Papers by Christopher P Thornton
Journal of Oman Studies , 2018
This paper presents the results of the first field season carried out in the abandoned mud brick ... more This paper presents the results of the first field season carried out in the abandoned mud brick structures of the Bat Oasis in Oman. Drawing on planning, building analysis, excavation and ethnographic interviews, this project is exploring the recent and contemporary past of the mud brick village which was occupied up until the 1970s. The vast majority of the rural population of Oman lived in mud brick villages and the Bat Oasis provides an excellent opportunity to understand more about the ways in which vernacular architecture shaped social structures, and the reverse. Excavation and oral histories provide historical context for this understanding, and can also help inform heritage plans for the site.
The Neolithisation of Iran, 2013
PhD Dissertation, 2009
Possehl, who gave guidance and structure to both me and my research over the past seven years. Dr... more Possehl, who gave guidance and structure to both me and my research over the past seven years. Dr. Possehl has supported my career since I was an undergraduate, and must be thanked for injecting temperance and epistemology into my studies. The other members of my committee, Dr. Peggy Sanday and Dr. Vincent Pigott, provided unwavering support and insightful comments on this thesis, while two behind-the-scenes readers, Dr. Robert H. Dyson Jr. and Dr. Thilo Rehren, gave hours of their time to peruse various chapters included herein. To all the above-mentioned names, a heartfelt "thank you!" The research included in this dissertation would not have been possible without the tutelage and financial support of Dr. Thilo Rehren and the staff of the UCL Institute of Archaeology (in particular, Simon Groom, Kevin Reeves, Sandra Bond, and Stuart Laidlaw). The hospitality and training I received from them and other colleagues in the Institute (including Dr. Pigott, Dr. Xander Veldhuijzen, Dr. Marcos Martinon-Torres, Dr. Lorna Anguilano, Dr. Roland Müller, and numerous other graduate students) is unforgettable, and I remain eternally grateful.
Ancient Iran and its Neighbours, 2013
Journal of Archaeological Science, 2009
In this paper, analyses of some unusual slag samples from the prehistoric site of Tepe Hissar in ... more In this paper, analyses of some unusual slag samples from the prehistoric site of Tepe Hissar in northeastern Iran are presented. These slags are the remains of a five-thousand-year-old pyrotechnological process that produced speiss, a quasi-metallic material usually formed as an accidental by-product of copper or lead smelting. We argue that the ''speiss slags'' from Tepe Hissar suggest the intentional production of iron-arsenic alloy (''speiss'') in prehistory. Why the Tepe Hissar metalworkers produced speiss is a question that requires further investigation, but our preliminary assessment suggests that it was to provide arsenic as an alloying component for arsenical copper, the preferred copper alloy during much of the Early Bronze Age in Iran, and widely used across the ancient world. This recognition significantly advances our understanding of the early stages of metallurgy in the Old World.
My Life is Like The Summer Rose: Maurizio Tosi e L’Archeologia Come Modo di Vita, 2014
has wisely pointed out that until photographs of these tablets or the tablets themselves can be p... more has wisely pointed out that until photographs of these tablets or the tablets themselves can be properly studied, we must treat these artifacts with some suspicion, particularly the one reported as having been inscribed with numerical signs and stamped with a seal (Tosi and Bulgarelli 1989: 39). Dahl notes that the signs on this particular 'tablet' have no known comparanda in Iran or elsewhere.
The Neolithisation of Iran, 2013
Oxford Handbook of Iranian Archaeology, 2013
Reviews in Anthropology, 2012
The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the c... more The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae, and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand, or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material.
Iranica Antiqua, 2010
The transition from the use of native copper to smelted copper-base alloys in Southwest Asia is n... more The transition from the use of native copper to smelted copper-base alloys in Southwest Asia is not well studied, yet is critical to our understanding of the development of metallurgy in this region and its relationship to the rise of complex societies. In this paper, recent analytical research on one of the earliest examples of smelted arsenical copper in the world-the Period VIA awl from Tepe Yahya in Southeastern Iran (ca. 4300 BCE)-is presented and compared to metal artifacts from earlier and later periods at the site. It is argued that this single awl represents the initial importation of metal to Yahya, even as local native copper continues to be exploited for the next few centuries (if not longer). In addition, this awl was probably worked locally, suggesting a new style of economic production emphasizing the import of raw materials followed by the consumption (or export) of locally-crafted goods. Finally, analysis has revealed that this Chalcolithic awl was probably used for the carving of steatite, which could have large implications for the rise of Yahya as a specialized soft-stone workshop by the Early Bronze Age.
