research on prehistoric warfare and violence. The authors argue that this field of study can be further advanced through interdisciplinary enquiries bringing together state-of-the-art scientific methods of analysis and contemporary theoretical reflections developed in the humanities and social sciences.

Open Archaeology, 2018

Freely available through open-access (see link below): The replication of objects lies at the ... more Freely available through open-access (see link below):

The replication of objects lies at the heart of material culture research in archaeology. In particular, replication plays a key role in a number of core activities in our discipline including teaching, research, and public engagement. Despite its being fundamental to the archaeological process, however, replication comes across as an under-theorised field of artefact research. The problem is compounded by the recent development of digital technologies, which add a new layer of challenges as well as opportunities to the long-established practice of making and using physical copies of objects. The paper discusses a number of issues with artefact replication including aims, design, and methodology, from the standpoint of two research projects currently coordinated by the authors: the Bronze Age Combat project, which explores prehistoric fighting techniques through field experiments and wear analysis (Dolfini); and the NU Digital Heritage project, which centres upon the digital capture and modelling of Roman material culture from Hadrian’s Wall (Collins). Both projects have actively created replicas in physical or digital media, and direct comparison of the two projects provide a number of useful lessons regarding the role, uses, and limits of artefact replication in archaeology.

Metalwork wear-analysis has now been practised for over two decades. In this paper the authors pr... more Metalwork wear-analysis has now been practised for over two decades. In this paper the authors present the achievements of the discipline and critically assess the methodologies currently applied by practitioners. Whilst the achievements and contributions of the discipline to the wider study of archaeology, and to European prehistory in particular, are numerous, it is argued that an increase in scientific rigour
and a focus on addressing limitations and open problems is required if metalwork wear-analysis is to flourish as a scientific field of research. Experimentation with higher magnifications and novel microscopic techniques is encouraged, alongside more standardised and explicit analytical protocols for
analysis. More details and targeted descriptions of analytical protocols for experimental work are required: experiments must be designed to answer specific questions and address lacunas in knowledge. While at present the majority of practitioners focus their analyses on copper alloys from European prehistory, and most specifically from the Bronze Age, the authors suggest that a far wider range of materials are suitable for analysis including copper alloys from the Americas and iron alloys from historic and ethnographic collections. Expanding the range of materials studied would open the field up and give it far wider relevance to archaeology and material culture studies. Finally, it is argued that the discipline will advance more quickly if practitioners share their reference collections and databases of experimental marks digitally. The authors suggest that the creation of digital reference collections, open to all, would provide metalwork analysts with the opportunity to lead related fields of research such as lithic
microwear and residue analysis, where individual reference collections are the norm and cross-comparability of analysis is therefore hindered.

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.

The goal of this paper is to reassess the changes in mortuary practices documented in the Italian... more The goal of this paper is to reassess the changes in mortuary practices documented in the Italian peninsula during the late 5th and 4th millennia BC, at the transition between Neolithic and Copper Age. For much of the Neolithic, burial was carried out within the nucleated village in the form of a relatively simple performance, which started with the interment of an articulated body and ended, in most cases, with the disturbance of the grave and the scattering of the dry bones. In the late and final Neolithic, however, burial was increasingly undertaken at peripheral or otherwise distinct areas within villages, and by the early Copper Age it was moved to purpose-built extramural cemeteries. Moreover, disarticulation practices became increasingly complex in this time period, and caused most of the deceased to lose their individuality. Finally, the Copper Age saw the appearance of the first richly furnished burials, which are often interpreted as markers of growing social inequality. It is argued in this paper that the emergence of the cemetery as a separate locus for the performance of burial does not depend on radical changes in the political structure of society. Rather, it would mark a profound modification in the symbolic toolkit used by prehistoric society to express individual and group identity as well as beliefs concerning the human body. In other words, it is not a change in the meaning of burial per se that we are witnessing in the Copper Age but a change in the medium chosen by society to stress overarching ideas of group identity, which were previously conveyed by co-residence in the nucleated village. However, since social relations derive their meanings from the practices through which they are articulated, modifications to the social understanding of burial did emerge from the changing media employed for their expression. The most important of these concerns the body of the deceased, which Copper Age communities turned into a major locus for social reproduction.

