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Different models of urbanisation: early towns in temperate Europe and the ‘proto-urban’ centres of early 1st millennium South Etruria (2024)
Book Chapter
Pearce, M. (2024). Different models of urbanisation: early towns in temperate Europe and the ‘proto-urban’ centres of early 1st millennium South Etruria. In M. Frangipane (Ed.), The ‘city’ across time: Emergence, developments, and social, economic political, cultural and health impact: (Rome, 8-10 June 2022) (95-115). Bardi Edizioni

Many scholars have proposed criteria for the identification of urban settlements, but such criteria are often premised on their own views of how and why towns emerged. I critically examine the use of the term ‘proto-urban’, generally employed to desc... Read More about Different models of urbanisation: early towns in temperate Europe and the ‘proto-urban’ centres of early 1st millennium South Etruria.

L’Atlante della Paletnologia del Reggiano nel suo contesto storico europeo (2023)
Book Chapter
PEARCE, M. (2023). L’Atlante della Paletnologia del Reggiano nel suo contesto storico europeo. In I. Tirabassi, R. Macellari, & G. Adriano Rossi (Eds.), Atlante di Paletnologia del Reggiano di don Gaetano Chierici (21-33). Deputazione di Storia Patria per le Antiche Provincie Modenesi - Sezione di Reggio Emilia

Questo capitolo si pone l’obiettivo di collocare nella storia dello sviluppo dell’illustrazione archeologica in Europa nei secoli XVIII e XIX il progetto di Gaetano Chierici di pubblicare un Atlante paletnologico, e di contestualizzarlo tra le pubbli... Read More about L’Atlante della Paletnologia del Reggiano nel suo contesto storico europeo.

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.

Perceiving Mining Landscapes: Metallurgical Origins and the Perception of Resources in the Landscape (2023)
Book Chapter
Pearce, M., & Maggi, R. (2023). Perceiving Mining Landscapes: Metallurgical Origins and the Perception of Resources in the Landscape. In Settlement Structures and Metallurgy: The Relations between Italy and the Iberian Peninsula in the Early Chalcolithic. Papers of an International Conference Held in Rome, Museo Nazionale Romano – Palazzo Massimo, 6–7 October 2011 (77-86). Deutsches Archaeologisches Institut - Abteilung Rom. https://doi.org/10.34780/t263-e0t2

In Liguria, in north-west Italy, copper mining starts soon after a transformation in the Neolithic economy – the opening up of upland pastures for summer grazing – and seems to be contemporary with the exploitation of other mineral resources, such as... Read More about Perceiving Mining Landscapes: Metallurgical Origins and the Perception of Resources in the Landscape.

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.

L’Osteria del Termine: nota in margine a un confine di lunga durata (2021)
Book Chapter
PEARCE, M. (2021). L’Osteria del Termine: nota in margine a un confine di lunga durata. In L. Magnini, C. Bettineschi, & L. Burigana (Eds.), Traces of Complexity: Studi in Onore di Armando De Guio/ Studies in Honour of Armando De Guio (155-158). Quingentole (Mantova), Italy: SAP Società Archeologica s.r.l

This short paper explores various aspects of Armando De Guio’s work through the lens of his discovery of an extraordinarily persistent border on the Luserna plateau, which seems to have conditioned human behaviour from at least the later Bronze Age,... Read More about L’Osteria del Termine: nota in margine a un confine di lunga durata.

Sardinians in Cyprus, Cypriots in Sardinia? The state of the question (2021)
Book Chapter
Pearce, M. (2021). Sardinians in Cyprus, Cypriots in Sardinia? The state of the question. In Contatti culturali e scambi commerciali della Sardegna nuragica: la rotta meridionale (Sardegna, Sicilia, Creta, Cipro): Atti del IV festival della Civiltà Nuragica (Orroli, Cagliari) / Cultural contacts and trade in Nuragic Sardinia: the southern route (Sardinia, Sicily, Crete, Cyprus): Proceedings of the Fourth Festival of the Nuragic Civilization (Orroli, Cagliari). Cagliari, Italy: Arkadia Editore

This, the closing chapter in the volume, reviews our evidence for direct contacts between Cyprus and Sardinia in the Nuragic Bronze Age in the light of the new evidence presented at the Fourth Festival of the Nuragic Civilization (Orroli, Cagliari).... Read More about Sardinians in Cyprus, Cypriots in Sardinia? The state of the question.

