VICARTE - Glass and Ceramics for the Arts, Faculty of Science and Technology, NOVA University of Lisbon, Caparica, Portugal.
Ambix. 2023 Nov;70(4):337-356. doi: 10.1080/00026980.2023.2255766. Epub 2023 Sep 12.
The materials and practices of chymical procedures have become key sources of information among science historians, opening up channels for cross-disciplinary dialogue. This is especially true with regard to material culture-based disciplines such as archaeology whose bottom-up approach offers significant contributions to the new historiography of science. Parallel to this trend, some archaeological scientists who specialise in reconstructing past technologies have begun to address questions concerning the production and circulation of scientific knowledge, and have focused as well on the contributions of artists/artisans to the development of natural philosophical theories. This essay charts the history of this archaeology of alchemy and chemistry and its development as a sub-discipline of archaeological science. By mapping this history, from an initial period with a focus on metallurgy to current trends, it demonstrates how the archaeology of alchemy and chemistry both mirrors and, at the same time, feeds the broadening scope of the historiography of science. After surveying the most relevant works and highlighting the key contributions that archaeologists have brought to a discourse related to the creation of scientific knowledge, the essay also offers a series of ideas related to materials awaiting comprehensive study that will further strengthen methodological synergies across disciplines.
化学程序的材料和实践已成为科学历史学家的主要信息来源，为跨学科对话开辟了渠道。对于基于物质文化的学科（如考古学）来说尤其如此，其自下而上的方法为科学新史学做出了重要贡献。与这一趋势平行的是，一些专门研究重建过去技术的考古科学家开始关注有关科学知识的生产和传播的问题，并关注艺术家/工匠对自然哲学理论发展的贡献。本文追溯了炼金术和化学考古学的历史及其作为考古科学的一个分支的发展历程。通过绘制从最初专注于冶金到当前趋势的历史图，本文展示了炼金术和化学考古学如何既反映又同时促进了科学史学范围的扩大。在调查了最相关的作品并强调了考古学家在与科学知识创造相关的论述中所做出的关键贡献之后，本文还提出了一系列与有待全面研究的材料相关的想法，这些想法将进一步加强跨学科的方法协同作用。
