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XII/1/2021
INTERDISCIPLINARIA ARCHAEOLOGICA
NATURAL SCIENCES IN ARCHAEOLOGY
homepage: http://www.iansa.eu
Editorial IANSA 1/2021
“Archaeological Finds and Analytical Methods” Workshop
in the Naturhistorisches Museum in Vienna (Austria)
Irmgard Hein
On December 12–13
th
2019, a two-day workshop entitled
“Archaeological Finds and Analytical Methods” was
organised in Vienna (Figure 1). The aim of this workshop
was to assess the diverse applications of analytical methods
for diferent groups of inorganic fnd materials. The intention
was to provide a discussion forum for archaeological
researchers from Central Europe working in interdisciplinary
felds to discuss the applicability of analytical methods.
Given the rapid development of technology in recent
years, the knowledge gained through practical application
should be subjected to thorough discourse in a specialised
circle: exchanging experiences from diferent geographical
areas, and making critical observations.
Within the workshop’s context, inorganic materials
were a particular focus: ceramics, earth materials, stone
and metal. Participation was also open to archaeologists
from the felds of Egyptology, Prehistoric and Historical
Archaeology, Classical Archaeology and Oriental Studies,
all of whom were, at that time, undertaking interdisciplinary
studies in materials analysis. An additional goal was that
young researchers should receive some motivation for
further project developments and be encouraged to establish
information networks between Austria and the surrounding
European countries. In addition to Austria, participants also
came from the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Slovakia,
Hungary and Denmark.
The workshop emphasized that individual contributions
should not only present results, but also focus on the
applicability of the methods used and on any recent progress
within individual methodological developments. Three key
questions were addressed in the contributions:
•
Which methods of analysis are applicable to individual
groups of materials in diferent regions?
•
Which potential new interpretations are enabled by the
methods?
•
What further developmental steps should be taken
in the analytical techniques in order to obtain target-
oriented results?
In the course of the two-day workshop, a total of ffteen
papers were presented and discussed in detail. Ten of them dealt
with ceramics research, one with soil analysis in the residential
sector, one with chipped stone, and three with metal analysis.
Two keynote lectures introduced the presentations on both
days. Claudio Capelli from the Universita di Genova (Italy)
gave an overview of petrographic investigations on ceramics
on the frst day, which introduced the topic of investigations
on ceramics and earth materials, followed by ten other
lectures and one lecture on soil investigations. Three of these
topics are included in this volume:
Susanne Cereda and Pamela Fragnoli are developing an
investigation of two sediment samples from Arslantepe in
Anatolia by looking at burnt earthen materials from two
diferent points of view – micromorphology and petrography.
The result of these diferent approaches to analysing the
same samples is contrasted in discourse form.
Aaron de Souza and Martina Trognitz provided an
overview of the applicability of a photographic technique,
Refectance Transformation Imaging (RTI), which was used
to analyse the surface structures of handmade Middle Nubian
pottery, dating from the 2
nd
millennium BC (today southern
Egypt and Sudan). This non-destructive technique allows
conclusions to be drawn about the manufacturing processes.
Laura Rembart and Lisa Betina are investigating the
origin of Aswan pink clay, which from the 2
nd
century BCE
onwards served as a raw material for pottery production
that spread throughout Egypt. For this purpose, samples
from clay deposits in the vicinity of Aswan (Egypt) were
compared with those from the ceramics of the area.
On the second day, Ernst Pernicka, senior director of the
Curt Engelhorn-Centre (Mannheim, Germany) introduced
the thematic group of metal analyses, from which two
papers (Bühler and Schwarcz; Mozgai
et al.
) are included in
this volume. Both papers deal with the analysis of precious
metals, applying diferent methods.
Victória Mozgai, Eszter Horváth, and Bernadett Bajnóczi
studied silver buckles from the 5
th
century AD with non-
Volume XII ● Issue 1/2021 ● Pages 3–5
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Irmgard Hein: “Archaeological Finds and Analytical Methods” Workshop in the Naturhistorisches Museum in Vienna (Austria)
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invasive methods. For example, niello decoration was
examined for the frst time on such objects, and the garnet
inlays were analysed with regard to the origin of these
gemstones.
The contribution of Birgit Bühler and David Z. Schwarcz
investigates technological details on gold plates of the Avar
culture from the 7
th
–8
th
century AD. By comparing the tool
marks of the punching instruments used, they reveal which
instruments were used and whether diferent goldsmiths
were involved in the production.
In the fnal discussion, several participants also expressed
the wish for the development of fexible and transportable
equipment to enable its increased use in the feld, as well as
the wish for a more open handling practice with samples and
specimens. Since the conditions for working with samples
vary greatly in the diferent countries, it would be desirable to
Figure 1.
Workshop poster.
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IANSA 2021 ● XII/1 ● 3–5
Irmgard Hein: “Archaeological Finds and Analytical Methods” Workshop in the Naturhistorisches Museum in Vienna (Austria)
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be able to standardise them, which could be possible through
the fexible use of equipment. In addition, it was noted that
there is a need for increased publication of thin sections in
standardised form to enable the comparability of samples.
The increasing importance of the use of LA-ICP-MS as an
analytical method should be emphasised, as it is considered
promising in its application for almost all material groups.
Additionally, more attention should be paid to digital image
analyses of materials; this methodology is still relatively
underdeveloped in archaeology.
The initiative and organisation for the workshop
was carried out by Irmgard Hein, from the Institute for
Egyptology and the Vienna Institute for Archaeological
Science (VIAS). Financial support was provided by the
Institute of Egyptology, VIAS, and the
Material Cultures
Research Focus,
all at the Faculty of Historical and Cultural
Studies of the University of Vienna. We thank the heads of the
above-mentioned institutions at the time of December 2019
so the workshop could be realised: E. Christiana Köhler, Tim
Taylor and Günther Schörner, as well as the Dean’s Ofce of
the Faculty, under Dean Sebastian Schütze.
We are especially grateful to the head of the Prehistoric
Department of the Natural History Museum Vienna, Anton
Kern, who kindly made the premises available for the
workshop and provided a very wonderful ambience for the
participants. Sandra Müller is to be thanked for her active
support in the preparations for the conference, as well as
Irene Kaplan (Institute for Egyptology) and Gabriele Sentall
(VIAS) for their administrative help.
Unfortunately, the year 2020 and the worldwide outbreak
of the Corona pandemic has also had an impact on the
publication of the contributions. One planned contribution
had to be postponed due to the lockdown in spring 2020, as
access to the material for a review of the analyses was not
possible.
Finally, I would like to thank Jaromír Beneš and the
editorial board, as well as Roderick B. Salisbury, for the
opportunity to place the contributions of the workshop in a
special issue of the journal IANSA, and to subject the articles
to peer review. In particular, I would like to thank Ondřej
Mlejnek, the executive editor for his patient supervision of
the issue.
Link to the Workshop program:
https://egyptology.univie.
ac.at/fileadmin/user_upload/i_egyptology/news_events/
Workshop_Programm_FINAL_2__Wiederhergestellt_.pdf
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