The continuous progress of archaeological excavations and scientific methods of analysis is a topic that, for many decades, has affected archaeological practice in a multidisciplinary fashion, trying to enhance and deepen historical knowledge and test new analytical methods in order to improve the difficult dialogue among the involved disciplines. Archaeometry, which literally means ‘the measurement of what is ancient’, concerns physical and quantifiable parameters, while archaeology has often been engaged with exterior and formal features. The co-operation between archaeometry and archaeology, in other words, implies the solution of historical problems with scientific methods. Since 2009, the Department of Chemistry I.F.M. (at present Department of Chemistry) of the University of Turin has been collaborating with the Department of Antiquities of the University of Florence on the evaluation of the finds from the archaeological excavation of the EC III – LC I site of Erimi – Laonin tou Porakou (Limassol District, Cyprus). The joint effort concerns specifically the application of some physico-chemical methods of analysis in order to characterize and investigate material assemblages and contexts at the archaeological site. The fields of applications are varied and very different both from the scientific and historical point of view: from the characterization of some pottery wares to the investigation of metal slags, from the determination of soil and plaster composition to the analysis of possible bone traces in apparently-empty tombs.
Close encounters between archaeology and archaeometry in Cyprus
F. Chelazzi
Primo
Writing – Original Draft Preparation
;
2015-01-01
Abstract
The continuous progress of archaeological excavations and scientific methods of analysis is a topic that, for many decades, has affected archaeological practice in a multidisciplinary fashion, trying to enhance and deepen historical knowledge and test new analytical methods in order to improve the difficult dialogue among the involved disciplines. Archaeometry, which literally means ‘the measurement of what is ancient’, concerns physical and quantifiable parameters, while archaeology has often been engaged with exterior and formal features. The co-operation between archaeometry and archaeology, in other words, implies the solution of historical problems with scientific methods. Since 2009, the Department of Chemistry I.F.M. (at present Department of Chemistry) of the University of Turin has been collaborating with the Department of Antiquities of the University of Florence on the evaluation of the finds from the archaeological excavation of the EC III – LC I site of Erimi – Laonin tou Porakou (Limassol District, Cyprus). The joint effort concerns specifically the application of some physico-chemical methods of analysis in order to characterize and investigate material assemblages and contexts at the archaeological site. The fields of applications are varied and very different both from the scientific and historical point of view: from the characterization of some pottery wares to the investigation of metal slags, from the determination of soil and plaster composition to the analysis of possible bone traces in apparently-empty tombs.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
