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 | Dr J Peter Northover Senior Research Fellow |
[ Quicklinks: Research Summary Current Research Projects Recent Publications ]
Summary of Research Interests
Non-ferrous and precious metallurgy and metalwork in ancient and historical contexts and their experimental reproduction; engineering metallurgy of the industrial revolution; coinage technology; long-term stability of the microstructure; interaction of buried metal with the environment.
Current Research Projects
Bronze Age Copper Ingots
Dr. J.P. Northover
Analysis of Bronze Age copper ingots from Cornwall in conjunction with the Royal Cornwall Museum is leading to new understandings of the place ingots played in the circulation of metal and the distances over which copper was transported.
The Bronze Age metallurgy of Norway
Dr. J.P. Northover, Dr. A.-L. Melheim*
A pilot project for the first-ever full survey of the metalwork and metallurgy of the Bronze Age in Norway. (*University of Oslo)
Engineering metallurgy of the 18th and 19th centuries
Dr. J.P. Northover
The engineering of the industrial revolution was constrained by the lack of bulk high strength structural materials, e.g. steel, and by the quality of the available basic materials, notably copper and wrought iron. Continuing research is using surviving material to determine the composition, structure and mechanical properties of copper and wrought iron and their alloys. Associated with this is a study of contemporary documents to show how material properties were understood, measured and described.
Medieval Islamic mint technology
Dr. J.P. Northover, L. Treadwell*
In the 10th-12th centuries CE the silver coinage of the Islamic Middle East and Central Asia shows a remarkable variety of combinations of alloy type and mint technology. This project, through detailed microstructural and compositional analysis will begin to characterise this variety and develop “family trees” for their evolution. (*Ashmolean Museum).
Metalwork of the Bronze Age-Iron Age transition in Britain
D. Bruns*, Dr. J.P. Northover
Combining archaeological and metallurgical methods to understand the metalwork and metalworking in Britain at the time of the first introduction of iron in the 9th-7th centuries BC. This is the first ever systematic survey of the metalwork of this period and is leading to a new understanding of the chronology of the period and the quantity and range of the metalwork. (*Institute of Archaeology, Oxford University)
The study of thick corrosion layers on archaeological metals using controlled laser ablation in conjunction with an external beam microprobe
M.H. Abraham, Dr. G.W. Grime*, Dr. J.P. Northover
The variation with depth of the composition of corrosion layers on buried metal objects can provide the archaeologist with valuable information relating to the burial conditions of the object. In some cases these layers can be very thick (exceeding 1mm) so normally destructive methods such as sectioning are used to characterise the layers. The technique developed here uses a micro-focussed high power pulsed Nd-YAG laser to ablate the corrosion layer in a series of controlled steps, while monitoring the composition of the exposed surface using PIXE and RBS in the external beam facility of the scanning proton microprobe.. Thus important information about the composition, condition and history of an object can be recovered with minimal physical intervention. (*University of Surrey)
Application of the scanning proton microprobe to the analysis of ancient bronze
M.H. Abraham, Dr. G.W. Grime*, Dr. J.P. Northover
The requirements of museum collections have stimulated this project in non-destructive and minimally destructive analysis of ancient bronze. The project uses a laser to mill sub-millimetre diameter windows in the patina of selected bronzes and then use the scanning proton microprobe to analyse the metal as it is exposed, with the X-ray and RBS mapping facilities employed to make basic metallographic observations. The project is optimising the operation of the instrument in this mode and assesses the quality of the data in relation to sample-based analysis and microscopy. (*University of Surrey)
Early metallurgy in the Upper Euphrates Basin
Dr. J.P. Northover, Dr. K. Prag*
Microanalysis and metallography have been used to characterise the metalwork from a number of major excavations in the upper Euphrates basin. The sites straddle political and economic boundaries of the 3rd millennium BC during the period when bronze became the main utilitarian metal. The results have given us a new understanding of the way in which bronze became part of the metal economy and have also directed our attention to the importance of recycling in these early cities. (*University of Manchester).
