Biography
My academic background includes degrees in history, archaeology and archaeological science. Their combination is a recurrent thread in my work.
Much of my research has focused on the analysis of material culture and the reverse engineering of archaeological technologies, as a starting point to understand the evolution and movement of knowledge, people and things. Working with a large number of international research students and postdoctoral fellows has massively broadened my horizons.
I joined the Department of Archaeology in Cambridge in 2018, after over a decade at UCL.
Research
My research interests centre around material culture and technologies, the context of innovations, and knowledge transmission. I approach these subjects through a combination of analytical studies of archaeological materials, experiments, and historical sources. Much of my work has focused on archaeometallurgy in Europe, Africa, America and Asia, from prehistory to the recent past, and including scientific analyses of the manufacture and trade of gold, silver, copper, bronze, brass and iron, often studying production remains. I have additionally worked with ceramics, pigments, glass and amber, among other interesting materials. To different extents, my laboratory work has included optical microscopy, OM, SEM-EDS, EPMA, FTIR, XRD, (LA)-ICP-MS, (p)XRF, and Raman. I am also involved in collaborations that variously engage geometric morphometrics, multispectral imaging and statistics.
Topics
- Material culture and technology
- Knowledge transmission
- Inventions and innovations
- Archaeometallurgy
- Archaeology of alchemy and chemistry
- History and philosophy of science
I am presently involved in the following research projects:
- Reverse engineering collective action: complex technologies in stateless societies (REVERSEACTION): ERC Advanced Grant
- The Cambridge Heritage Science Initiative (CHERISH)
- Training the next generation of archaeological scientists: Interdisciplinary studies of pre-modern ceramics and plasters from the eastern Mediterranean (PlaCe)
- Imperial Logistics: The Making of the Terracotta Army; with many colleagues at the First Emperor’s Mausoleum Site Museum in Xi’an and UCL
- Massive production and deposition of leaded bronzes in the Atlantic Late Bronze Age – Early Iron Age transition (funded by the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness of Spain; PI: Lois Armada, CSIC)
- Metal and amber: models of raw material circulation in the Late Prehistory of the Iberian Peninsula (funded by the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness of Spain; PI: Mercedes Murillo-Barroso, University of Granada)
These are some of my past projects:
- Sociotechnical traditions in the production and consumption of gold in South America (with many collaborators, especially colleagues at the Gold Museum in Bogota)
- Archaeological science and globalisation: crucibles and metallurgical artefacts from Great Zimbabwe World Heritage site (Royal Society-Newton Mobility Grant, with Shadreck Chirikure and Paul Lane)
- Metallurgy in Bronze Age China: regional production and transcultural networks (British Academy / Royal Society International Newton Fellowship; Fellow: Kunlong Chen, USTB)
- The rise of iron technology in Pre-Roman Iberia (IBERIRON) (H2020-MSCA-IF-2016; Fellow: Marc Gener-Moret)
- Lordship and Landscape in East Anglia AD 400-800 (funded by the Levehulme Trust; PI: Chris Scull, UCL)
Key Publications
Key publications:
For a list of publications please see ORCID profile (https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2124-2837). You may be able to download some of these here and at https://cambridge.academia.edu/MarcosMartinonTorres.