Scientific Reports, 2022

Open Access: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-09983-3\. The article discusses results of organic... more Open Access: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-09983-3. The article discusses results of organic residue analysis performed on ten copper-alloy daggers from Bronze Age Pragatto, Italy, c.1550–1250 BCE. Metal daggers are widespread in Chalcolithic and Bronze Age Europe, yet their social and practical roles are still hotly debated. Are they symbolic or functional? Are they tools or weapons? How were they used? For what tasks and on what materials? The research addresses these questions through a novel application of biochemical staining and SEM–EDX analysis. The method has proved successful in extracting and identifying animal residues located on cutting edges including bone, muscle, and tendons. These are interpreted as evidence of prehistoric carcass butchering and carving. Further residues were observed on blade faces and hafting plates or tangs; these are interpreted as remnants of bone handles and sheaths, the latter made of either wood fibers or processed hide and fur. The readings proposed in the article are validated by original experiments with replica daggers, as detailed in the Supplementary Materials. The analysis and experiments shed new light on Bronze Age metal daggers, showing that they were fully functional tools (and perhaps tool-weapons) primarily utilized for the processing of animal carcasses. This original research result contributes significant knowledge towards interpreting an under-studied, yet socially salient, prehistoric metal artifact.

Rivista di Scienze Preistoriche, 2021

The article discusses an original seriation and chronology for prehistoric Italian metalwork, c.4... more The article discusses an original seriation and chronology for prehistoric Italian metalwork, c.4500-2100 BC, which these authors developed as part of the EU-funded TEMPI project, 2015-2017. The research is grounded in a critical reclassification of early copper-alloy axes, daggers and halberds; a reassessment of metal-rich burial assemblages from northern and peninsular Italy, organised into geographically and chronological coherent groupings; and an evaluation and Bayesian statistical modelling of radiocarbon dates from metal-rich burials, integrated by fresh AMS determinations and typological comparisons with selected non-Italian metalwork. Thus reassessed and modelled, the data have enabled these authors to suggest that early Italian metalwork could newly be organised into five discrete horizons charting the evolution of copper-alloy technology and object design over two and a half millennia. The research significantly contributes to a 50-year-long debate that has engaged some of the foremost specialists in later Italian prehistory and provides solid ground on which future research on early Italian metallurgy can build.

Journal of Archaeological Science, 152: 105741, 2023

Open Access: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2023.105741 This paper discusses an interdisciplinary... more Open Access: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2023.105741
This paper discusses an interdisciplinary research project testing the efficiency of European Bronze Age axes through experiments with replica tools and the usewear analysis of prehistoric axe-heads from the collections of the Great North Museum, Newcastle upon Tyne (UK). The project explores whether changes in axe-head design and hafting arrangement from early to late Bronze Age might have been motivated by a desire to improve tool efficiency. The team, comprising researchers with backgrounds in archaeology, engineering, and statistical data modelling, carried out several field and laboratory tests to address the research problem. They subsequently validated the test results through the microscopic analysis of original Bronze Age axe-heads. The data suggest that hafting technology, and especially the resilience of the haft-blade assembly, is more important than axe-head design per se in determining the efficiency and working performance of Bronze Age axes. The research provides a fresh answer to a question rooted in 19th century archaeology and charts an innovative multidisciplinary pathway for studying human technology through the ages.

