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All Outputs (16)

Combining isotope ratios for provenancing Viking Age iron artefacts in the British Isles: a pilot study (2023)
Journal Article
Harding, S. E., Jones, C., Evans, J., Milot, J., Cutajar, M., Bailey, E., …Pearce, M. (2023). Combining isotope ratios for provenancing Viking Age iron artefacts in the British Isles: a pilot study. RSC Advances, 13(44), 31292-31302. https://doi.org/10.1039/D3RA06367D

Stable and radiogenic isotope analysis – particularly using lead isotope analysis (LIA) - has previously been shown to be a useful tool for the provenancing of ancient metal artefacts of silver and copper and its alloys, but less progress has been ma... Read More about Combining isotope ratios for provenancing Viking Age iron artefacts in the British Isles: a pilot study.

Review of Le miniere delle Alpi Apuane (Toscana): Storia dello sfruttamento minerario dall'antichità al XX secolo. (BAR International Series 3034). By Marco Baldi, edited by Deborah Giannessi. 21 x 30 cm. xx + 277 pp, 167 colour and b&w pls and figs, 34 tavole/plate pages. Oxford: BAR Publishing, 2021. ISBN 978-1-4073-5832-1; epub: 978-1-4073-5833-8. Price: £69.00 pb. (2022)
Journal Article
Pearce, M. (2022). Review of Le miniere delle Alpi Apuane (Toscana): Storia dello sfruttamento minerario dall'antichità al XX secolo. (BAR International Series 3034). By Marco Baldi, edited by Deborah Giannessi. 21 x 30 cm. xx + 277 pp, 167 colour and b&w pls and figs, 34 tavole/plate pages. Oxford: BAR Publishing, 2021. ISBN 978-1-4073-5832-1; epub: 978-1-4073-5833-8. Price: £69.00 pb. Medieval Archaeology, 66(1), 204-205. https://doi.org/10.1080/00766097.2022.2065071

The smelting of copper in the third millennium cal BC Trentino, north-eastern Italy (2021)
Journal Article
Pearce, M., Merkel, S., Hauptmann, A., & Nicolis, F. (2022). The smelting of copper in the third millennium cal BC Trentino, north-eastern Italy. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 14(1), Article 10. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-021-01475-1

This paper presents observations and analyses on seven slag pieces from two third millennium cal BC (late Copper Age / early Bronze Age) rock shelters in the Trentino, northeastern Italy: La Vela di Valbusa and the Riparo di Monte Terlago. We review... Read More about The smelting of copper in the third millennium cal BC Trentino, north-eastern Italy.

The historical significance of Frattesina (2021)
Journal Article
Pearce, M. (2021). The historical significance of Frattesina. Padusa, Bollettino del Centro Polesano, 56 (2020), 163-172

This paper offers a brief overview of the key points of scholarly agreement in the interpretation of Frattesina, a manufacturing and trading centre at the head of the Adriatic, in north-east Italy, that flourished between the twelfth and ninth centur... Read More about The historical significance of Frattesina.

Caves and rock shelters, burials and smelting (2020)
Journal Article
Pearce, M. (2020). Caves and rock shelters, burials and smelting. Metalla, Sonderheft 10, 17-21. https://doi.org/10.46586/metalla.v.2020.i10

This paper is an extended abstract for the International Conference on Resources and Transformation in Pre-modern Societies, Bochum 19–21 November 2020, 11 December 2020 and 15 January 2021. It discusses the world view of Copper Age and Early Bronze... Read More about Caves and rock shelters, burials and smelting.

Review of Albore Livadie C., Vecchio G. a cura di, Nola - Croce del Papa: un villaggio sepolto dall’eruzione vesuviana delle Pomici di Avellino, Collection du Centre Jean Bérard 54, Centre Jean Bérard, Napoli, 2020 (2020)
Journal Article
Pearce, M. (2020). Review of Albore Livadie C., Vecchio G. a cura di, Nola - Croce del Papa: un villaggio sepolto dall’eruzione vesuviana delle Pomici di Avellino, Collection du Centre Jean Bérard 54, Centre Jean Bérard, Napoli, 2020. Origini, 44(2020), 197-200. https://doi.org/10.48235/1006

Frattesina and the later Bronze Age – Early Iron Age metals trade: the absolute chronology of smelting sites in the Trentino – Alto Adige/Südtirol (2020)
Journal Article
Pearce, M., Bellintani, P., & Nicolis, F. (2020). Frattesina and the later Bronze Age – Early Iron Age metals trade: the absolute chronology of smelting sites in the Trentino – Alto Adige/Südtirol. Padusa, Bollettino del Centro Polesano, 55, 67-86

We present 15 new 14C dates for copper smelting sites in the Trentino, together with 31 published dates for smelting sites in the region. Smelting may have already begun in the sixteenth century cal BC and continued until the ninth century cal BC. Th... Read More about Frattesina and the later Bronze Age – Early Iron Age metals trade: the absolute chronology of smelting sites in the Trentino – Alto Adige/Südtirol.