Non-ferrous metallurgy in the European Iron Age
Dr. J.P. Northover, P. Nagy*, P. Ramsl**
The study of bronze objects from Iron Age cemeteries, settlements and hoards in Austria, Denmark and Switzerland is showing how copper-based metallurgy changed when bronze ceased to be the main utilitarian metal. Attention is presently focussed on cemeteries to look for associations between gender, status and ethnicity of individuals and the technical quality and origins of the objects buried with them. (*Kantonsarchäologie Zürich; **Naturhistorisches Museum, Wien)
9 public active projects
Research Publications
2003 G. Marshall and J.P. Northover: The excavation and metallographic analysis of a Bronze Age sword recovered from Ivinghoe Beacon, Record of Buckinghamshire, 43. 27-37
2003 J.P. Northover and B. Gilmour: The metallurgy of artillery in Archaeometallurgy in Europe, unedited proceedings of a conference in Milano, 2003, (Milano: Associazione Italiana di Metallurgia), 253-262
2003 I. Bauer and J.P. Northover: Bronzeschmiede und Bronzeguss auf Zugersee, (Kantonales Museum für Urgeschichte)
2003 J.P. Northover: White metal analysis, in J. McKinley: The early Saxon cemetery at Park Lane, Croydon, Surrey Archaeological Collections, 90, 1-116
2003 J. Mayer and J.P. Northover: A newly acquired Islamic lion door knocker in the David Collection, Jornal of the David Collection, 1, 49-72
2003 J.P. Northover: The bronze dagger from the log coffin: the metal of the dagger, in M. Cressey and A. Sheridan, The excavation of a Bronze Age cemetery at Seafield West, near Inverness, Highland, Proc. Sic. Antiq. Scotland, 133, 58-62
2003 J.P. Northover: The dagger: metallurgical analysis, in I. Baker, An Early Bronze Age ‘dagger grave’ from Rameldry Farm, near Kingskettle, Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scotland, 133, 98-99
2004 J.P. Northover: Analyse der Metallfunde aus Zug-Sumpf, (tr. S. Hämmerle), in I. Bauer, B. Rückstuhl and J. Speck, Der Funde der Grabungen 1923-37: Zug Sumpf, (Zug: Kantonales Museum für Urgeschichte Zug), Bd 3/1, 102-143 and Bd 3/2 A1-A29
2004 D.G. Coombs†, J.P. Northover and J. Maskall: Tower Hill axe hoard, in D. Miles, S. Palmer, G. Lock, C. Gosden and A.M. Crummy, Uffington White Horse and its landscape: investigations at White Horse Hill, Uffington 1989-95 and Tower Hill, Ashbury. 1993-94, (Oxford: Oxford Archaeology, Thames Valley Landscapes Monograph 18), 203-224
2004 J.P. Northover: Metallurgical analysis of the Tower Hill hoard, Appendix 5 in D. Miles, S. Palmer, G. Lock, C. Gosden and A.M. Crummy, Uffington White Horse and its landscape: investigations at White Horse Hill, Uffington 1989-95 and Tower Hill, Ashbury. 1993-94, (Oxford: Oxford Archaeology, Thames Valley Landscapes Monograph 18), 287-298
2004 S. Shalev and J.P. Northover: The bronze hinge of the city-gate door, in D. Ussishkin, The renewed archaeolgical excavations at Lachish (1973-94), (Tel Aviv: Emery and Claire Yass Publications in Archaeology, Tel Aviv University, Sonia and Marco nadler Institute of Archaeology Monograph Series, 22), 2089-99
2004 J.P. Northover: Ross Island and the physical metallurgy of the earliest Irish copper, in W. O’Brien, Ross Island: mining, metal and society in early Ireland, (Galway: Department of Archaeology, National University of Ireland, Galway, Bronze Age Studies, 6), 525-538
