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Papers by Sebastian Fürst

J.-M. Doyen (Hrsg.), De l’Escaut au Nil. Bric-à-brac en hommage à Eugène Warmenbol à l’occasion de son 65e anniversaire , 2022

L. Valdés/V. Cicolani/E. Hiriart (Hrsg.), Matières premières en Europe au 1er Millénaire av. n. è. Exploitation, transformation, diffusion. Actes 45e coll. int. AFEAF, Gijón, mai 2021. Coll. AFEAF 5 (Gijon 2023) , 2023

Through the successive Franco-German projects “West Hallstatt Gold” and “Celtic Gold”, it has bee... more Through the successive Franco-German projects “West Hallstatt Gold” and “Celtic Gold”, it has been possible to study the production of
precious metals during the Iron Age on the scale of Western and Central Europe. The inventory of these artefacts and their archaeological
context is now almost complete, and a substantial part of them has been visually studied and analysed. Thanks to renewed technological and
archaeometric approaches, we propose here a panorama of the major economic, technological and stylistic trends, making it possible to identify
continuities and breaks in supply networks, goldsmithing techniques, uses and burial contexts of gold.
Three main types of gold stocks have been identified (native, purified or alloyed gold), whose use seems to follow one another more or less in
time. Although most of the techniques used in Iron Age goldsmithing were already mastered during the Bronze Age, several innovations have
been identified around the 6th century BC. It is also during this period that new stylistic features are discernible in gold productions, which are
the main witnesses of a real artistic renewal between the end of the 6th and the 3rd century BC. Whereas gold was mainly buried in privileged
burials until the 4th century BC, this material is almost exclusively buried in hoard from this period onwards, especially in sanctuary.
Although discordant with the major classical chronological divisions, the period from the end of the 5th to the beginning of the 3rd century BC
seems to correspond to an important transitional moment in terms of goldsmith’s production, but which is reflected in other archaeological data.

Germania, 2021

Within the framework of a new investigation of the gold grave goods of the Early Latène elite gra... more Within the framework of a new investigation of the gold grave goods of the Early Latène elite grave of Bad Dürkheim, a new reconstruction of the six preserved gold sheet fragments could be carried out, which until now had been addressed largely unquestioned as components of a drinking horn fitting. The stylistic and technological classification of this piece forms the starting point for an internal typology. For the present fitting, the possible uses are to be openly explored. Due to the stylistic parallels to other fittings of the Late Hallstatt and Early Latène periods, it is not possible to maintain an unambiguous classification as a drinking horn fitting, but neither can it be rejected. Observations within the framework of the CELTIC GOLD project further revealed that early Latène work made of thin gold sheet was regularly fixed to a bronze base.

Praehistorische Zeitschrift

Zusammenfassung Ein einfacher Goldfingerring mit Schlaufenzier von Nackenheim (Lkr. Mainz-Bingen)... more Zusammenfassung Ein einfacher Goldfingerring mit Schlaufenzier von Nackenheim (Lkr. Mainz-Bingen) ohne bekannten Fundkontext wird anhand typologischer und materialanalytischer Parallelen chronologisch näher eingeordnet. Dabei wird deutlich, dass es sich um eine schlichte und daher langlebige Form handelt, die im Raum zwischen Hessen und dem Schweizer Mittelland anzutreffen ist und in ähnlicher Form noch bis in die Spätlatènezeit reicht. Archäometrische Analysen ordnen das Stück in eine Gruppe mit relativ hohem Silber- und Kupfergehalt ein, wie es eigentlich erst als „gestrecktes Münzgold“ ab der Mittellatènezeit üblich wird. Ein Vergleich der Spurenelementmuster, speziell der Platin-Palladium-Verhältnisse, weist darauf hin, dass ein Rohmaterial für seine Herstellung zum Einsatz kam, welches regional bereits ab der Stufe Lt A im nördlichen Oberrheingebiet verwendet wird. Da auch die Mehrheit der stilistischen Parallelen in die Frühlatènezeit (insbesondere Lt B) datiert, spricht Viele...

B. Török/A. Giumlia-Mair (Hrsg.), Proceedings of the 5th International Conference " Archaeometallurgy in Europe ", 2021. 19-21 June 2019, Miskolc, Hungary. Monogr. Instrumentum 73 (Drémil-Lafage 2021) 417–432., 2021

Denkmalpflege im Saarland – Jahresbericht 2019, 2020

Table S1. List of objects from archaeological contexts that have been analyzed by Raman spectrosc... more Table S1. List of objects from archaeological contexts that have been analyzed by Raman spectroscopy. The bold entries (25) indicate changes or at least clarification of the originally proposed material.