Journal of World Prehistory, 2009
Models for the development of metallurgy in Southwest Asia have for a long time been focussed on ... more Models for the development of metallurgy in Southwest Asia have for a long time been focussed on research carried out in the lowland regions of the Levant and Mesopotamia. These models do not take into account the different developmental trajectories witnessed in the resource-rich highlands of Anatolia, the Caucasus, and Iran. In this paper, the beginnings of the use and production of metals in Iran will be juxtaposed with a cursory overview of the lowland model (the 'Levantine Paradigm') in order to highlight these differences. By synthesizing data from a number of current research projects exploring the early metallurgy of the Iranian Plateau, this paper demonstrates how at least one of the highland regions of Southwest Asia was at the very forefront of technological innovation from the seventh through the second millennium BC.
Metals and Societies. Studies in honour of Barbara S. Ottaway, 2009
Archaeometallurgy has long been a rather loosely-defined field of study with few central tenets o... more Archaeometallurgy has long been a rather loosely-defined field of study with few central tenets of a theoretical or scientific nature. Over the past few decades, calls for an integrated approach to ancient metallurgical practices have arisen, and certain ‘schools’ of archaeometallurgical
thought have coalesced in different parts of the world. Using Kuhn’s conception of “paradigms”, this paper seeks to highlight some of these ‘schools’ as a step towards formulating a new archaeometallurgical paradigm – one that combines scientific practice with theoretical understanding.
Metals and Mines: Studies in Archaeometallurgy, 2007
This paper presents a review of the numerous copper-zinc alloys (e.g. brass, gunmetal) that have ... more This paper presents a review of the numerous copper-zinc alloys (e.g. brass, gunmetal) that have been found in prehistoric contexts from the Aegean to India in the 3rd to the 1st millennium BC. Through a preliminary analysis of the available data, it is argued that there is a noticeable geographical and chronological correlation between early occurrences of copper-zinc alloys, tin-bronze, and rare examples of tin and tin-based metals. This association may have important implications not only for research into the great 'tin question' of Southwest Asia, but also for research into ancient technologies in general. It is here proposed that brass may have been confused with tin-bronze by local consumers ignorant of or ambivalent about the very different mechanical properties of these two alloys, and that the linguistic separation of these two metals in the 1st millennium BC may reflect larger changes in the sociocultural categorisation of materials.
The Interplay of Past and Present, 2004
Oxford Journal of Archaeology, 2004
The Tarim Basin ‘mummies’ of western China continue to fascinate
scholars and the general public ... more The Tarim Basin ‘mummies’ of western China continue to fascinate
scholars and the general public alike due to their ‘Caucasoid’ features, well preserved material culture, and putative ‘European’ origins. However, there
have been some uncritical efforts to link these archaeological cultures to those of other ancient Eurasian groups (e.g. the Celts) by applying syllogistic reasoning to multi-disciplinary evidence. In an attempt to provide a more cautious synthesis of the prehistory of the Tarim Basin, this paper will briefly summarize the archaeological, physical, and linguistic evidence that has been used to model human settlement of this region. These data will then be related to recent molecular anthropology research on modern populations of Central Asia, focusing especially on the Uighur in relation to their neighbours. While the genetic history of the modern peoples of a particular region is not necessarily related to their prehistoric antecedents, it is argued that the Tarim Basin experienced a surprising cultural and biological continuity despite immigration from both east and west into Xinjiang Province. This conclusion has a number of possible political ramifications in the present day that must be addressed in future literature on the subject.
