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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).

Storia delle ricerche paletnologiche nel territorio di Varese (2017)
Book Chapter
Pearce, M. (2017). Storia delle ricerche paletnologiche nel territorio di Varese. In M. Harari (Ed.), Storia di Varese: Il territorio di Varese in età preistorica e protostorica. Nomos Edizioni

A history of prehistoric studies in the north Italian province of Varese. The province of Varese saw some of the pioneering work in prehistory in Italy in the 19th century, and many key figures in the history of the discipline have done work in the p... Read More about Storia delle ricerche paletnologiche nel territorio di Varese.

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

Hard cheese: upland pastoralism in the Italian Bronze and Iron Ages (2016)
Book Chapter
Pearce, M. (2016). Hard cheese: upland pastoralism in the Italian Bronze and Iron Ages. In J. R. Collis, M. Pearce, & F. Nicolis (Eds.), Summer farms: seasonal exploitation of the uplands from prehistory to the present (47-56). JR Collis Publications

By moving livestock to summer farms, fodder at the home base is saved but the milk and other animal products produced during the animals’ absence are no longer immediately available to those left at the home base. In this paper I shall explore the ec... Read More about Hard cheese: upland pastoralism in the Italian Bronze and Iron Ages.

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.

Giovanni Patroni e l’opposizione a Luigi Pigorini (2015)
Book Chapter
Pearce, M. (2015). Giovanni Patroni e l’opposizione a Luigi Pigorini. In A. Guidi (Ed.), 150 anni di preistoria e protostoria in Italia. Istituto italiano di preistoria e protostoria

Giovanni Patroni e l’opp osizione a Luigi Pigorini - Giovanni Patroni (1868-1951) is notorious for a virulently anti-communist passage describing the inhabitants of the Terramare, which appears in his La Preistoria d’Italia (2 vols, Milan, 1937). He... Read More about Giovanni Patroni e l’opposizione a Luigi Pigorini.

Early metallurgy in Iberia and the western Mediterranean (2014)
Book Chapter
Bartelheim, M., & Pearce, M. (2015). Early metallurgy in Iberia and the western Mediterranean. In C. Fowler, J. Harding, & D. Hofman (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of Neolithic Europe. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199545841.001.0001

This chapter explores early metallurgy and metalwork in Iberia and the western Mediterranean, focusing on the metal-using phase known as ‘Chalcolithic’. After providing a background on the Iberian peninsula and its potential importance for early meta... Read More about Early metallurgy in Iberia and the western Mediterranean.

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.

Liguria: aperture e chiusure di un’isola fra due pianure
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Maggi, R., Binder, D., Panelli, C., Gabriele, M., Pearce, M., Rossi, S., & Rowley-Conwy, P. Liguria: aperture e chiusure di un’isola fra due pianure. Presented at LI Riunione Scientifica dell’Istituto Italiano di Preistoria e Protostoria, Forlì

This paper discusses Neolithic and Copper Age Liguria, Braudel’s ‘island’, a mountain chain situated between the Mediterranean and the Po plain. The Neolithic colonisation of western Liguria and the Mediterranean coasts of France happened a short ti... Read More about Liguria: aperture e chiusure di un’isola fra due pianure.

Produzione e circolazione del bronzo in Liguria nell’età del Ferro
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Pearce, M., & Maggi, R. Produzione e circolazione del bronzo in Liguria nell’età del Ferro. Presented at LIII Riunione Scientifica: Preistoria e Protostoria della Liguria, Genoa, Italy

THE PRODUCTION AND CIRCULATION OF BRONZE IN IRON AGE LIGURIA - The paper discusses the lead isotope data available in the literature and in the OXALID online database for bronze artefacts from the Iron Age (third quarter of the 8th – beginning of the... Read More about Produzione e circolazione del bronzo in Liguria nell’età del Ferro.

La miniera di Monte Loreto dal Neolitico all’alto Medioevo
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Campana, N., Maggi, R., & Pearce, M. La miniera di Monte Loreto dal Neolitico all’alto Medioevo. Presented at LIII Riunione Scientifica: Preistoria e Protostoria della Liguria, Genoa

This paper discusses prehistoric copper mining at Monte Loreto. Work between 1996 and 2004 by the then Archaeological Superintendency of Liguria and Dept of Archaeology, University of Nottingham (UK), had two main aims:
1) in collaboration with the... Read More about La miniera di Monte Loreto dal Neolitico all’alto Medioevo.

L'atlante inedito di Chierici: gli albi e le carte di distribuzione dei ritrovamenti preistorici nel contesto europeo
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Pearce, M. L'atlante inedito di Chierici: gli albi e le carte di distribuzione dei ritrovamenti preistorici nel contesto europeo. Presented at Attualità di don Gaetano Chierici: archeologo, museologo e maestro di impegno civile, Reggio Emilia, Italy

At his death in 1886, Gaetano Chierici was preparing an Atlante della paletnologia del Reggiano (Atlas of the prehistory of the province of Reggio Emilia), which he probably intended should include his unpublished Albo of 14 lithographic plates of si... Read More about L'atlante inedito di Chierici: gli albi e le carte di distribuzione dei ritrovamenti preistorici nel contesto europeo.

Aspects of urbanism in later Bronze Age northern Italy
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Pearce, M. (2019, March). Aspects of urbanism in later Bronze Age northern Italy. Presented at Crossing the Alps: Early Urbanism between Northern Italy and Central Europe (900-400 BC), Milan, Italy

This paper askes the question whether towns may be said to be visible in the archaeological record of northern Italy before the Iron Age. It argues that we should not use the forms of urbanism of the Greek, Etruscan and Roman cities as criteria for i... Read More about Aspects of urbanism in later Bronze Age northern Italy.

L’età del Rame in Liguria
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Maggi, R., & Pearce, M. L’età del Rame in Liguria. Presented at LIII Riunione Scientifica: Preistoria e Protostoria della Liguria, Genoa

There is very little archaeological evidence for Copper Age material culture in Liguria. The paper begins with a review of our knowledge of: lithics, beads, pottery, copper artefacts and statue-stele. Close relations are indicated with Provence and n... Read More about L’età del Rame in Liguria.

The circulation of copper and bronze in Liguria (Northwest Italy) in the Early Iron Age
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Pearce, M., & Maggi, R. (2021, May). The circulation of copper and bronze in Liguria (Northwest Italy) in the Early Iron Age. Presented at 45ème Colloque International de l’AFEAF: L’Europe des matières premières au 1er millénaire av. n.è.: Exploitation, transformation, diffusion, Gijón, Spain

This paper uses the lead isotope data available in the literature to ask two questions concerning the circulation of copper and bronze in Liguria (Northwest Italy) in the Early Iron Age: firstly, does the data throw any light on the source of the cop... Read More about The circulation of copper and bronze in Liguria (Northwest Italy) in the Early Iron Age.