Kunst, M. & D. Steiniger (eds.), Settlement Structures and Metallurgy: The relations between Italy and the Iberian Peninsula in the Early Chalcolithic (Palilia 33). Wiesbaden: Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, pp. 37-58., 2021

World Archaeology, 2021

Open Access: https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.2021.2013307 The article proposes a new interpretat... more Open Access: https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.2021.2013307
The article proposes a new interpretation of Chalcolithic and early Bronze Age warrior graves grounded in the ‘Rinaldone’ burial tradition of central Italy, 4th and 3rd millennia BC. In European archaeology, warrior graves are frequently thought to signal the rise of sociopolitical inequality rooted in metal wealth. The work questions the empirical and conceptual foundations of this reading, arguing that, in early Europe, copper was not as rare and valuable as it is often presumed to be; that metalworking did not demand uniquely complex skills; and that metal-rich burials cannot be interpreted in light of modernising ideas of identity. It is argued instead that the key to decoding prehistoric warrior graves lies in context-specific notions of gender, age, and the life course. In particular, life and death circumstances including violence (both inflicted and suffered) would determine why certain individuals were laid to rest with lavish weapon assemblages.

Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 2020

The article presents a new picture of sword fighting in Middle and Late Bronze Age Europe develop... more The article presents a new picture of sword fighting in Middle and Late Bronze Age Europe developed through the Bronze Age Combat Project. The project investigated the uses of Bronze Age swords, shields, and spears by combining integrated experimental archaeology and metalwork wear analysis. The research is grounded in an explicit and replicable methodology providing a blueprint for future experimentation with, and wear analysis of, prehistoric copper-alloy weapons. We present a four-step experimental methodology including both controlled and actualistic experiments. The experimental results informed the wear analysis of 110 Middle and Late Bronze Age swords from Britain and Italy. The research has generated new understandings of prehistoric combat, including diagnostic and undiagnostic combat marks and how to interpret them; how to hold and use a Bronze Age sword; the degree of skill and training required for proficient combat; the realities of Bronze Age swordplay including the frequency of blade-on-blade contact; the body parts and areas targeted by prehistoric sword fencers; and the evolution of fighting styles in Britain and Italy from the late 2nd to the early 1st millennia BC. All primary data discussed in the article are available as supplementary material (Appendix) so as to allow scrutiny and validation of the research results. Keywords European Bronze Age. Experimental archaeology. Metalwork wear analysis. Warfare and violence. Combat archaeology Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory https://doi.

Anzidei A.P., and Carboni G., Roma Prima del Mito. Abitati e necropoli dal Neolitico alla prima età dei Metalli nel territorio di Roma. VI-III millennio a.C. Vol. 2., pp. 59-568. , 2020

The paper illustrates the Wear analysis of a sample of Eneolithic copper-based artefacts, (9 axes... more The paper illustrates the Wear analysis of a sample of Eneolithic copper-based artefacts, (9 axes/adzes and 6 daggers), from the area of Rome in the framework of a wider research project concerning early metallurgy in Italy. The sample includes in majority artefacts found in the recently excavated cemetery of Casetta Mistici, dating to the mid-late 4th millennium BC and others from Rome and southern Latium (Sgurgola). Macro- and microscopic observations reveal that axe-heads and daggers are the final palimpsests of manifold technical acts, mainly centred on the mechanical alteration of the original casts, from forging to polishing, adding a shaft, re-sharpening, and wear. The resulting picture shows a surprising diversification of manufacturing procedures and a high variety of accuracy and skills.

PLoS ONE, 2020

Open access; free download from https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0227259 The paper discusses ... more Open access; free download from https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0227259
The paper discusses results of an interdisciplinary research project integrating lead isotope, chemical, and archaeological analysis of 20 early metal objects from central Italy. The aim of the research was to develop robust provenance hypotheses for 4th and 3rd millennia BC metals from an important, yet hitherto neglected, metallurgical district in prehistoric Europe, displaying precocious copper mining and smelting, as well as socially significant uses of metals in ‘Rinaldone-style’ burials. All major (and most minor) ore bodies from Tuscany and neighbouring regions were characterised chemically and isotopically, and 20 Copper Age axe-heads, daggers and halberds were sampled and analysed. The objects were also reassessed archaeologically, paying special attention to find context, typology, and chronology. This multi-pronged approach has allowed us to challenge received wisdom concerning the local character of early metal production and exchange in the region. The research has shown that most objects were likely manufactured in west-central Italy using copper from Southern Tuscany and, quite possibly, the Apuanian Alps. A few objects, however, display isotopic and chemical signatures compatible with the Western Alpine and, in one case, French ore deposits. This shows that the Copper Age communities of west-central Italy participated in superregional exchange networks tying together the middle/upper Tyrrhenian region, the western Alps, and perhaps the French Midi. These networks were largely independent from other metal displacement circuits in operation at the time, which embraced the north-Alpine region and the south-eastern Alps, respectively.

