Trade and Discovery OP 109

With 1992 marking the 500th anniversary of the most famous of the "voyages of discovery", archaelogists and scientists came together to discuss current scientific projects and approaches at a formal conference at the British Museum entitled, "Trade and Discovery: the scientific study of artefacts from post-medieval Europe and beyond." The 24 refereed papers in this volume reflect the diversity and vitality of the current state of post-medieval archaeology and the scientific discovery of its artefactual remains.

The timing of the conference led to the trade with the Americas receiving much attention.

Some papers with this theme have been collected under the heading "contact studies", although several other papers concerning the Americas which are more artefactually based have been grouped together with the appropriate material.

Ceramics have proved to be the most sensitive and reliable indicators of trading movements during the post-medieval period.

Questions of attribution and provenance are central to historical and archaelogical examination of ceramics, and therefore provenance studies feature strongly here. Studies on glass reflect both the interest in relating the material to source as well as in the technology of glass production.

For metals, the discovery and exploitation of New World mineral resources are represented by studies on their extraction and the impact of the transfer of American precious metals to Europe.

The studies on copper-based metal are wide-ranging, covering their development, use and trade within Europe, the Mediterranean lands and the Americas, the export of European metal to Africa and the East, and the import of "exotic" oriental alloys.

Ferrous metals and lead-based alloys are represented by studies on armour and lead cloth seals respectively.