Abstract

Models for iron innovation in Eurasia are predicated on understanding the relationship between the bronze and iron industries. In eastern Anatolia, South Caucasus, and Iran, the absence of scientific analyses of metallurgical debris has obscured the relative chronology, spatial organization, and economic context of early iron and contemporary copper-alloy industries.Excavation and surface survey at Mtsvane Gora, a fortified hilltop site close to major polymetallic ore sources in the Lesser Caucasus range, recovered metallurgical debris dating to the 8th-6th centuries BC. Optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and energy and wavelength dispersive spectrometry revealed evidence for both iron and copper-alloy metallurgy, including smithing and alloying. Metal particles trapped within clear iron smithing slags were contaminated with copper, arsenic, and tin, suggesting that iron and copper-alloy working took place in the same hearths. The discovery of a small fragment of unprocessed material consisting of pyrite and jarosite, minerals typical of major nearby polymetallic ore deposits, links the secondary smithing and alloying at Mtsvane Gora with nearby mining activities, though the nature of those connections remains unclear. While the earliest iron in the region probably predates the Mtsvane Gora assemblage, the remains date to a period when iron use was still expanding, and they are at present the earliest analytically confirmed, radiocarbon-dated iron metallurgical debris in the Caucasus. The remains are therefore significant for understanding the spread of iron innovation eastward from Anatolia and the Levant. When considered in light of evidence from other Near Eastern sites, the results support a model for innovation in which early iron manufacturing was at least partially integrated with the copper-alloy metallurgical economy.

This year's newsletter necessarily starts with very sad news, news that shocked all of us at the BIAA: in February 2022, we lost Gina Coulthard, the BIAA's long-serving editor of annual publications. While many will remember Gina in this role, her relationship with the BIAA goes back much further. When I took up the position of BIAA director in 2006, it was Gina who 'showed me the ropes' as manager of the London Office. She was already producing the BIAA publications on top of her fulltime job in the office, because the publications were always what she liked best. She loved reading about new discoveries, theories and results of fieldwork. At heart, she always remained an archaeologist, dedicated to Türkiye.As manager of the BIAA London office, managing was exactly what Gina did -not only the office, but also the council and the committees, all in the gentlest but firmest of ways. I remember looking forward to our regular Friday afternoon calls, when we caught up on the BIAA, gossip and life in general. In between meetings in London, we had many good times when Tamar Hodos, then BIAA Honorary Secretary, Gina and I went back to her office in the basement of the British Academy to prepare for the next session or to work on BIAA-related matters. One of Gina's colleagues asked her afterwards, 'Why aren't my lot more like yours? You seem to be having fun and you work so well together. Mine never laugh!'After Gina moved to Australia, our exchanges were less frequent. But whenever we did talk, it was as if no time had lapsed. Gina somehow always made my day better and brighter. She had that effect on everyone around her, a gift that precious few people possess. We all miss her.I would like to follow this deeply sad news with a professional success story. Işılay Gürsu became the BIAA's Assistant Director for Cultural Heritage Management in April 2022. Işılay has worked at the BIAA since January 2013 and has been instrumental in the Institute's heritage management-related projects. The outcome of one of these projects, the Pisidia Heritage Trail guidebook, has just been published and is now available as hardcover and e-book via the BIAA website, in both English and Turkish. If you like hiking, I highly recommend checking it out! Işılay was also successful in her application for a British Academy Mid-Career fellowship, a very prestigious and highly competitive award and a great achievement. She will take up the year-long fellowship in January 2023.In other good news, Daniel-Joseph MacArthur-Seal, Assistant Director for Ottoman and Contemporary Turkey, extended his contract with the BIAA for another year, until September 2023. In 2022, he organised and co-hosted two international conferences. One of them, focusing on Occupied Istanbul, was originally scheduled for 2020 but postponed because of the pandemic. It eventually took place as a hybrid event and was a big success. In addition to his own work, Daniel also continues as the BIAA representative on the Istanbul Feriköy Project, which involves several international instit...

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