Raman Investigations to Identify Corallium rubrum in Iron Age Jewelry and Ornaments

International audience; During the Central European Iron Age, more specifically between 600 and 100 BC, red precious corals (Corallium rubrum) became very popular in many regions, often associated with the so-called (early) Celts. Red corals are ideally suited to investigate several key questions of Iron Age research, like trade patterns or social and economic structures. While it is fairly easy to distinguish modern C. rubrum from bone, ivory or shells, archaeologists are confronted with ancient, hence altered, artifacts. Due to ageing processes, archaeological corals lose their intensive red color and shiny surface and can easily be confused with these other light colored materials. We pr…

Le projet franco-allemand "CELTIC GOLD. Fine metal work in the Western La Tène culture" : présentation et premiers résultats

International audience

Neues zu kleinen frühlatènezeitlichen Goldringen aus Hessen

International audience

Production et circulation de l’or au Second âge du Fer en Europe occidentale et centrale : une synthèse des résultats du programme Celtic Gold

Production et circulation de l’or à l'âge du Fer en Europe occidentale et centrale. Premier aperçu des résultats du programme Celtic Gold

Through the successive Franco-German projects “West Hallstatt Gold” and “Celtic Gold”, it has been possible to study the production of precious metals during the Iron Age on the scale of Western and Central Europe. The inventory of these artefacts and their archaeological context is now almost complete, and a substantial part of them has been visually studied and analysed. Thanks to renewed technological and archaeometric approaches, we propose here a panorama of the major economic, technological and stylistic trends, making it possible to identify continuities and breaks in supply networks, goldsmithing techniques, uses and burial contexts of gold.Three main types of gold stocks have been …