Ancient slags and steel needles: metallurgy and colonial archaeology in the nineteenth century

As European archaeologists excavated ancient sites in the nineteenth century, they uncovered histories of metallurgical practice. This paper examines the relationship between the development of the metallurgical and archaeological sciences in the nineteenth century. John Percy, known as 'the father of English metallurgy' worked closely with archaeologists to chemically analyse the properties of ancient metals. In some cases, this led to the reopening of ancient mines to exploit them with newer,