Fare rame: quadro di sintesi su siti e strutture produttive della metallurgia primaria protostorica del Trentino (2021)
Book Chapter
Bellintani, P., Silvestri, E., Bassetti, M., Cappellozza, N., Degasperi, N., Nicolis, F., …Pearce, M. (2021). Fare rame: quadro di sintesi su siti e strutture produttive della metallurgia primaria protostorica del Trentino. In P. Bellintani, & E. Silvestri (Eds.), Fare Rame: La metallurgia primaria della tarda età del Bronzo in Trentino: nuovi scavi e stato dell’arte della ricerca sul campo (269-326). Provincia autonoma di Trento

198 “smelting sites”, dedicated to the processing of copper minerals (mixed sulphides mostly with chalcopyrite) are recorded in eastern Trentino. In general, they are located at altitudes of between 1000 and 1800 m a.s.l.. They are traditionally date... Read More about Fare rame: quadro di sintesi su siti e strutture produttive della metallurgia primaria protostorica del Trentino.

L’inizio della seconda fase della coltivazione del rame nel Trentino – Alto Adige/Südtirol (2021)
Book Chapter
Pearce, M., Bellintani, P., & Nicolis, F. (2021). L’inizio della seconda fase della coltivazione del rame nel Trentino – Alto Adige/Südtirol. In P. Bellintani, & E. Silvestri (Eds.), Fare Rame: La metallurgia primaria della tarda età del Bronzo in Trentino: nuovi scavi e stato dell’arte della ricerca sul campo (187-198). Provincia autonoma di Trento

This paper examines our evidence for the date of the beginning of the second phase of copper production in the south-eastern Alps. Lead isotope analysis evidence for artefacts from North Germany and Scandinavia shows the presence in that area of obje... Read More about L’inizio della seconda fase della coltivazione del rame nel Trentino – Alto Adige/Südtirol.

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

Le prime esperienze di metallurgia in Sardegna (2020)
Book Chapter
Pearce, M. (2020). Le prime esperienze di metallurgia in Sardegna. In C. Lugliè, & T. Cossu (Eds.), La preistoria in Sardegna: Il tempo delle comunità umane dal X al II millennio a.C (198-202). Nuoro (Sardinia, Italy): Ilisso

The paper reviews the evidence for early metallurgy on the Italian island of Sardinia

Le origini e la diffusione della metallurgia nel Mediterraneo occidentale (2020)
Book Chapter
PEARCE, M. (2020). Le origini e la diffusione della metallurgia nel Mediterraneo occidentale. In C. Lugliè, & T. Cossu (Eds.), La preistoria in Sardegna: Il tempo delle comunità umane dal X al II millennio a.C (194-197). Nuoro (Sardinia, Italy): Ilisso

The paper reviews the origins and spread of metallurgy in the western Mediterranean

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.

Frattesina: la prospettiva europea (2019)
Book Chapter
Pearce, M. (2019). Frattesina: la prospettiva europea. In A. M. B. Sestieri, P. Bellintani, & C. Giardino (Eds.), Frattesina: un centro internazionale di produzione e di scambio nella Tarda Età del Bronzo del Veneto. Accademia dei Lincei

In this paper I explore what makes Frattesina (Fratta Polesine RO) a key site in Europe during the transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age. Frattesina had an important role as an industrial and commercial centre, tied into a trade network that... Read More about Frattesina: la prospettiva europea.