Boom and Bust in Bronze Age Britain: the Great Orme copper mine and European trade

REVIEW BY SIMON TIMBERLAKE This is a landmark study concerning the origins of mining and metallurgy in Britain. Alan Williams has turned his PhD thesis into a scholarly publication that provides the reader with a compelling narrative based upon thorough fieldwork, a good understanding of geology, and an insightful study of the mineralogy, chemistry, and isotopic composition of the ores available to Bronze Age miners. A convincing case is made for tracing the metal from its source to bronze artefacts that began to appear in abundance across Britain, and also parts of the Continent, during the earlier Middle Bronze Age. These include some of the commonest bronze axes found – the distincti