Metallurgy and Civilisation

This specialized conference considered a variety of issues of: early metallurgy; including sessions on metallurgy and interaction across Eurasia; ancient iron and steel technology; reconstruction of metallurgical processes; bronze casting; ancient iron an

Thilo Rehren is Professor for Archaeological Materials and Technologies at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London. His academic background includes a first degree and PhD in mineralogy and petrology, and a habilitation in archaeometallurgy. He is particularly interested in reconstructing high-temperature production processes for metals and glass, and the interplay between natural, system-driven aspects of technology and the role of human choice and activity in mastering past technologies. He has worked extensively on a range of metals, specifically lead and silver smelting, silver refining, crucible technology in general, Islamic crucible steel production, Roman zinc and Roman and medieval brass making, and early platinum, tin and tungsten production. More recently, he has jointly with Edgar Pusch identified the first firm evidence for Egyptian glass making, at Qantir-Pi-Ramesse in the Nile Delta. He is editor of the Journal of Archaeological Science, and currently serves as the president of the Society for Archaeological Sciences.