2004 W. O’Brien, J.P. Northover and S. Stos: Lead isotopes and metal circulation, in W. O’Brien, Ross Island: mining, metal and society in early Ireland, (Galway: Department of Archaeology, National University of Ireland, Galway, Bronze Age Studies, 6), 538-551
2004 R.D. van Arsdell and J.P. Northover: Ancient British Coins, in R. Havis and Howard Brooks, Excavations at Stansted Airport, 1986-91, Vol. I, Prehistoric and Romano-British, (Chelmsford: Heritage Conservation, Essex County Council, East Anglian Archaeology Report 107), 115-120
2004 J.P. Northover: Analyses of copper alloy metalwork from ACS, in R. Havis and Howard Brooks, Excavations at Stansted Airport, 1986-91, Vol. I, Prehistoric and Romano-British, (Chelmsford: Heritage Conservation, Essex County Council, East Anglian Archaeology Report 107), 128-130
2004 J.P. Northover: Analysis of metalwork from DCS, in R. Havis and Howard Brooks, Excavations at Stansted Airport, 1986-91, Vol. I, Prehistoric and Romano-British, (Chelmsford: Heritage Conservation, Essex County Council, East Anglian Archaeology Report 107), 234-238
2004 J.P. Northover: Analysis and metallography of bronze hand, in M. Polak, J. van Doesburg and P.A.M.M. van Kempen, Op zoek naar het the castellum Matilo en het St Margarethakloster te Leiden-Roomburg: Het archaeologisch onderzoek in 1999-200, (Amersfoort: ROB, Rapportage Archaeologische Monumentumzorg 109), 107-111
2005 J.P. Northover: Analysis of Bronze Age metalwork from Vufflens-la-Ville VD, Annex I of F. Mariéthoz, Enquête autor d’un tumulus de l’Âge du Bronze, (Lausanne: Cahiers d’Archéologie Romande, 100), 145-48
2005: J.P. Northover: The Early Bronze Age metalwork, in G. Lambrick and T. Guy, Stanton Harcourt, Oxfordshire: the development of a prehistoric and Romano-British community, (Oxford: Oxford Archaeology: Thames Valley Landscapes Monograph, 21), 88-90
2005: J.P. Northover: Composition of non-ferrous metalwork of Iron Age and Roman date, in G. Lambrick and T. Guy, Stanton Harcourt, Oxfordshire: the development of a prehistoric and Romano-British community, (Oxford: Oxford Archaeology: Thames Valley Landscapes Monograph, 21),346-354
2005: J.P. Northover: Metallurgical debris, in G. Lambrick and T. Guy, Stanton Harcourt, Oxfordshire: the development of a prehistoric and Romano-British community, (Oxford: Oxford Archaeology: Thames Valley Landscapes Monograph, 21),354-57
2006: J.P. Northover: Copper alloy metalwork, in A.M. Cromarty, A. Barclay, G. Lambrick, and M. Robinson, Late Bronze Age ritual and habitation on a Thames Eyot at Whitecross Farm, Wallingford: The archaeology of the Wallingfrod Bypass, 1986-92, (Oxford: Oxford Archaeology Thames Valley landscapes Monograph 22), 47-57
2006: J.P. Northover: Bronze metal waste, in D.D.A Simpson, E.M. Murphy and R.A> Gregory, Excavations at Northton, Isle of Harris, (Oxford: British Archaeological Reports, British Series, 408), 139-140
2006: J.P. Northover: Analysis and metallography of a near east gold amalgam bowl, in H. Born and E. Völling, eds., Gold in Alten Orient, Technik – Naturwissenschaft – Altorientalistik, (Würzburg: Nachrichten aus dem Martin von Wagner Universität – Reihe A, Band 6), 77-84
D.Phil. Projects Available
Contact Dr. Northover directly.
