The idea to form an ASM committee on archaeometallurgy was proposed on ASM Connect in 2020 by @Patricia Silvana Carrizo. The proposal received an enthusiastic response. The committee was formally approved by the Core and Emerging Technologies Council and the ASM Board in 2021, with Carrizo serving as its initial chair. @Omid Oudbashi is the committee's new Chair.
The committee members have been very active. They have published several articles in Advanced Materials & Processes (AM&P) magazine and presented talks to ASM chapters via Zoom.
The committee developed a special archaeometallurgy issue of the ASM-IMS journal Metallography, Microstructure, and Analysis (MMA), published in April 2023. The committee is currently soliciting abstracts for a second MMA special issue, which will be published in 2025.
The committee organizes the Archaeometallurgy and Ancient Metalworking program at the International Materials, Applications, and Technologies (IMAT) conference.
A recent focus of the committee's activities is developing an atlas of microstructures from historical artifacts to be published as an eBook in the ASM Digital Library. Committee member @Peter Northover proposed the project. The plan is to feature images representing a variety of alloy systems, such as copper, silver, and iron, representing artifacts from various historic periods and cultures. The microstructures will be accompanied by descriptions of the microstructural features, what they reveal about the artifact's composition and production, and information about the specimen and how it was processed for characterization. The images will also be added to the ASM Micrograph Database.
We invite any ASM members involved in or interested in archaeometallurgy to join the committee. For more information about the committee and its activities, please contact @Scott Henry, the staff liaison.
[Thanks to committee secretary @Nassos Lazaridis for drafting this update; Scott added additional details and links.]
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Scott Henry
Director of Content and Publishing
Liaison to ASM Technical Committees
ASM International
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