During the Central European Iron Age, more specifically between 600 and 100 BC, red precious cora... more During the Central European Iron Age, more specifically between 600 and 100 BC, red precious corals (Corallium rubrum) became very popular in many regions, often associated with the so-called (early) Celts. Red corals are ideally suited to investigate several key questions of Iron Age research, like trade patterns or social and economic structures. While it is fairly easy to distinguish modern C. rubrum from bone, ivory or shells, archaeologists are confronted with ancient, hence altered, artifacts. Due to ageing processes, archaeological corals lose their intensive red color and shiny surface and can easily be confused with these other light colored materials. We propose a non-destructive multi-stage approach to identify archaeological corals amongst other biominerals used as ornament during the central European Iron Age with emphasis on optical examination and mobile Raman spectroscopy. Our investigations suggest that the noticeably high amount of misidentifications or at least uncertain material declarations existing in museums or even in the literature (around 15%) could be overcome by the proposed approach. Furthermore, the range of different materials is higher than previously expected in archaeological research. This finding has implications for contemporary concepts of social structures and distribution networks during the Iron Age.

Berliner Beiträge zur Archäometrie, Kunsttechnologie und Konservierungswissenschaft, Bd. 22, 2014

During the Iron Age, red corals (Corallium rubrum) were the most frequent imported object type fr... more During the Iron Age, red corals (Corallium rubrum) were the most frequent imported object type from the Mediterranean area into the Celtic world. The density and the distinct patterns of their distribution are perfectly suited for the study of intra-European cultural contacts and trade relations due to their long-term importation.
Despite the 130-year-old history of research on prehistoric corals, there has been hardly any extensive study. One reason for this limited interest is that corals lose their intense red colour and shiny surface structure due to poorly understood ageing processes. Hence, other light-coloured materials such as bone, ivory, chalk or shells, which were also used to decorate jewellery, are often mistaken for corals.
We propose a multi-stage approach to identify red corals and light bio-minerals with emphasis on digital microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. The instruments are portable and can therefore be used directly in the museums, allowing a very efficient work flow thanks to a high identification rate while saving time.

S. Hornung (Hrsg.), Produktion - Distribution - Ökonomie. Siedlungs- und Wirtschaftsmuster der Latènezeit. Akten des internationalen Kolloquiums in Otzenhausen, 28.-30. Oktober 2011. Univ.Forsch. Prähist. Arch. 258 (Bonn 2014), 41-66

During the Iron Age, red corals (Corallium rubrum) were the most frequent imported object type fr... more During the Iron Age, red corals (Corallium rubrum) were the most frequent imported object type from the Mediterranean area into the Celtic world. The density and the distinct patterns of their distribution are perfectly suited for the study of intra-European cultural contacts and trade relations due to their long-term importation.Despite the 130-year-old history of research on prehistoric corals, there have been hardly any extensive study. One reason for this limited interest is that corals lose their intense red colour and shiny surface structure due to poorly understood ageing processes. Hence, other light-coloured materials such as bone, ivory, chalk or shells, which were also used to decorate jewellery, are often mistaken for corals.We propose a multi-stage approach to identify red corals and light bio-minerals with emphasis on digital microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. The instruments are portable and can therefore be used directly in the museums, allowing a very efcient work ...

Conference Presentations by Sebastian Fürst

Sebastian Fürst1, Katharina Müller2, Céline Paris3, Ludovic Bellot-Gurlet3, Marine Gay2 and Ina R... more Sebastian Fürst1, Katharina Müller2, Céline Paris3, Ludovic Bellot-Gurlet3, Marine Gay2 and Ina Reiche2

1. Institute for Pre- and Protohistory/Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany.
2. Laboratoire d’Archéologie Moléculaire et Structurale (LAMS), UMR 8220 CNRS/Université Pierre et Marie Curie/Paris 6, Ivry-sur-Seine, France.
3. Laboratoire de Dynamique, Interactions et Réactivité (LADIR), UMR 7075 CNRS/Université Pierre et Marie Curie/Paris 6, Paris, France.

