Book Review: Accidental and Experimental Archaeometallurgy by D. Dungworth and R. Doonan (Eds)

Abstract

Spawned from an HMS (Historical Metallurgy Society) conference at West Dean College in 2010, this book is a unique compilation of papers written by both academics and craftsmen. Further articles not directly drawn from the conference have been included and cover non-ferrous experiments and an ethnographic study of blacksmithing. The writing styles vary from the very academic (dry and using more complicated language than is necessary) to the more relaxed vernacular, but the science and detail is not lacking at any point. This makes the book very accessible to the layman as well as being an excellent reference book for academics, particularly students of archaeology, metallurgy and most especially experimental archaeology.

Keywords

• iron
• bronze
• casting
• smelting
• experimental archaeology
• crafts
• chalcolithic
• bronze age
• iron age
• roman era
• viking age
• early middle ages
• late middle ages
• united kingdom
• book
• review