Abstract
Archaeometallurgy is a field of research that uses metallographic techniques and tests of non-destructive materials to obtain information about life in times past, including how people produced and used metals and alloys. It involves the study of a wide range of objects related to metals that have survived the passage of time and have come to us in the present. These metallic objects, the results of the original metal production and metallurgy processes, reached their current states after having been subjected to one or more of many processes, including trade, use, modification, disposal, and possibly some degradation on the ground and/or alteration in museums or private collections. These artifacts have been recovered from a variety of archaeological contexts, such as dwelling sites, industrial facilities, funerary contexts (burials), and ceremonial sites, including offerings, river deposits, or other sacred places.
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Carrizo, P.S. (2021). Archaeometallurgy. In: Carrizo, P.S. (eds) Reverse Engineering of Ancient Metals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-72842-7_1
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