Journal of Archaeological Research , 2020

Open access; free download from 10.1007/s10814-019-09141-w The Late Neolithic and Copper Age were... more Open access; free download from 10.1007/s10814-019-09141-w
The Late Neolithic and Copper Age were a time of change in most of Europe. Technological innovations including animal traction, the wheel, and plow agriculture transformed the prehistoric economy. The discovery of copper metallurgy expanded the spectrum of socially significant materials and realigned exchange networks away from Neolithic “greenstone,” obsidian, and Spondylus shells. New funerary practices also emerged, signifying the growing importance of lineage ancestors, as well as new ideas of personal identity. These phenomena have long attracted researchers’ attention in continental Europe and the British Isles, but comparatively little has been done in the Italian peninsula. Building on recent discoveries and interdisciplinary research on settlement patterns, the subsistence economy, the exchange of
socially valuable materials, the emergence of metallurgy, funerary practices, and notions of the body, I critically appraise current models of the Neolithic-Bronze Age transition in light of the Italian regional evidence, focusing on central Italy. In contrast to prior interpretations of this period as the cradle of Bronze Age social inequality and the prestige goods economy, I argue that, at this juncture, prehistoric society reconfigured burial practices into powerful new media for cultural communication and employed new materials and objects as novel identity markers. Stratified political elites may not be among the new identities that emerged at this time in the social landscape of prehistoric Italy.

Archaeological and anthropological research into prehistoric warfare and violence was long framed... more Archaeological and anthropological research into prehistoric warfare and violence was long framed by two competing meta-narratives harking back to the work of political philosophers Hobbes and Rousseau. Whereas for some researchers violence is a key part of what makes us human, for others, it emerges as a result of specific types of socio-political relationships. This contribution explores the ways in which these competing narratives, as well as Europe’s history of 20th century warfare, have influenced the way in which we have approached the subject. The paper argues that a turning point came in the wake of Keeley’s War before Civilization (1996), which has led to the creation of a vibrant field of specialist research on prehistoric warfare and violence. The authors argue that this field of study can be further advanced through interdisciplinary enquiries bringing together state-of-the-art scientific methods of analysis and contemporary theoretical reflections developed in the humanities and social sciences.

Open Archaeology, 2018

Freely available through open-access (see link below): The replication of objects lies at the ... more Freely available through open-access (see link below):

The replication of objects lies at the heart of material culture research in archaeology. In particular, replication plays a key role in a number of core activities in our discipline including teaching, research, and public engagement. Despite its being fundamental to the archaeological process, however, replication comes across as an under-theorised field of artefact research. The problem is compounded by the recent development of digital technologies, which add a new layer of challenges as well as opportunities to the long-established practice of making and using physical copies of objects. The paper discusses a number of issues with artefact replication including aims, design, and methodology, from the standpoint of two research projects currently coordinated by the authors: the Bronze Age Combat project, which explores prehistoric fighting techniques through field experiments and wear analysis (Dolfini); and the NU Digital Heritage project, which centres upon the digital capture and modelling of Roman material culture from Hadrian’s Wall (Collins). Both projects have actively created replicas in physical or digital media, and direct comparison of the two projects provide a number of useful lessons regarding the role, uses, and limits of artefact replication in archaeology.

