Spring 2019 Speaker Series: Patrick Degryse from the Catholic University of Leuven on April 10th | "The Origins of Antimony as a Raw Material in Metal and Vitreous Materials Making: Yellow Glass and Gold from the Bronze Age to the Romans"
The Center's Science for Art Spring 2019 Speaker Series welcomes Dr. Patrick Degryse on Friday, April 10th for his talk, "The Origins of Antimony as a Raw Material in Metal and Vitreous Materials Making: Yellow Glass and Gold from the Bronze Age to the Romans." Join us for a lecture and discussion on how the origins of man-made materials, and determining the provenance of the minerals used in making them, are crucial to the study of ancient societies. This talk will cover the primary origin of the Sb raw materials used in several technological processes such as glass making and metal alloying.
Dr. Degryse is the director of the Centre for Archaeological Sciences and a professor in the department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium), and professor of Archaeometry in the faculty of Archaeology in Leiden University (the Netherlands).
T
alk Details:
Wednesday, April 10th, 12-1pm
Technological Institute – Tech L251
2145 Sheridan Road
Evanston, IL, 60208
Full Abstract:
The origin and spread of antimony as a raw material in metal and vitreous materials making: Yellow glass and gold from the Bronze Age to the Roman period
Patrick Degryse
The history and technology of ancient man-made materials has always been an essential part of archaeological research. Especially the origin of raw materials, their transformation into objects and their exchange/trade have been topics of investigation. As soon as analysis techniques from the geosciences were invented, they were introduced to archaeology. However, unpredictable human behavior necessitates a careful interpretation of geochemical data. Some techniques in archaeological science have been abandoned by the sheer difficulty in finding the right questions to answer… Nevertheless, the origins of man-made materials, and determining the provenance of the minerals used in making them, are crucial to the study of ancient societies. This paper discusses the primary origin of the Sb raw materials used in several technological processes such as glass making and metal alloying. Through a mineralogical and chemical/isotopic characterization of different Sb-rich ores from various regions [1-3], the origin of the mineral resources used for the glass craft is compared with the development of Cu and Sb metallurgy, in order to reveal the possible interrelation of these two industries.
About Dr. Degryse:
Patrick Degryse is professor at the department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and director of the Centre for Archaeological Sciences at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium), and professor of Archaeometry at the faculty of Archaeology in Leiden University (the Netherlands). His main research efforts focus on the history and use of mineral resources in ancient ceramic, glass, metal and building materials production, developing geochemical techniques for characterization and provenancing. Outside the lab he is active in several field projects in the eastern Mediterranean and the Caribbean. He teaches to archaeologists, earth scientists and engineers, and is author of over 200 scientific papers in international journals, conference proceedings and books. He is Visiting Fellow at All Souls College in Oxford, an A. von Humboldt Fellow and European Research Council Grantee.