Publication
Theses / dissertations
2024 (No publication date)
Doi: http://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.105360
2023 (No publication date)
Doi: http://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.102203
Book chapters
2024
Doi: 10.1016/b978-0-323-90799-6.00065-3
2023
Doi: 10.1002/9781119592112.ch46
Doi: 10.1002/9781119592112.ch46
Doi: 10.17863/CAM.99682
Doi: 10.17863/CAM.99684
2022
2021
Doi: http://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.82268
2020 (No publication date)
2020
2018
2017
Doi: http://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvh9vz54.13
2016
Doi: http://doi.org/10.4324/9781315430898-15
Doi: http://doi.org/10.4324/9781315433578-7
Doi: http://doi.org/10.4324/9781315433578-15
2015 (Published online)
Doi: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199567942.013.004
2015
2014 (Published online)
2014
Doi: 10.5339/uclq.2014.cas.ch6
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9017-3_6
2013
Doi: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195392302.013.0145
2012
Doi: 10.2307/j.ctvh1dqcg.20
2011
Doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-14678-7_10
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2000
Journal articles
2023
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-023-01767-8
Doi: 10.1007/s12520-023-01811-7
Doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-41293-0
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2023.105792
Doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-41293-0
Doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0289378
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0289378
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0289728
2022 (Accepted for publication)
2022
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-022-01653-9
Doi: 10.1080/00766097.2022.2129684
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2022.103683
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1080/00026980.2021.2012314
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-022-01549-8
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-022-01655-7
2021
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0255818
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0250230
Doi: http://doi.org/10.3764/aja.125.3.0333
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1017/S0959774321000123
Doi: http://doi.org/10.22199/issn.0718-1043-2021-0008
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2020.105224
2020
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.ara.2019.100155
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-61659-y
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-020-01081-7
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2020.102626
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2020.102684
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.culher.2020.05.005
Doi: http://doi.org/10.3989/tp.2020.12248
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1039/c9ja00268e
2019 (Accepted for publication)
Doi: http://doi.org/10.2307/26862842
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-019-00921-5
2019
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-018-0669-8
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-019-00945-x
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2018.11.002
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2018.11.010
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.01.027
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1007/s10963-018-09128-3
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2019.01.004
Doi: 10.1080/00794236.2018.1515384
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-40613-7
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.ara.2019.02.004
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2019.05.094
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1007/s41513-019-00111-1
2018 (Accepted for publication)
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1007/s10814-018-9123-9
2018
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-018-0679-6
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0202235
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.ara.2018.10.001
Doi: 10.17863/CAM.12524
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1186/s40494-018-0239-5
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2017.12.001
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2018.02.005
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1002/ange.201712523
Doi: http://doi.org/10.21630/maa.2018.69.14
Doi: http://doi.org/10.5334/ai.354
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201712523
2017
Doi: http://doi.org/10.5334/ai-354
Doi: http://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2017.97
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-016-0451-8
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2017.07.005
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1111/arcm.12299
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2017.03.002
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2016.12.009
2016 (Published online)
Doi: 10.5334/ai.1908
2016
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2016.04.002
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2015.09.023
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2016.08.011
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1080/0067270X.2016.1173309
2015 (Accepted for publication)
2015
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1080/00026980.2015.1129853
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2014.11.029
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2015.06.013
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2015.03.001
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2014.12.023
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2015.08.014
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2015.03.013
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2015.10.023
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1017/S0959774314001164
2014
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2014.05.014
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2014.01.009
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00050262
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-012-9158-z
2013 (Published online)
Doi: 10.4081/arc.2013.e24
2013
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2013.06.002
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-012-0115-2
2012 (Published online)
Doi: 10.5334/ai.1508
2012
Doi: 10.5334/4f60dd6baa298
Doi: 10.1007/s11016-011-9577-6
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2012.02.037
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1179/174582312X13296104891436
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2012.03.006
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2011.10.021
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00047918
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1179/1461957112Y.0000000009
2011 (Published online)
Doi: 10.5334/ai.1316
2011
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1179/174582311X13129418299063
Doi: http://doi.org/10.3989/tp.2011.11066
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2010.09.012
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4754.2010.00527.x
2010
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2010.01.036
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1086/jar.66.4.20798877
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.molstruc.2010.03.042
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-010-0043-y
2009
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2009.06.023
Doi: http://doi.org/10.3213/1612-1651-10119
Doi: 10.4000/archeosciences.2449
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1080/00671990902811330
Doi: 10.1016/j.jas.2008.09.020
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1080/00672700903112896
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2009.03.032
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4754.2007.00380.x
2008
Doi: 10.4000/archeosciences.948
Doi: http://doi.org/10.3989/tp.2008.v65.i2
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1551-2916.2008.02383.x
2007
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2006.04.013
2006 (Published online)
Doi: 10.5334/ai.1008
2006
Doi: http://doi.org/10.1038/444437a
2005
2004 (Published online)
Doi: 10.5334/pia.218
2004
Doi: 10.3989/ceg.2004.v51.i117.118
2003 (Published online)
2003
2002 (Published online)
Doi: 10.5334/223
Doi: 10.5334/pia.171
2002
Doi: 10.1179/146551802793156854
Doi: 10.1179/pua.2002.2.4.219
2001
Doi: 10.3989/tp.2001.v58.i1.235
2000
Books
2023
2016
Doi: http://doi.org/10.4324/9781315433578
2015
2014
Doi: 10.5339/uclq.2014.cas
2013
2004
2001
Datasets
2019 (No publication date)
Teaching and Supervisions
Research supervision:
I currently supervise research students and postdoctoral fellows on a range of topics related to the above interests, enrolled at the University of Cambridge Cambridge. I am interested in supervising students who wish to study for an MPhil or a PhD on related subjects, and happy to discuss new departures.
