Fitch Bursary Holder

Vana Orfanou

University College Dublin

Research

I study past metallurgical technologies with analytical techniques with a view to better understand the inner workings of past societies. My archaeometallurgical enquiry covers the organisation of production, technological choices and the management of resources, as well as socio-cultural mechanisms of transformation and adaptation. My previous research has covered various periods from late prehistory to the early medieval times in northern and southeastern Europe, the eastern Mediterranean and western Asia in collaboration with academic and museum institutions in the UK, Greece, France, Denmark, and Ireland. From January 2023, I will be joining the Ludwig Maximilian University Munich (LMU) as a Marie Curie (MSCA) Postdoctoral Fellow to conduct my project Changing World, a comparative investigation of non-ferrous metallurgy in Mycenean / Late Helladic and Post-Mycenaean / Protogeometric mainland Greece.

 

Project

During my research stay at the Fitch, I revisited the Early Iron Age (EIA) copper-based material from the temple of Thavlios Zeus and Enodia in ancient Pherae (modern Velestino) in Thessaly, near Volos. Going back to my old PhD materials, allowed me to review a significant body of research and enhance my archaeometallurgical approach in preparation for the comprehensive publication of the assemblage. At the Fitch, I had the opportunity to examine the cross-sections of the metal objects after chemical etching, which reveals the details of microstructures. Information generated during metallographic observation helped to better understand how these objects were made and will be combined with bulk composition data for an integrated socio-cultural interpretation of EIA Greek copper-based technology.

 

Selected Publications
  • Orfanou, V., Amicone, S., Sava, V., O’Neill, B., Brown, L., Bruyère, C., Molloy, B. (2022). Forging a New World Order? Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Management of Metalworking and Ideological Change in the Late Bronze Age Carpathian Basin. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory. DOI: 10.1007/s10816-022-09566-6
  • Orfanou, V., Birch, T., Sindbæk, S.M., Feveile, C., Barfod, G.H., and Lesher, C.E. (2021). On diverse arts: crucible metallurgy and the polymetallic cycle at Scandinavia’s earliest Viking town, Ribe (8th-9th c. CE), Denmark. Journal of Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 13, 81. DOI: 10.1007/s12520-021-01308-1
  • Orfanou, V., Birch, T., Lichtenberger, A., Raja, R., Barfod, G.H., Lesher, C.E., and Eger, C. (2020). Copper-based metalwork in Roman to early Islamic Jerash (Jordan): Insights into production and recycling through alloy compositions and lead isotopes. Journal of Archaeological Science Reports 33, 102519. DOI: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2020.102519
  • Orfanou, V., Collinet, A., El Morr, Z., and Bourgarit, D. (2018). Archaeometallurgical investigation of metal wares from the medieval Iranian world (10th-15th c): the ISLAMETAL project. Journal or Archaeological Science 95, 16-32. DOI: 10.1016/j.jas.2018.04.008
  • Orfanou, V. (2015). Early Iron Age Greece, ancient Pherae and the archaeometallurgy of copper. In: Z. Theodoropoulou Polychroniadis and D. Evely, eds. AEGIS. Essays in Mediterranean Archaeology presented to Matti Egon by the scholars of the Greek Archaeological Committee UK. Oxford: Archaeopress, 107–116.
  • Orfanou, V. and Rehren, T. (2015). A (not so) dangerous method: pXRF vs. EPMA-WDS analyses of copper-based artefacts. Journal of Archaeological and Anthropological Science, 7, 387–397. DOI: 10.1007/s12520-014-0198-z