During the Iron Age, red corals (Corallium rubrum) were the most frequent imported object type from the Mediterranean area into the Celtic world. The density and the distinct patterns of their distribution are perfectly suited for the study of intra-European cultural contacts and trade relations due to their long-term importation. Despite the 130-year-old history of research on prehistoric corals, there have been hardly any extensive studies. One reason for this limited interest is that corals lose their intense red colour and shiny surface structure due to poorly
understood ageing processes. Hence, other light-coloured materials such as bone, ivory, chalk or shells, which were also used to decorate jewellery, are often mistaken for corals.
We propose a multi-stage approach to identify red corals and light bio-minerals with emphasis on digital microscopy and mobile Raman spectroscopy. This setup is portable and can therefore be used directly in the museums, allowing a very efficient work flow thanks to a high identification rate
while saving time.
Our work has shown that the easiest way to identify red coral is the proof of organic pigment residues, which are still visible in Raman spectra of optically already completely faded artifacts. Low laser excitation wavelengths like 532 nm are ideally suited for detecting organic pigments,
while higher wavelengths are rather sensitive to calcium carbonate and other bio-mineral features like the phosphate bands of apatite, which are main indicators of bone or dentine. The ability to distinguish between the different carbonate phases by Raman spectroscopy is another advantage of this method, since most mollusks and stony corals are of aragonite, while Corallium rubrum
always consists of calcite. Unfortunately, some shells like Spondylus show the same Raman features (pigments plus calcite) as C. rubrum. This is why an additional microscopic
investigation of the surface structures is important, e.g. to search for the very unique verrucae structures of red corals. After this first step, a success rate of already 90 % of identified materials can be reached only using microscopic and Raman spectroscopic analyses.
For the remaining “critical cases” we suggest a complementary examination using XRF and XRD to
distinguish between coral and mollusks, which is the most difficult case together with the differentiation between bone and ivory. This multi-stage approach enables a fast identification of bio-minerals with a success rate of almost 98 %. We analyzed numerous fibulae, helmets, daggers or necklaces from Celtic tombs and several princely seats.

J.-M. Doyen (Hrsg.), De l’Escaut au Nil. Bric-à-brac en hommage à Eugène Warmenbol à l’occasion de son 65e anniversaire , 2022

Germania, 2021

Praehistorische Zeitschrift

Denkmalpflege im Saarland – Jahresbericht 2019, 2020

Berliner Beiträge zur Archäometrie, Kunsttechnologie und Konservierungswissenschaft, Bd. 22, 2014

During the Iron Age, red corals (Corallium rubrum) were the most frequent imported object type fr... more During the Iron Age, red corals (Corallium rubrum) were the most frequent imported object type from the Mediterranean area into the Celtic world. The density and the distinct patterns of their distribution are perfectly suited for the study of intra-European cultural contacts and trade relations due to their long-term importation.Despite the 130-year-old history of research on prehistoric corals, there have been hardly any extensive study. One reason for this limited interest is that corals lose their intense red colour and shiny surface structure due to poorly understood ageing processes. Hence, other light-coloured materials such as bone, ivory, chalk or shells, which were also used to decorate jewellery, are often mistaken for corals.We propose a multi-stage approach to identify red corals and light bio-minerals with emphasis on digital microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. The instruments are portable and can therefore be used directly in the museums, allowing a very efcient work ...

Luxury objects are an important part of European Iron Age material culture. This is reflected in ... more Luxury objects are an important part of European Iron Age material culture. This is reflected in personal ornaments, decorated weapons, vessels, wagons and furniture, etc. This session deals with materials such as gold, silver, bronze, enamel, and glass as well as organic materials, such as ivory, coral, amber, and jet. These luxury materials played an important role in social, religious, economic and artistic terms that we would like to discuss. Our session offers the opportunity to compare the trade and exchange systems of different precious materials in diverse parts of Europe. As different as the materials are, as unequal is their value. Hence, different raw materials have been accessible for different social groups; this is why the distribution patterns of different raw materials allow us to establish a more detailed reconstruction of the economic systems during a certain period and to trace the chronological dynamics in this context. Moreover, since raw materials are always closely interrelated with networks of production and consumption, their distribution patterns and dynamics enable profound insights into the circulation of the ideas and people behind the materials. Our aim is to bring together research dealing with different aspects of these prestigious materials and objects combining social anthropology, archaeological context, style, arts and crafts, technology and archaeometry. Therefore, we invite contributions concerned with interdisciplinary approaches to precious materials and fine metal work. We kindly invite you to submit your abstract for the session at

During the Central European Iron Age, and more specifically between 600 and 100 BC, red precious ... more During the Central European Iron Age, and more specifically between 600 and 100 BC, red precious corals (Corallium rubrum) became very popular in many regions, often associated with the so-called (early) Celts. Red corals are ideally suited to investigate several key questions of Iron Age research like trade patterns, or social and economic structures. While it is fairly easy to distinguish modern C. rubrum from bone, ivory, or shells, archaeologists are confronted with ancient, hence altered, artifacts. Due to ageing processes, archaeological corals lose their intensive red color and shiny surface, and can easily be confused with these other light-colored materials. We propose a non-destructive multi-stage approach with emphasis on optical examination and mobile Raman spectroscopy to identify archaeological corals amongst other biominerals.