Proceedings of the Symposium 'The Archaeological Heritage of Oman' (UNESCO, Paris - September 7th, 2012). , 2015
Journal of World Prehistory, 2009
The 'beginnings of metallurgy' has been a topic of considerable interest for over a century. Due ... more The 'beginnings of metallurgy' has been a topic of considerable interest for over a century. Due to the relatively good preservation of metal artifacts and the modern values attached to metals, metal artifact typologies often served as the very basis for prehistoric sequences during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. In many ways, it was V. Gordon Childe (1930, 1944) who placed metallurgical technology at the forefront, arguing as he did for the roles of 'itinerant metal smiths' and bronze production in the rise of social elites and complex societies (cf. Wailes 1996). Childe (1939) was also one of the first to systematically argue for the diffusion of metallurgy from the Near East to the rest of Eurasia. This diffusionist perspective was adopted by a number of prominent scholars of ancient metallurgy, notably Wertime (1964, 1973a, b), Smith (1977), Muhly (1988), and Chernykh (1992), who all felt that the technological knowledge necessary to transform ores into metal was too complex to have been invented twice. Criticism of the ex oriente lux paradigm came first from Europe, where Renfrew (1969, 1973, 1986) used radiocarbon dates to demonstrate that early European metallurgical sites were in fact older than similar sites in the Near East. Not surprisingly, other objections to the diffusionist perspective were raised by scholars working in areas far removed from the Middle East, including in China (e.g., Barnard 1961, 1993), in Africa (e.g., Trigger 1969), and most especially in the New World (e.g., Lechtman 1979, 1980). However, even important cross-regional volumes on early metallurgy (e.g., Wertime and Muhly 1980; Maddin 1988; Hauptmann et al. 1999), which have demonstrated most effectively that metallurgy did not follow a single developmental trajectory in every society, have done little to quell the predominance of diffusionist models and other Childean theories of elite dominance, core-periphery dynamics, and specialized craftspeople. With this in mind, invitations were sent to fifteen scholars of early metallurgy who had previously demonstrated an ability to combine archaeometrical analysis, archaeological
Journal of Archaeological Science, 2009
From the Early Chalcolithic to the Late Iron Age, melting and smelting crucibles were usually mad... more From the Early Chalcolithic to the Late Iron Age, melting and smelting crucibles were usually made from non-refractory ceramic fabrics, which required heating of the charge from within the crucible to avoid collapsing the ceramic itself. In this paper, an unusual melting crucible from Northeast Iran, radiocarbondated to the Late Chalcolithic (ca. 3600 BCE), will be presented that significantly changes our understanding of the development of technical ceramics in Southwest Asia. This crucible, made of a highly refractory talc-based ceramic held together by an outer layer of traditional non-refractory ceramic, is to our knowledge unprecedented at such an early date. As will be argued, this ancient crucible was heated from the exterior or from below and not from the interior. This method of firing, combined with the highly-specialized construction technique, makes this crucible so far unique in prehistoric metallurgy, and forces us to reexamine traditional models for the development of technical ceramics and metallurgical practices in the Old World.
Iran, 2007
In December of 2006, a small workshop was held at the UCL Institute of Archaeology to bring toget... more In December of 2006, a small workshop was held at the UCL Institute of Archaeology to bring together established and emerging scholars currently working on ancient Iranian metallurgy, most especially those focused on the production debris (i.e., slag, furnace lining, etc.). This paper presents a summary of that meeting in order to introduce these scholars to the wider archaeological audience, and to provide a basic idea of the sorts of questions being asked of, and the answers being received from, current scientific studies of these materials.
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Papers by Christopher P Thornton
thought have coalesced in different parts of the world. Using Kuhn’s conception of “paradigms”, this paper seeks to highlight some of these ‘schools’ as a step towards formulating a new archaeometallurgical paradigm – one that combines scientific practice with theoretical understanding.
scholars and the general public alike due to their ‘Caucasoid’ features, well preserved material culture, and putative ‘European’ origins. However, there
have been some uncritical efforts to link these archaeological cultures to those of other ancient Eurasian groups (e.g. the Celts) by applying syllogistic reasoning to multi-disciplinary evidence. In an attempt to provide a more cautious synthesis of the prehistory of the Tarim Basin, this paper will briefly summarize the archaeological, physical, and linguistic evidence that has been used to model human settlement of this region. These data will then be related to recent molecular anthropology research on modern populations of Central Asia, focusing especially on the Uighur in relation to their neighbours. While the genetic history of the modern peoples of a particular region is not necessarily related to their prehistoric antecedents, it is argued that the Tarim Basin experienced a surprising cultural and biological continuity despite immigration from both east and west into Xinjiang Province. This conclusion has a number of possible political ramifications in the present day that must be addressed in future literature on the subject.