Ironworking between the Early Iron Age and the Archaic period. A view from the Middle-Adriatic region

The Middle-Adriatic region (including Marche and Abruzzo) provides a quite rich documentary dossier about the ancient bronze and iron metallurgy . In comparison to the local bronzeworking, the iron productions have been considered much less attractive in the history of the studies, due to their lower diagnostic value. The paper consider the relationship between the local ironworking and the earlier bronzeworking practices, in comparison to other contemporary metallurgical spheres in Italy; the natural metal deposits effectively exploitable with the ancient extractive techniques, and the circulation of the artifacts and technological skills.