Reshaping Archaeological Metallurgy: a new role for science in Britain's heritage sector

Metal is at the heart of archaeology: it permeated ancient societies, drew together far-flung regions, was central to economies, and opened unique avenues for self-expression. However, the scientific study of copper-alloy is currently fractured and cut off from the realities of modern archaeology in the UK. This programme has two important, related missions: to create new connections across the national heritage sector for archaeological chemistry, and at the same time, to reimagine what chemical analysis can reveal about our material past. It will deliver an ambitious analysis programme, tracing the nuanced flow and impact of metal around the Iron Age, Roman and Early Medieval world, from 50 BC to AD 1066. This will be delivered by new chemical and conceptual models, which move beyond provenance and object biographies. I will tackle the structural barriers that have stopped chemistry becoming an inclusive, standard tool across the heritage community. I will establish a national network of researchers and create real opportunities for lasting collaboration and debate, based around tiers of training, internships and workshops. This will form the first ever national programme for the analysis of first millennium AD British copper-alloy artefacts and address a number of current problems.

My research has shown that the chemistry of a unit of metal is not static or solely determined by geology. Instead, it is a subtle and mutable record of the life history of the material. Previously overlooked shifts within the chemical record document human behaviour and technological processes. The data directly speaks to the concerns of the humanities and archaeology today. My new approach captures the flow, exchange, recycling, and human choices surrounding the use of metal in the past, as real people both shaped and were shaped by technology.

The Portable Antiquities Scheme has recorded a staggering 330,000 copper alloy finds from the Iron Age, Roman, and Early Medieval periods, all reported by the general public. This achievement shows the power of citizen science and the true scale of the UK's metallurgical past, a new archive to complement the world-leading collections of Britain's museums and the huge volume of work by commercial archaeology units. This mountain of history urgently requires UK-wide attention, to improve the quality of analyses and to interpret regional and national trends. We will work with 30 partner organisations to produce 10,000 precise analyses of selected artefacts, across 100 themed case studies, in a dedicated laboratory at the University of Reading. Rather than focus on pockets of heritage, this will be a systematic investigation of all British regions, and the full array of material culture.

The chemical analysis of artefacts is often expensive and marginalising for heritage managers. Several partners on this project have complained of being left to translate results with little training, or more worryingly, being ignored by specialists in laboratories. There is little trust or dialogue between sectors of the heritage community. Even material culture specialists do not know what chemistry can do for them, with few having the opportunity to find out. This programme will directly tackle these engrained problems through tiers of training and knowledge exchange events.

In order to understand our material past, we have to fundamentally change the way we discuss it in the present. This programme will improve all the tools that we have available: the chemical data, UK coverage, archaeological connections, models, open access archives and publications. But more importantly it will bring together all voices within the heritage community and place science at the heart of our social debates. The opportunity offered by the undiscovered first millennium AD and the power of the Future Leaders Fellowships, provide the leverage to deliver lasting and crucial change to the British archaeological landscape.