What defines an elite within a society? It may be the ability to exercise power and domination; i... more What defines an elite within a society? It may be the ability to exercise power and domination; it may be the access to specific resources. Or it can be conceptualized as the degree of centrality and connectivity within a communication and/or interaction network. In the context of archaeological research, this last approach has the advantage that precious objects and materials, as remains of material culture, allow a reconstruction of relationships over long distances. During the Iron Age, luxury items made of precious or exotic materials were used by elite groups as symbols of power and prestige, and they were deposited as grave goods or in hoards. They can be seen as proxy variables to identify multiple highly dynamic and dense networks of influences from different regions, near and far. The structures and mechanisms of these networks depend on the selected parameters: for example, a network of imported vessels is different from the network of precious materials like amber, especially when stylistic or craftsmanship characteristics are taken into account. How do the networks of different precious materials and prestige objects differ? What conclusions can be drawn from this for the social structures of Iron Age societies? Do some places show a distinct betweenness or bridging centrality that made them operate as connectors between two cultures? And do other sites display a pivotal role as hubs or junctions within a local or regional social group, perhaps as centres of fine metalwork crafting? In this session, we would like to bring together all these different perspectives on elite connectivity during the Iron Age, in order to obtain an even more detailed picture of the dynamic and complex processes during this period. We kindly invite you to submit your abstract for the session at https://submissions.e-a-a.org/eaa2020/ before February 13 th 2020. Details about the Annual Meeting: https://www.e-a-a.org/eaa2020 You will soon find more information about our session on our official blog of the CELTIC GOLD project: https://celticgold.hypotheses.org/ We are looking forward to meeting you in August!

Die nächste internationale Konferenz der AFEAF (Association Française pour l'étude de l'âge du Fe... more Die nächste internationale Konferenz der AFEAF (Association Française pour l'étude de l'âge du Fer) findet vom 13. bis 15. Mai 2021 in Gijón (Asturien, Spanien) statt. Die Frist für die Einreichung von Abstracts ist der 30. September 2020. Wir würden uns freuen, wenn Sie dieses Datum einhalten und so die Bearbeitung erleichtern würden. Bitte senden Sie Ihren Vorschlag an die folgende Adresse: afeaf.gijon@gmail.com
Jeder Vorschlag wird dem wissenschaftlichen Komitee der Konferenz vorgelegt.

The next international conference of the AFEAF (French Association for the Study of the Iron Age)... more The next international conference of the AFEAF (French Association for the Study of the Iron Age) will take place in Gijón (Asturias, Spain) from 13 to 15 May 2021. The deadline for submission of abstracts is 30 September 2020. We would appreciate it if you would respect this date and thus facilitate the processing. Please send your proposal to the following address: afeaf.gijon@gmail.com
Each proposal will be submitted to the Scientific Committee of the conference.

The ANR-DFG project CELTIC GOLD (2017-2020), based in Toulouse and Mannheim, invites to its concl... more The ANR-DFG project CELTIC GOLD (2017-2020), based in Toulouse and Mannheim, invites to its concluding conference at Mainz. The venue is Landesmuseum Mainz. We want to discuss aspects on archaeometry and technology of La Tène gold and its setting.
As it has been the aim of our project, we intend to bring together different perspectives and approaches on La Tène gold objects encompassing archaeometry, technology, as well as art, communication and social structu-res from the 5th century BC to the 1st century AD. In addition, we would also like to link up with the neighbouring regions and periods in order to better understand the connections, influences and contact networks throughout Europe

"Luxury in life and death in the European Iron Age. Identity - elite networks - economy - arts an... more "Luxury in life and death in the European Iron Age. Identity - elite networks - economy - arts and crafts"
What defines an elite within a society? It may be the ability to exercise power and domination; it may be the access to specific resources. Or it can be conceptualized as the degree of centrality and connectivity within a communication and/or interaction network.
In the context of archaeological research, this last approach has the advantage that precious objects and materials, as remains of material culture, allow a reconstruction of relationships over long distances. During the Iron Age, luxury items made of precious or exotic materials were used by elite groups as symbols of power and prestige, and they were deposited as grave goods or in hoards. They can be seen as proxy variables to identify multiple highly dynamic and dense networks of influences from different regions, near and far.
The structures and mechanisms of these networks depend on the selected parameters: for example, a network of imported vessels is different from the network of precious materials like amber, especially when stylistic or craftsmanship characteristics are taken into account.
How do the networks of different precious materials and prestige objects differ?
What conclusions can be drawn from this for the social structures of Iron Age societies?
Do some places show a distinct betweenness or bridging centrality that made them operate as connectors between two cultures? And do other sites display a pivotal role as hubs or junctions within a local or regional social group, perhaps as centres of fine metalwork crafting?
In this session, we would like to bring together all these different perspectives on elite connectivity during the Iron Age, in order to obtain an even more detailed picture of the dynamic and complex processes during this period.
We kindly invite you to submit your abstract for the session at https://submissions.e-a-a.org/eaa2020/ before February 13th 2020.
We are looking forward to meeting you in August!
Sebastian Fürst, Marilou Nordez & Barbara Armbruster