Proyecto “Arqueometalurgia de la Península Ibérica” (1982-2017)

The Archaeometallurgical project of the Iberian Peninsula started in 1982. Its aim was to study the prehistoric metallurgical technology and to expand the that time limited number of analyses in comparison with other European countries with more developed research. Initially the focus was Chalcolithic and Bronze Age metallurgy, analyzing metallurgical remains as well as the metal artifacts, but it has now expanded its scope to more recent periods. The main-techniques used over the 25 years of the project were XRF for elemental analysis (around 24,000 results), metallography (900) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), lead isotopes analysis and micro-hardness lest. The project has contributed in a decisive manner to the interpretation of the metallurgical technology. The information obtained supported the point of view that arsenic was a natural alloy, permitted the definition of the metallurgical structures during the early metallurgy, and established the scale of the production and the impact of metallurgy on the environment and social organization of later prehistoric Iberia.