Andreas Hauptmann is a professor emeritus for archaeometry/archaeometallurgy at the Ruhr University's Institute for Prehistory and of Geoscience. He studied mineralogy and ore deposits, and for many years, he headed the archaeometallurgy research group at the Deutsches Bergbau-Museum in Bochum. His research has largely focused on ancient mining and metallurgy. He has visited many countries in the Old World and performed field work in the Near and Middle East. He has investigated archaeological materials used in the production of copper, gold, silver, lead, zinc, iron and tin using modern analytical methods to explore old technologies and to reconstruct tradeways. He has taught at the Universities of Bochum, Frankfurt and Fribourg, Switzerland, as well as the Department of Anthropology, University of California San Diego (UCSD), USA.

Introduction: Archaeology and Archaeometallurgy.- Stages of Early Metallurgical Activities.- Ancient Ore Deposits.- Basic Physical-Chemical Principles of Ancient Metallurgy.- Archaeometallurgical Slags and Other Debris.- Making Metals: Ancient Metallurgical Processes.- Metals and Alloys.- Macro- and Microstructure of Metals.- Ethnographic Evidence and Artisanal Metal Production.- Experimental Archaeometallurgy.- Provenance Studies.