Alan Williams

I completed my PhD in 2018 at the University of Liverpool on the Great Orme Bronze Age copper in Wales, one the largest in Europe. By characterising the ores and metals it was possible, for the first time, to trace the mine’s metal distribution across Britain and into Europe indicating large-scale production and trade, revealing a copper boom in Britain around 1600 BC.

I originally graduated with a BSc (Hons) degree in Mining Geology, from the Royal School of Mines at Imperial College London. After working in metal mining and exploration (Cornish tin mining, Canadian gold and Swedish uranium exploration) I had a long research career with the international glass company, Pilkington (now NSG) as their chief geologist heading up the Raw Materials and Glass Compositions Department at the Pilkington European Research Centre. I was responsible for global sourcing and development of glass-making raw materials in over 20 countries and researching new glass compositions. In addition, I managed extensive laboratory research facilities (for glass melting and petrography) and produced numerous research reports.

Since 2012 I have been applying my expertise in geochemistry, ore geology, mineralogy and pyrotechnology to important archaeological challenges in the field of prehistoric metal mining and smelting. My publications include many papers and three books on historic and prehistoric metal mining areas in Britain and Ireland. I also have a long-standing interest in Bronze Age tin since working at Wheal Jane tin mine in Cornwall as a student geologist. I jointly initiated the Leverhulme funded Bronze Age tin project to determine whether the exceptionally rich tin deposits of Cornwall and Devon powered the major technological and cultural transition from copper to full tin-bronze across Europe and beyond. I was awarded the Ben Cullen Prize in 2020 by the Antiquity Trust and was elected as a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 2022