Metalwork wear-analysis has now been practised for over two decades. In this paper the authors pr... more Metalwork wear-analysis has now been practised for over two decades. In this paper the authors present the achievements of the discipline and critically assess the methodologies currently applied by practitioners. Whilst the achievements and contributions of the discipline to the wider study of archaeology, and to European prehistory in particular, are numerous, it is argued that an increase in scientific rigour
and a focus on addressing limitations and open problems is required if metalwork wear-analysis is to flourish as a scientific field of research. Experimentation with higher magnifications and novel microscopic techniques is encouraged, alongside more standardised and explicit analytical protocols for
analysis. More details and targeted descriptions of analytical protocols for experimental work are required: experiments must be designed to answer specific questions and address lacunas in knowledge. While at present the majority of practitioners focus their analyses on copper alloys from European prehistory, and most specifically from the Bronze Age, the authors suggest that a far wider range of materials are suitable for analysis including copper alloys from the Americas and iron alloys from historic and ethnographic collections. Expanding the range of materials studied would open the field up and give it far wider relevance to archaeology and material culture studies. Finally, it is argued that the discipline will advance more quickly if practitioners share their reference collections and databases of experimental marks digitally. The authors suggest that the creation of digital reference collections, open to all, would provide metalwork analysts with the opportunity to lead related fields of research such as lithic
microwear and residue analysis, where individual reference collections are the norm and cross-comparability of analysis is therefore hindered.

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.

The goal of this paper is to reassess the changes in mortuary practices documented in the Italian... more The goal of this paper is to reassess the changes in mortuary practices documented in the Italian peninsula during the late 5th and 4th millennia BC, at the transition between Neolithic and Copper Age. For much of the Neolithic, burial was carried out within the nucleated village in the form of a relatively simple performance, which started with the interment of an articulated body and ended, in most cases, with the disturbance of the grave and the scattering of the dry bones. In the late and final Neolithic, however, burial was increasingly undertaken at peripheral or otherwise distinct areas within villages, and by the early Copper Age it was moved to purpose-built extramural cemeteries. Moreover, disarticulation practices became increasingly complex in this time period, and caused most of the deceased to lose their individuality. Finally, the Copper Age saw the appearance of the first richly furnished burials, which are often interpreted as markers of growing social inequality. It is argued in this paper that the emergence of the cemetery as a separate locus for the performance of burial does not depend on radical changes in the political structure of society. Rather, it would mark a profound modification in the symbolic toolkit used by prehistoric society to express individual and group identity as well as beliefs concerning the human body. In other words, it is not a change in the meaning of burial per se that we are witnessing in the Copper Age but a change in the medium chosen by society to stress overarching ideas of group identity, which were previously conveyed by co-residence in the nucleated village. However, since social relations derive their meanings from the practices through which they are articulated, modifications to the social understanding of burial did emerge from the changing media employed for their expression. The most important of these concerns the body of the deceased, which Copper Age communities turned into a major locus for social reproduction.

Paper presented at the European Archaeologists Association conference, Maastricht 29 August - 3 September 2017

Recent radiocarbon dates of Italian Copper Age contexts are changing our understanding of the inc... more Recent radiocarbon dates of Italian Copper Age contexts are changing our understanding of the inception and early development of metallurgy in this region. The new dates seem to confirm that, after an early start in the Late and Final Neolithic (c.4500-3600 BC), sophisticated metal technology involving the smelting and working of copper, silver, and antimony flourished in west-central Italy from the early Copper Age (c.3600-3300 BC). However, they also highlight a major difference with northern Italy, which has hitherto been overlooked. In this region, a noticeable gap seems to exist between the first experiences with copper metallurgy in the Late and Final Neolithic and the onset of mature polymetallic technology, which is not documented before 3300-2900 BC. This is intriguingly similar (if not contemporary) to what happens in the western Balkans and northern Alps, where a ‘hiatus’ marked by a major decline in metal production and use separates early from mature copper technology. The paper explores the northern Italian metallurgical ‘hiatus’ from a social perspective: does it mark a real decline in the amount of metal objects being produced or is it a visibility bias caused by a change in depositional practices and mortuary rituals? And what does it tell us about technology transfer, the adoption of metallurgy, and the social uses of metalwork by northern and central Italian communities in the 4th millennium BC?