Current postdoctoral research fellows
- Catherine (Kate) Klesner (funded by REVERSEACTION project)
- Agnese Benzonelli (funded by REVERSEACTION project)
- Anne Kwaspen (funded by REVERSEACTION project)
- Jasmine Vieri (funded by REVERSEACTION project)
- Qin-Qin Lu (University of Science and Technology of China, USTC)
Past postdoctoral research fellows
- Ema Bauzyte, 2019-2021 (funded by Fitzwilliam Museum's Being an Islander Project)
- Marc Gener-Moret, 2018-2021 (funded Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions)
- Pau Sureda, 2018-2020 (funded by Government of Galicia, Spain)
- Kunlong Chen, 2017-2019 (funded by Newton Fellowship)
- Eleanor Blakelock, 2017-2019 (funded by Leverhulme Trust)
- Xose-Lois Armada, 2014-2016
- Mike Charlton, 2014-2016 (funded Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions)
- Mercedes Murillo-Barroso, 2014-2016 (funded Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions)
Current students:
- Mark Davis (UK): Brass vs bronze: Continuity and change from Late Antiquity to the early Islamic period in the Persian Gulf and adjacent regions, funded by AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnership with the British Museum
- Saltanat Amir (KZ): Goldsmithing technologies, organic materials and funerary rituals in the Saka societies of the Eurasian Steppe Region during the Iron Age (c. 900 – 100 BCE), funded by Harding Distinguished Postgraduate Scholarships
- Elizabeth La Duc (US): Coal Usage in Romano-British Ferrous Metallurgy: Identification and Interpretation, funded by the Cambridge Trust
- Laura Arcidiacono UCL (IT): Development of a neutron technique for the non-destructive and non-invasive analysis of archaeological gold artefacts (first supervisor), funded by Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)
- Caterina Zaggia (IT): Redefining Egyptian 'pastes': development of a new analytical protocol for the examination of Egyptian coffin sets from the Third Intermediate Period in Thebes (first supervisor), funded by PlaCe ITN project
- Ismael Rodriguez Palomo (SP): Challenges, approaches and insights in Palaeoproteomics analysis in ceramics (advisor), funded by PlaCe ITN project
Past Students
- Julia Montes-Landa (SP), 2023: Evolution, co-existence and adaptation of bronze-making recipes in Prehistory: a case study from North-Eastern Iberia (first supervisor), funded by AHRC and Cambridge Trust Vice Chancellor’s Award
- Yi-Ting Hsu (TW), 2023: Fire assay, cupellation, and the spread of technical knowlede in Early Modern Europe (first supervisor), funded by Taiwan-Cambridge Scholarship
- Jasmine Vieri (FI), 2023: Bayesian regional models of gold and copper alloys from pre-Hispanic Colombia (first supervisor), funded by AHRC
- Ole Nordland (NO), 2021: Iron making in Viking Age Scandinavia (c. AD 750-1000): Political power, knowledge transmission and technological changes (first supervisor), funded by AHRC
- Yaxiong Liu (CN), 2021: Iron and the Rise of the Qin Empire: An Exploration of the Iron Industry and its Social Impact during the Warring States Period (joint first supervisor), funded by Chinese Scholarship Council
- Umberto Veronesi (IT), 2020: The Alchemy of Early Modern Glass (first supervisor), funded by AHRC
- Agnese Benzonelli (IT), 2019: Validation of analytical methods for non-invasive characterization of natural and artificial patinas (second supervisor), funded by Tylecote Scholarship
- Laura Ware Adlington (US), 2018: Investigation of technology, production and deterioration of medieval stained glass using handheld pXRF (second supervisor), funded by UCL Graduate Scholarship
- Maria Teresa Plaza Calonge (CL), 2018: Gold technology and the Tiwanaku empire in San Pedro de Atacama, Northern Chile, during the Middle Horizon (AD 400-1000) (first supervisor), funded by Chilean government
- Jonathan Wood (GB), 2018: The transmission of silver and silver extraction technology across the Mediterranean by the Phoenicians in the 8th and 7th centuries BCE: A precursor for the Classical Age (first supervisor), funded by AHRC
- David Larreina-García (SP), 2017: Copper and bloomery iron smelting in Central China: Technological traditions in the Daye County (Hubei) (first supervisor), funded by Impact Scholarship
- Rahil Alipour (IR), 2017: Persian crucible steel production in Central Iran (AD 802-1431) (joint first supervisor), funded by UCL Qatar
- Miguel Carrero (SP), 2017: The megalithic phenomenon in Galicia: Contributions of GIS and spatial statistics to the study of location patterns (second supervisor), funded by Spanish Government Research Scholarship.
