Archaeometry is a collective term for natural sciences used in archaeology, or in a wider sense, the study of objects of art.

Classical archaeological investigations study the objects on a morphological – typological – basis. This analytical aspect is still basic and indispensable.

Objects of art and historical relics in the wide sense however can be characterised not only on the basis of form and style but also by its material and physical qualities in general. These features can yield with proper interpretation information of historical significance as well.

General topics of archaeometry include:

• prospection
• dating
• provenance and technology studies
• investigation of biomaterials

Archaeometrical studies in Hungary were forwarded in more or less explicit way by the pioneering great personalities of Hungarian archaeology, geology and chemistry – e.g., Flóris Rómer, Ferenc Pulszky, József Szabó, Vince Wartha – in the second half of the 19^th century. Rómer and Szabó initiated the investigation of one of the classical subject of archaeometrical studies, that of obsidian with their publications which were novelties on world level (1866-68, 1876).

The “epoch-making” monograph by Ferenc Pulszky (1881) inserted Copper Age between Stone Age and Bronze Age on the basis of chemical analysis of copper artefacts.

The interdisciplinary approach concerning archaeological material was primarily characteristic for the study of the Palaeolithic period, rooted deeply in natural sciences. In the handbook by László Vértes on the Hungarian Palaeolithic and Mesolithic research, (1965), a special chapter is devoted to the catalogue of natural scientific information on sites and finds of the period.

With the development and spreading of modern analytical techniques the archaeometrical investigation of more recent period sites and finds started to develop as well, especially in multidisciplinary fields like industrial archaeology or environmental archaeology.

The first summary works were published in the eighties (Pécsi ed. 1982, 1987 Gömöri ed. 1980, 1984, Járó-Költő ed. 1988). The latter started a series dedicated to Hungarian Archaeometrical Research giving not only a snapshot on the state of research at the moment but also containing an annotated bibliography on the works of active research workers on the field of archaeometry. Ten years latter, driven by the same initiative, the editors of the series produced a current volume on modern archaeometrical research in our country, on the occasion of the 31^st International Symposium on Archaeometry held in Budapest in 1998, including the yield of the next decade of archaeometrical studies in Hungary.

GÖMÖRI J. ed. 1980 Iparrégészet/Industrial Archaeology (1980).

GÖMÖRI J. ed. 1984 Iparrégészet/Industrial Archaeology 2 (1984).

JÁRÓ--KÖLTŐ 1988 Járó M. - Költő L. eds., Archaeometrical Research in Hungary Budapest National Centre of Museums 1988 1-327

PÉCSI – KORDOS 1987 Pécsi M. - Kordos L. eds., Holocene environment in Hungary. Contribution of the INQUA HNC to the XIIth INQUA Congress (1987) Budapest MTA Földrajztudományi Kutató Intézet 1-150.

PÉCSI 1982 Pécsi M. ed., Quaternary Studies in Hungary. (1982) Budapest MTA Földrajztud. Kut. Int.

PÉCSI 1987 Pécsi M. ed., Pleistocene environment in Hungary. Contribution of the INQUA HNC to the XIIth INQUA Congress (1987) Budapest MTA Földrajztudományi Kutató Intézet 1-237.

PULSZKY 1881 Pulszky, F., A rézkor Magyarországon. Budapest, 1881.

RÓMER 1878 Rómer Fl., Les silex taillés et les obsidiennes en Hongrie.. Congr. Int. d'Anthr. et d'Arch. Prehist VIII. Compte-Rendu 2(1878) Budapest 6-17.

SZABÓ 1867 Szabó J., A Tokaj-Hegyalja obsidiánjai (Obsidians of the Tokaj mts).. A Magyarhoni Földtani Társulat Munkálatai 3(1867) Pest 147-172.

SZABÓ 1876 Szabó J., L'obsidienne prehistorique en Hongrie et en Grece.. Congr.Int. d. Anthr. et d. Arch. Prehist., Compte-Rendu II (1876) Budapest 96-100.