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The publication of the first edition of this book in 1996 was welcomed throughout the archaeological world since it presented, for the first time, a judicious and balanced account of the achievements of archaeological chemistry—the science carefully explained and the potential of the various methods made clear through well-chosen examples. It served as a stimulus to archaeologists to ask more searching questions of the physical evidence which they unearth and as a challenge to scientists to design increasingly sophisticated analyses with which to interrogate the past. Perhaps, more importantly, it encouraged a new understanding and a dialogue between archaeologists and chemists leading to the emergence of the coherent sub-discipline of archaeo-chemistry.

The original edition focused on the analysis of inorganic materials—obsidian, clays, glass and metals but there were chapters on bio-molecules such as resins and on the study of amino acids in relation to the spread of humans to America. Over the last two decades or so research in archaeo-chemistry has developed apace calling for a second edition in 2007 and now this third edition ten years on. All archaeologists will be eternally grateful that the authors have been prepared to undertake the task of revision, introducing us to often-startling new advances in a measured and sober way. In a world in which the flashy headline, helpful to increased research funding, often announces new discoveries, the cautious approach, outlining strengths and weaknesses of the method and the results, is all the more welcome.

So what has changed over the two decades since the first volume appeared? One area of advance has been in the development of a range of methods to allow analyses to be undertaken in greater numbers, more cheaply and with little or no physical effect on the object studied. A larger sample size greatly strengthens the validity of the interpretations that can be made. Generalizing from a small database has, too often, led to over-simplified or even misleading conclusions. A large database may impose its own tyrannies on those faced with making sense of it but embedded within lie the subtleties of complex human behaviour which can at least now begin to be glimpsed.

A second area of advance made possible by archaeological chemistry is in offering ways to address questions of human mobility—an issue of the utmost importance in prehistory and history. Until comparatively recently the only way it could be approached was through surrogates—the artefacts which societies transported. Here characterization through chemical analysis has proved to be a vital tool. Obsidian, shown to have originated on the island of Melos, found on the Greek mainland implies a degree of human mobility involving a sea journey of several days, while jadeite axes made in the western Alps and distributed throughout western Europe, as far north as Scotland, reflect complex patterns of gift exchange. Both examples imply connectivity involving some movements of people but offer no way to estimate the numbers on the move or the distances any individual may have travelled. From the 1960s, there was much debate about how to interpret this kind of data, the majority of prehistorians favouring models requiring only limited mobility. But there was little hard evidence to test these hypotheses.

The breakthrough came with the study of isotopes in human bone (presented in a new chapter added in the 2007 edition). Not only was it now possible to explore questions of nutrition and status, but assessments could be made of the minimum distance an individual had travelled between childhood and death. By testing large samples of a population an objective way of quantifying mobility is at last becoming available though it needs to be used with extreme care until the constraints of the methodology are fully understood.

In the last few years there has been much excitement about the use of ancient DNA (palaeogenomics) to trace human mobility. Recent advances in analytical techniques have made what was, a few years ago, a promising possibility into a very powerful new tool. The study is in its exuberant adolescence, with great claims being made based on comparatively small samples. It is for this reason that the authors have, wisely, decided to leave it out of the present volume. But with further refinements, much larger sample sizes and proper collaboration between geneticists and archaeologists there can be little doubt that our understanding of the past will be revolutionized and the restlessness of humans will come into sharp focus.

Archaeological Chemistry in its third edition is a reassuring and exciting book to read. Reassuring because it is written with authority by authors who are both scientists and archaeologists and who understand, through their personal research, the nuances of their subject and how to communicate them. And exciting because it introduces a very fast-developing subject area which will continue to surprise us with the insights it has to offer on human culture and the driving dynamic of mobility.

Barry Cunliffe

Oxford

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