Origins and Legacy
Beno Rothenberg is credited with coining the very term ‘archaeo-metallurgy’, which has now become the globally used word to describe the scientific study of ancient mining and metallurgy. It is mirrored in the name of the Institut f ür Archä ometallurgie at the Deutsches Bergbau-Museum in Bochum (Germany) and adopted by a leading conference series, Archaeometallurgy in Europe.
The Institute for Archaeo-Metallurgical Studies (IAMS) was founded in response to one of the most significant archaeological discoveries of the 20th century: the excavations at Timna, in Israel’s Arabah Valley.
Discovered and excavated in the 1960s by Professor Beno Rothenberg, Timna rapidly emerged as the earliest known large-scale centre of copper mining and smelting in the Near East, fundamentally reshaping our understanding of ancient metallurgical technology.
Following a decade of pioneering fieldwork and the discovery of an Egyptian temple at the heart of the mining complex, Professor Rothenberg’s research attracted international attention. His lectures in London and the landmark 1971 British Museum exhibition catalysed the creation of a permanent international body dedicated to archaeo-metallurgical research.
In 1973, with the support of Sir Mortimer Wheeler (British Academy), Sir Val Duncan (Rio Tinto Zinc), and chaired and financed by Sir Sigmund Sternberg , IAMS was formally established as a London-based institute with a global remit. It has since developed into a leading teaching and research institute, based at UCL’s Institute of Archaeology.
Legacy
From the outset, a key concern of IAMS was to support postgraduate students in archaeometallurgy, primarily at the UCL Institute of Archaeology in London (UK) but also elsewhere through the organization of international summer schools, collaborative research projects and integration in fieldwork and internships. Notable alumni include John Merkel (1988), Vasiliki Kassianidou (1993), Sharada Srinivasan (1996), Ann Feuerbach (2002), Shadreck Chirikure (2005), Marcos Martinon-Torres (2005), Myrto Georgakopoulou (2005), Mike Charlton (2007), Anna Karatzani (2007), Alexander Veldhuijzen (2008), Claire Cohen (2008), Lorna Anguilano (2008), Aude Mongiatti (2009), Bastian Asmus (2011), Thomas Thondhlana (2012), Edwinus Lyaya (2013), Miljana Radivojevic (2013), Frederik Rademakers (2015), Siran Liu (2015), Vana Orfanou (2015), Pira Venunan (2016), Loic Boscher (2016), Rahil Alipour (2017), and Kristina Franke (2019).
Since then, the activity of IAMS has spread beyond its original host institution, with academic trustees now teaching and researching archaeometallurgy at the University of Cambridge (Marcos Martinon-Torres) and the Cyprus Institute (Thilo Rehren), while Miljana Radivojevic and Mike Charlton continue the tradition in London. The impact of IAMS is now global, with our alumni teaching and researching across leading institutions in the UK and elsewhere, including Germany, Greece, Cyprus, the US, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, China, Thailand and India. The story continues!
Publications
Since its inception, IAMS has published several important monographs on archaeometallurgy, including
Rothenberg 1972: Were these King Solomon’s mines?: Excavations in the Timna Valley (Thames & Hudson, 248 pages).
Rothenberg, B., R. F. Tylecote and P. J. Boydell (1978). Chalcolithic Copper Smelting: Excavations and Experiments Archaeo-metallurgy monograph no. 1. 51 pp. London: Institute for Archaeo-metallurgical Studies.
Rothenberg and Blanco-Freijeiro (1981) Ancient Mining and Metallurgy in South West Spain: Exploration and Excavation in the Province of Huelva (Thames and Hudson, 320 pages).
Rothenberg (1988) The Egyptian Mining Temple at Timna (Thames & Hudson, 496 pages).
These books have since become landmarks of the development of archaeometallurgy as an academic discipline, setting standards for meticulous fieldwork, pioneering laboratory analyses, and deep archaeological and historical interpretation. Much of this work was sponsored through the generosity of leading mining companies, first among them Rio Tinto Zinc Ltd.
Copies of the iams newsletter (1980 to 1998) and the iams journal (2001 to 2005) are available for download