Rate My Professor Marcos Martinon-Torres

Professor Marcos Martinón-Torres is the Pitt-Rivers Professor of Archaeological Science in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Cambridge, a position he assumed in 2018 following over a decade at University College London. He holds degrees in history, archaeology, and archaeological science, which underpin his interdisciplinary approach to studying material culture. His research emphasizes the reverse engineering of archaeological technologies to trace the evolution, transmission, and movement of knowledge, people, and objects across time and space. Much of his work involves analytical studies of archaeological materials, complemented by experimental archaeology and historical sources. Martinón-Torres supervises a diverse group of international research students and postdoctoral fellows, fostering global collaborations that expand the scope of his investigations.

Martinón-Torres specializes in archaeometallurgy across Europe, Africa, the Americas, and Asia, spanning from prehistory to the recent past. He conducts scientific analyses of the manufacture and trade of gold, silver, copper, bronze, brass, iron, and production remains, alongside studies of ceramics, pigments, glass, and amber. His laboratory employs advanced techniques such as optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectrometry (SEM-EDS), electron probe microanalysis (EPMA), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), (laser ablation) inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry ((LA)-ICP-MS), portable X-ray fluorescence ((p)XRF), and Raman spectroscopy, often integrated with geometric morphometrics, multispectral imaging, and statistical methods. Key topics include material culture and technology, knowledge transmission, inventions and innovations, the archaeology of alchemy and chemistry, and the history and philosophy of science. Selected publications include 'Dos mil años de orfebrería Herrera y Muisca: biografías de objetos metálicos en Nueva Esperanza' (2026), 'The manufacture of the Baskerville typographic punches: the versatile chaîne opératoire of an 18th-century printing workshop' (2026), 'Next generation archaeological science: From the past to the future' (2026), 'The Provenance, Use, and Circulation of Metals in the European Bronze Age: The State of Debate' (2018), and 'Crossbows and imperial craft organisation: the bronze triggers of China's Terracotta Army' (2014). He holds prominent roles such as co-Chair of the International Scientific Advisory Board at the Institute for Heritage Sciences (Incipit-CSIC, Spain), member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Austrian Archaeological Institute, Fitch Laboratory Subcommittee of the British School at Athens, Expert Panel of the Icelandic Research Fund, and Trustee of the Institute for Archaeometallurgical Studies. He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London.