The ‘Copper Age’ – a history of the concept (2019)
Journal Article
Pearce, M. (2019). The ‘Copper Age’ – a history of the concept. Journal of World Prehistory, 32(3), 229-250. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10963-019-09134-z

The idea that there was a Copper Age between the Neolithic and Bronze Age was inspired by the discovery of copper use in prehistoric North America. Its currency in European prehistory owes much to the 1861 observations by William Wilde that copper ar... Read More about The ‘Copper Age’ – a history of the concept.

The Curse of the pXRF: the Negative Consequences of the Popularity of Handheld XRF Analysis of Copper-Based Metal Artefacts (2019)
Journal Article
Pearce, M. (2019). The Curse of the pXRF: the Negative Consequences of the Popularity of Handheld XRF Analysis of Copper-Based Metal Artefacts. Metalla, 24(2), 81-85

In this paper I shall explore some of the negative consequences of the current popularity of portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) analysis. There is no doubt that this portable device, which can be taken to museums and sites, has revolutionised the stu... Read More about The Curse of the pXRF: the Negative Consequences of the Popularity of Handheld XRF Analysis of Copper-Based Metal Artefacts.

The ‘island of silver veins’: an overview of the earliest metal and metalworking in Sardinia (2018)
Journal Article
Pearce, M. (2018). The ‘island of silver veins’: an overview of the earliest metal and metalworking in Sardinia. Metalla, 23(2), 91-111

This paper presents a review of our knowledge of the earliest phases of metal use and working in Sardinia, based where possible on radiocarbon chronology. It covers the cultural periods from the late Neolithic Ozieri to the Copper Age Monte Claro pha... Read More about The ‘island of silver veins’: an overview of the earliest metal and metalworking in Sardinia.

The effects of the Avellino Pumice eruption on the population of the Early Bronze age Campanian plain (Southern Italy) (2018)
Journal Article
Albore Livadie, C., Pearce, M., Delle Donne, M., & Pizzano, N. (2019). The effects of the Avellino Pumice eruption on the population of the Early Bronze age Campanian plain (Southern Italy). Quaternary International, 499(B), 205-220. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2018.03.035

Palma Campania, the type-site of the Early Bronze Age Palma Campania culture, was covered by the products of the Avellino Pumice eruption, and was thus preserved in a similar way to the Roman sites in Campania covered by the AD 79 eruption. The devas... Read More about The effects of the Avellino Pumice eruption on the population of the Early Bronze age Campanian plain (Southern Italy).

Book review: Social Networks and Regional Identity in Bronze Age Italy. By Emma Blake. Pp. xiv + 325, figs. 23, tables 15, maps 18. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2014. $99. ISBN 978-1-107-06320-4 (cloth) (2017)
Journal Article
Pearce, M. (2017). Book review: Social Networks and Regional Identity in Bronze Age Italy. By Emma Blake. Pp. xiv + 325, figs. 23, tables 15, maps 18. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2014. $99. ISBN 978-1-107-06320-4 (cloth). American Journal of Archaeology, 121(3), Article 3497. https://doi.org/10.3764/ajaonline1213.Pearce

Archaeology and archaeometallurgy: some unresolved areas in the interpretation of analytical data (2016)
Journal Article
Pearce, M. (in press). Archaeology and archaeometallurgy: some unresolved areas in the interpretation of analytical data. Science and Technology of Archaeological Research, 2(1), https://doi.org/10.1080/20548923.2016.1160593

This paper uses examples from Mediterranean and in particular Italian prehistory to explore the interface between prehistoric archaeology and metals analysis by examining three areas: the usefulness of data from past analyses (‘what is it made of?’),... Read More about Archaeology and archaeometallurgy: some unresolved areas in the interpretation of analytical data.

The spirit of the sword and spear (2013)
Journal Article
Pearce, M. (2013). The spirit of the sword and spear. Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 23(1), https://doi.org/10.1017/S0959774313000048

From the Norse sagas or the Arthurian cycles, we are used to the concept that the warrior’s weapon has an identity, a name. In this article I shall ask whether some prehistoric weapons also had an identity. Using case studies of La Tène swords, early... Read More about The spirit of the sword and spear.