The Newcastle-led Bronze Age Combat project presents its results from innovative combat experiments with replica Bronze Age swords, spears and shields. The original experimental methodologies used authentic replica weapons in extensive rigorous field experiments, and actualistic combat based on historical manuscripts. These allowed for replicate combat-related wear marks as found on original Bronze Age specimens. Bronze Age Combat provides a full account of the methodologies, replicas, experiments and results in unprecedented detail. By bringing together a range of experimental techniques, materials and expertise, this book is designed as a starting point and reference collection for further studies into Bronze Age combat research, metalwork wear analysis and experimental archaeology.

AUTHOR
Raphael Hermann is a research fellow at the Seminar für Ur- und Frühgeschichte in Göttingen, Germany, where he is part of the ERC consolidator project WEIGHTANDVALUE. His research interest are the European Bronze Age, prehistoric combat, experimental archaeology, weight metrology, statistical analysis and metalwork wear analysis of tools and weapons.

Rachel J. Crellin is Lecturer in Later Prehistory at the University of Leicester. Her research interests include the Neolithic and Bronze Age of Britain and Ireland and archaeological theory, especially new materialist, feminist and post-humanist approaches. She is a metalwork wear-analyst specializing in the study of Bronze Age tools and weapons.

Marion Uckelmann is a researcher in the European Bronze Age, specialising in weaponry, warfare, mobility, and metal working technologies. She undertook her PhD on shields at the Westfälische Wilhelms Universität Münster. She has also been an editor at Prähistorische Bronzefunde and a postdoctoral researcher at Exeter University. She is currently an honorary research fellow at the Department of Archaeology at Durham University, UK.

Quanyu Wang is a professor at the Institute of Cultural Heritage at Shangdong University, China. She was previously a senior scientist at the British Museum.

Andrea Dolfini is a Senior Lecturer in Later Prehistory at Newcastle University, specialising in early metallurgy and metalwork weare analysis.

REVIEW
‘This is a groundbreaking study in the field of Bronze Age bronze weapon replica experiments.’ Professor Kristian Kristiansen, University of Gothenburg

‘Everybody interested in Bronze Age weaponry will want to read this study.’ Dr Marianne Mödlinger, Università degli Studi di Genova