ARCHAEOMETALLURGY OF HISTORICAL SHIPWRECKS IN ARGENTINA: STATE OF THE ART AND FUTURE PERSPECTIVES

Historical maritime archaeology was established as a scientific specialty in Argentina in the mid-1990s. Since then studies of metal artifacts from historic shipwrecks (17th to 20th century) have occupied a remarkable place within this field. In the early 2000s analytical methods and instrumentation for the physicochemical characterization of evidence recovered began to be implemented. These studies allowed new information to be obtained for the study of issues relating to the production of artifacts, as well as for the identification and spatial-temporal assignment of sites. Nonetheless, such interdisciplinary research is still at an early stage, its potential only partially explored. This study presents an analysis of the research carried out so far, and explores ideas on how future studies could be oriented in order to reach a deeper understanding of the shipwrecks and society of the period.