Mines, metals and coins. A glimpse of some technical processes during the Antiquity and the Middle Ages

The production of metals and coins in ancient times required the use of technical processes that are now lost. Research is conducted at the IRAMAT laboratory for understanding how were obtained the minerals containing metals and how they were transformed into metals during the Antiquity and the Middle Ages. This research relies on the study of archaeological remains (structures and artefacts), but makes also use of experimental archaeology, that is the practice of ancient processes for understanding them. Besides the obtaining of metal, recent research at the IRAMAT aimed at reproducing the processes of coin making in ancient times, especially by the means of experimentation and imagery.

Speaker

Guillaume SARAH

The Archaeomaterials Research Institute (IRAMAT) / CNRS, University of Orléans - FR