Recent radiocarbon dates of Italian Copper Age contexts are changing our understanding of the inc... more Recent radiocarbon dates of Italian Copper Age contexts are changing our understanding of the inception and early development of metallurgy in this region. The new dates seem to confirm that, after an early start in the Late and Final Neolithic (c.4500-3600 BC), sophisticated metal technology involving the smelting and working of copper, silver, and antimony blossomed in west-central Italy from the early Copper Age (c.3600-3300 BC). However, they also highlight a major difference with northern Italy, which has hitherto been overlooked. In this region, a noticeable gap seems to exist between the first experiences with copper metallurgy in the Late and Final Neolithic and the onset of mature polymetallic technology, which is not documented before 3300-2900 BC. This is intriguingly similar (if not contemporary) to what happens in the western Balkans and northern Alpine region, where a ‘hiatus’ marked by far fewer metals separates early from mature copper technology. The paper explores technological and social differences between northern and central Italy as well as possible explanations for the northern Italian metallurgical ‘hiatus’: does it mark an actual reduction in the amount of objects being manufactured or is it due to visibility issues such as new depositional practices and mortuary rituals?

Early European metallurgy has been at the forefront of archaeological research recently, but inve... more Early European metallurgy has been at the forefront of archaeological research recently, but investigations have often concentrated on the continental landmass, leaving the Mediterranean Sea, its regions, its coasts, and its islands at the margin of the debate. This is a significant change from the priorities of most 20th century prehistorians, who put the Mediterranean centre-stage in their influential models of culture change and technology transfer. As the diffusionist explanations they favoured fell out of fashion, so did the backdrop of their investigations. This is a problem that urgently demands readdressing given the resurgent interest in the study of early metal technology and objects.

The session invites interdisciplinary debate in prehistoric Mediterranean metallurgy from the Neolithic to the Iron Age. Interaction is sought between archaeologists, anthropologists, and scientists working on the dynamics of metal invention, adoption, and transfer. Moreover, the session encourages examinations of the relationship between early metallurgy and other pyrotechnologies including glass and pottery making. Problems to be explored may include: the signification and materiality of metals; the social dynamics of metallurgical innovation including adaptation, rejection, and change (e.g. from bronze to iron); pyrotechnological cross-craftsmanship and the relationship with the broader cultural repertoire; issues of knowledge transfer including gender, agency, skill, and apprenticeship; the social geography of early metals including exchange routes and frontiers; and the social transformations brought about by metalworking and using. Papers cutting across traditional geographic and period boundaries are especially welcome, as well as those engaging with a plurality of time scales.

BAR Publishing, 2020

The Newcastle-led Bronze Age Combat project presents its results from innovative combat experimen... more The Newcastle-led Bronze Age Combat project presents its results from innovative combat experiments with replica Bronze Age swords, spears and shields. The original experimental methodologies used authentic replica weapons in extensive rigorous field experiments, and actualistic combat based on historical manuscripts. These allowed for replicate combat-related wear marks as found on original Bronze Age specimens. Bronze Age Combat provides a full account of the methodologies, replicas, experiments and results in unprecedented detail. By bringing together a range of experimental techniques, materials and expertise, this book is designed as a starting point and reference collection for further studies into Bronze Age combat research, metalwork wear analysis and experimental archaeology.

This is the first book to explore prehistoric warfare and violence by integrating qualitative res... more This is the first book to explore prehistoric warfare and violence by integrating qualitative research methods with quantitative, scientific techniques of analysis such as paleopathology, morphometry, wear analysis, and experimental archaeology. It investigates early warfare and violence from the standpoint of four broad interdisciplinary themes: skeletal markers of violence and weapon training; conflict in prehistoric rock-art; the material culture of conflict; and intergroup violence in archaeological discourse. The book has a wide-ranging chronological and geographic scope, from early Neolithic to late Iron Age and from Western Europe to East Asia. It includes world-renowned sites and artefact collections such as the Tollense Valley Bronze Age battlefield (Germany), the UNESCO World Heritage Site at Tanum (Sweden), and the British Museum collection of bronze weaponry from the late Shang period (China). Original case studies are presented in each section by a diverse international authorship.