- Pira Venunan (TH), 2016: An archaeometallurgical study of iron production in Ban Kruat, lower Northeast Thailand: technology and social development from the Iron Age (500BC-AD500) to the Imperial Angkorian Khmer (AD802-1431) (first supervisor), funded by Thai Royal Family Scholarship
- Mainardo Asinelli (IT), 2016: Manufacture and use of copper and copper-alloy artefacts in medieval Tuscia (first supervisor), funded by European Union ITN
- Siran Liu (CN), 2015: Gold and silver production in Imperial China. Technological choices in their socio-economic and environmental settings (second supervisor), funded by Sino-British Fellowship Trust
- Ruth Fillery-Travis (UK), 2015: Iron production in the Western Roman Empire: A diachronic study of technology and society based on two archaeological sites (first supervisor), funded by AHRC
- Carmen Ting (HK), 2013: Change, continuity, and the Maya Collapse: Reconstructing the ceramic economy in the Eastern Maya Lowlands during the Classic to Postclassic Transition (joint first supervisor), funded by UCL Graduate Scholarship
- Thomas Thondhlana (ZB), 2012: Pre-colonial copper production in the Northern Lowveld, South Africa, c. AD 700-1900 (first supervisor), funded by EPSRC and Xstrata
- Maria Dikomitou (CY), 2012: Ceramic production, distribution and social interaction. An analytical approach to the study of Early and Middle Bronze Age pottery from Cyprus (second supervisor), funded by Leventis Foundation, Cyprus
- Roseleen Bains (CA), 2012: The social significance of stone bead technology in Neolithic Catalhoyuk, Turkey (second supervisor)
- Xiuzhen Janice Li (CN), 2012: Standardisation, labour organisation and the bronze weapons of the Qin Terracotta Warriors (joint first supervisor), funded by Kwok Foundation, Hong Kong
- Wenli Zhou (CN), 2012: Distilling zinc in China: The technology of large-scale zinc production in Chongqing during the Ming and Qing Dynasties (AD 1368-1911) (first supervisor), funded by Kwok Foundation, Hong Kong
- Louise Iles (UK), 2011: Technology, society and tradition: reconstructing the iron industries of Bunyoro-Kitara (second supervisor), funded by AHRC
- Jane Humphris (UK), 2010: An archaeometallurgical investigation of iron smelting traditions in Southern Rwanda (second supervisor), funded by AHRC
- Virpi Holmqvist (FI), 2010: Ceramics in transition: a comparative analytical study of late Byzantine-early Islamic pottery from Palaestina Tertia (joint first supervisor), funded by Ella and Georg Ehrnrooth Foundation, Finland
- Aude Mongiatti (FR), 2009: Assaying and smelting noble metals in sixteenth-century Austria: a comparative analytical study (2009, joint first supervisor), funded by EU Marie Curie EST
- Oliver Pryce (UK), 2009: Copper production and technological reproduction in the Khao Wong Prachan of central Thailand (2009, second supervisor), funded by Tylecote Grant
Other Professional Activities
- Co-Chair of the International Scientific Advisory Board, Institute for Heritage Sciences (Incipit), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Spain
- Scientific Advisory Board Member, Austrian Archaeological Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences
- Member of Fitch Laboratory Subcommittee, British School in Athens
- Expert Panel Member, Icelandic Research Fund
- Co-Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Archaeological Science
- Trustee, Institute for Archaeometallurgical Studies
- Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London
- Editorial Board: Tel Aviv (2020), Pyrenae: Journal of Western Mediterranean Prehistory and Antiquity, Historical Metallurgy (2015), Journal of Archaeological Science (2013), Materialidades: Perspectivas actuales en cultura material, Pyrenae: Journal of Western Mediterranean Prehistory and Antiquity (2012)
