The transversal social impact of gold metallurgy in ancient societies: a diachronic approach from Prehistoric Iberia.

GOLDENIMPACT aims to understand the social impact of gold technology implementation in all sectors of society and surpass outdated traditional narratives that solely understand gold as a consolidator of elite power.

Hence, the project targets the study of gold production by 1) characterising existent technological traditions, 2) understanding the social consequences of metal cross-craft interactions affecting gold production, and 3) evaluating the extent and degree of novelty of the structural changes necessary to sustain gold production.

Iberia was selected as case study (3100-1500 BC) for being an archaeologically rich area with an autochthonous development of metallurgy, and outside of the traditional research loci of ancient gold technology in Eurasia.To accomplish these objectives, this project uses a radically interdisciplinary methodology that combines knowledge from archaeology, anthropology and geology, with computational tools (R, QGIS) and materials science techniques (optical microscopy, pXRF, ICP-MS) to analyse selected gold items and deposits.

As a result, it will be possible to reverse engineering and socially contextualise ancient gold production strategies and explore the links between technological and social change from a previously overlooked perspective (i.e. gold production).

This will contribute to re-signify gold as a symbol of the achievements of non-elite people, and ultimately generate a more balanced narrative within the European history of technology, taking into account all society sectors and Europe’s Eastern periphery.