The Social Role of Metals in the Late Bronze Age Aegean:Inspiration from Adamantium and the Masque..
Channel: Recording Archaeology
Date: 06/02/2023

Stephanie Aulsebrook (University of Warsaw)

From the infinite appetite of Pacman, to the building projects in Civilization IV that always
finish on time and within budget, the world of gaming always requires a certain suspension of 
disbelief. The depiction of metals and metal artefacts, as well as their role within the game 
world, is no different. However, the choices that contribute to the specific portrayal of metals 
and metalwork in a particular game can provide a useful understanding of how non-specialists 
perceive them, and also how they try to integrate their production and use into an imaginary 
realm, where magic, fate and the supernatural are accepted as components of day-to-day life. 
This paper highlights three ways in which Tamriel can act as a tool for thinking about the wider 
understanding of both metallurgy in the past and archaeometallurgy in the present, as well as 
the use of metals within my own area of research, the Late Bronze Age Aegean. These are: 1) 
abbreviation of the production process; 2) the ranking of materials as a shorthand to indicate 
quality and the combining of the familiar (iron, steel) with the fantastic (silver longswords, 
adamantium); and 3) the use of artefacts to confer enchantments to boost personal attributes, 
and their impact on the sense of self.