Metalworkers and their Tools brings together 12 papers by 22 authors from the “Metools” international symposium organised in at Queens University, Belfast in June 2016 as part of the HardRock project “Between a Rock and a Hard Place: context, function, and choice of early metalworking tools on Europe’s Atlantic façade” (Marie Skłodowska Curie, No. 623392) and the “Metal Ages in Europe” commission of the International Union of Pre- and Protohistoric Sciences (UISPP). Its aim was to shine a spotlight on the tools of the metalworker and to follow their evolution from the beginning of the Bronze Age through to the Iron Age, as well as the place held by metalworking and its artisans in the economic and social landscape of the period.

‘The spread of different topics delivers many interesting aspects of metalworking and is clearly explained by the many experienced scholars. I highly recommend this book and hope it finds a wide use for anyone interested in tracing metalworkers of the Bronze and Iron Ages. Highlighting the use of stone tools is very welcome and needed, as their importance has long been overlooked.’ – Marion Uckelmann (2024): Antiquity Vol. 98, New Book Chronicle