Il volume ha per oggetto l'edizione critica di un vasto progetto di ricognizione di un territorio... more Il volume ha per oggetto l'edizione critica di un vasto progetto di ricognizione di un territorio tra i più interessanti dell'Antichità, intensamente frequentato dal Paleolitico ai giorni nostri. Presenta i risultati di una accurata ricerca sia di metodo sia sul campo: i rinvenimenti vengono analizzati in una prima parte in modo analitico, mediante schede che illustrano tutti i siti e i materiali, e nelle conclusioni ricomponendo grandi quadri sulla frequentazione del territorio nelle diverse epoche preistoriche e storiche sino alle soglie del Medioevo. L'opera è il frutto della collaborazione di più autori, di diversa estrazione e formazione scientifica, che apportano ciascuno il proprio contributo legato alle loro specifiche conoscenze, coordinati dai curatori. Particolarmente importante è l'elaborazione dei dati, organizzati su base informatica e analizzati mediante programmi.

The session invites theoretically-oriented papers exploring Neolithic to Late Bronze Age notions ... more The session invites theoretically-oriented papers exploring Neolithic to Late Bronze Age notions of martiality and warriorhood as laid out in individual ‘warrior graves’ and cognate evidence. In large swathes of Europe, the late 5th to 2nd millennia BC witnessed the emergence of a new funerary language centring on individual furnished burials. While all gender and age groups were interred in this way, male burials equipped with impressive panoplies of stone and metal weapons have drawn the keenest interest from scholars. For many, these burials are thought to embody a major transition to (a) individualising forms of prestige and sociopolitical ranking; (b) a binary gender ideology; (c) novel cosmological principles governing funerary behaviour and society; (d) a ‘heroic’ male persona defined, in life as much as in death, by martial valour; and (e) new migratory dynamics originating from the Pontic-Caspian steppes. While all these readings provide valuable insights into the social dimensions of warrior graves, none are conclusive due to a fractured theoretical landscape and oft-overheated debate. Consequently, even the definition of a ‘warrior grave’ and underlying social notions of warriorhood are contested.

The session discusses new perspectives on warrior burials from Neolithic, Chalcolithic, and Bronze Age Europe focusing on the relationship between martial ideology and martial practices; markers of received or inflicted violence and related bioarchaeological evidence; and the funerary and non-funerary dimensions of grave kits. Papers may also discuss the gender dynamics underlying warrior graves as well as meaningfully associated or comparative evidence, e.g., unfurnished or differently furnished burials. True to the session’s focus on transitions, papers are also welcomed, which investigate the shift from weapon-poor to weapon-rich burials in the Neolithic and the transformation of warrior burial and ideology during the Bronze Age. A parallel poster session will host narrower studies, e.g., those solely focusing on bone trauma.

Please submit your abstract no later than 10th February: https://eaa.klinkhamergroup.com/eaa2022/

For any queries, please contact andrea.dolfini@ncl.ac.uk

The Central Mediterranean is one of the most intensively researched regions of prehistoric Europe... more The Central Mediterranean is one of the most intensively researched regions of prehistoric Europe in subjects including, but not limited to, landscape and environment, settlement patterns, exchange and mobility, technology and economy, life-and death-ways, social complexity, and early urbanism. Recent discoveries and scientific analysis have furthered our understanding of its material and social dynamics, but debate is often hindered by hyper-specialisation as well as disciplinary and country boundaries discouraging comparative, cross-subject, and cross-period research. The session aims to take a 'critical snapshot' at prehistoric studies in the region since the time of the first EAA meeting. We will discuss key disciplinary developments occurred in the last 25 years and capture the most innovative present-day research advances, which may shape the agenda of Central Mediterranean prehistoric studies in the next 25 years. We invite doctoral students, early career researchers, and established scholars to submit papers discussing recent advances and new directions in central Mediterranean prehistory from the Palaeolithic to the Iron Age. The region ranges from the Southern Alps to coastal Tunisia/Libya and from the eastern Adriatic/Ionian Seas to Sardinia, Corsica, and Provence. The papers should offer broad, bold, and conceptually engaging perspectives in any subject of prehistoric studies, focusing on how research has challenged established paradigms and interpretations, or how it is likely to challenge them in the future. Collaborative papers cutting across traditional geographic, methodological, and period boundaries are especially welcome, as are those showing how the regional dynamics affected other areas of prehistoric Europe and the Mediterranean. A parallel poster session will host contributions with narrower period and area foci.

