Goodway (1992: 57) writes 'Archaeometallurgy as a term
seems first to have been used in English by Beno Rothenberg in 1972 when he
established his Institute of Archaeo-Metallurgical Studies (IAMS), which now has
offices at the Institute of Archeology in London University. The word is still
too arcane to be included in the latest edition of the Oxford English
Dictionary. It appeared in print in 1980 when IAMS published its first
newsletter.'
Goodway, M. 1992, Archaeometallurgy: emerging practices. Laborativ
Arkeologi 6, 57-61. (published by Arkeologiska Forskningslaboratoriet
Stockholms Universitet).
NB The formal declaration of Trust, establishing IAMS as a recognized
charity in the UK, is dated 2 May 1973; but I would assume that this was
preceded by some preparation, including defining its name.
Beno: can you add to this history?
Not sure about Tylecote as 'Reader in Archaeometallurgy'
in Newcastle. A paper by Balmuth and Tylecote in the Journal of Field
Archaeology (1976) describes him as 'R.F. Tylecote, Senior Lecturer in
Metallurgy at the Unviersity of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, is best known for his
pioneering studies of metallurgy in archaeology.' Thus, as late as 1976 he
did not use the term archaeometallurgy for himself.
In this context it may be significant that neither of his books or papers
seems to use the term archaeometallurgy, either before or after IAMS's
foundation in 1972/3. In a 1979 paper in the Journal of Archaeological Science
he gives his affiliation as 'Department of Conservation and Materials Science,
Institute of Archaeology', while in 1977, in the same journal, he gives
'Department of Metallurgy, University of Newcastle upon Tyne'.
I have to find out whether his honorary professorship at the Institute of
Archaeology (his academic home after retiring from Newcastle) was named in any
way, but would doubt it judging from common practice here.
Justine, do you know more? What does his obituary
in HistMet say?
Thilo
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, February 08, 2008 1:28
AM
Subject: Re: the term
archaeometallurgy
Martha Goodway did some research into this and came up with
Beno as the source. I don't have her contact info here but she is still
working at the Smithsonian MCI.
Aaron
On Feb 7, 2008 4:10 PM, Peter Hutchison <
[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
R.F.
Tylecote became Reader in Archaeometallurgy (from lecturer) at
Newcastle
University sometime between 1953 and 1976. I think he probably
invented
the word to describe the work he was doing.
Peter
Hutchison.
--
Aaron
Shugar
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