Use-wear and residue analyses have come to play a fundamental role in archaeological enquiries in... more Use-wear and residue analyses have come to play a fundamental role in archaeological enquiries into the cultural biographies of past artefacts. Deployed either separately or in conjunction with one another, they have been turned by three generations of researchers into core scientific methods for understanding the behavioural and social interactions of prehistoric communities. In the last few years, a concerted effort has been made to improve and standardise research procedures in the two disciplines through explicit replication strategies, rigorous analytical and experimental protocols, and blind testing. This has ensured a degree of disciplinary maturity that, when successfully contextualised, can be harnessed to reach some of the highest dangling fruits of the interpretative tree and develop new explanatory models for past human behaviour. The session invites specialists in world prehistory to present their inter-and cross-disciplinary research into primate and human archaeology from the Lower Palaeolithic to the Metal Ages. It aims to explore socially contextualised problems, in which use-wear and residue analysis (on any materials and artefacts) are deployed as part of a wider range of integrated research approaches. The papers will discuss broad questions concerning the human past including the making of the mind in both primate and human evolution, technological changes and technological choices, interaction between and within communities of practice, skill, and acculturation (or lack thereof) following technology transfer. A parallel poster session will host contributions with narrower and more method-oriented foci.

European Association of Archaeologists, 2022

The session invites theoretically-oriented papers exploring Neolithic to Late Bronze Age notions ... more The session invites theoretically-oriented papers exploring Neolithic to Late Bronze Age notions of martialityand warriorhood as laid out in individual ‘warrior graves’ and cognate evidence. In large swathes of Europe,the late 5th to 2nd millennia BC witnessed the emergence of a new funerary language centring on individualfurnished burials. While all gender and age groups were interred in this way, male burials equipped withimpressive panoplies of stone and metal weapons have drawn the keenest interest from scholars. For many,these burials are thought to embody a major transition to (a) individualising forms of prestige andsociopolitical ranking; (b) a binary gender ideology; (c) novel cosmological principles governing funerarybehaviour and society; (d) a ‘heroic’ male persona defined, in life as much as in death, by martial valour; and(e) new migratory dynamics originating from the Pontic-Caspian steppes. While all these readings providevaluable insights into the social dimensions of warrior graves, none are conclusive due to a fracturedtheoretical landscape and oft-overheated debate. Consequently, even the definition of a ‘warrior grave’ andunderlying social notions of warriorhood are contested.

The session discusses new perspectives on warrior burials from Neolithic, Chalcolithic, and Bronze AgeEurope focusing on the relationship between martial ideology and martial practices; markers of receivedor inflicted violence and related bioarchaeological evidence; and the funerary and non-funerarydimensions of grave kits. Papers may also discuss the gender dynamics underlying warrior graves as wellas meaningfully associated or comparative evidence, e.g., unfurnished or differently furnished burials.True to the session’s focus on transitions, papers are also welcomed, which investigate the shift fromweapon-poor to weapon-rich burials in the Neolithic and the transformation of warrior burial andideology during the Bronze Age. A parallel poster session will host narrower studies, e.g., those solelyfocusing on bone trauma.

Please submit your abstract by 10th February 2022
https://eaa.klinkhamergroup.com/eaa2022/
For queries contact
andrea.dolfini@ncl.ac.uk