Contact Dr Nathaniel Erb-Satullo
- Tel: +44 (0) 1234 758096
- Email: N.Erb-Satullo@cranfield.ac.uk
- Twitter: @NErbSatullo
- ORCID
- Google Scholar
Background
Dr Nathaniel Erb-Satullo is a Lecturer in Archaeological Science at the Cranfield Forensic Institute. Nathaniel received a BA in Physics at Swarthmore College, an MSc in Archaeological Science at the University of Oxford, and a PhD in Anthropology at Harvard University. His doctoral research focused on the spatial organization and technology of of copper and iron production in Colchis, the mythical home of the golden fleece in the Greek myth of Jason and the Argonauts, located on the eastern coast of the Black Sea.
Dr Erb-Satullo's current research interests include the archaeology of technology and innovation, materials analysis, spatial analysis and landscape archaeology, and the archaeology of the ancient Near East.
Prior to joining the Cranfield Forensic Institute, he was a Departmental Lecturer in Archaeomaterials at the University of Oxford.
Research opportunities
Dr Erb-Satullo welcome inquiries from students interested in both laboratory analysis and fieldwork experience. Nathaniel has been involved with or directed field projects in Cyprus, Italy, Georgia, and Turkey, and has conducted laboratory research on materials from Armenia, Georgia, Iraq, Israel, Syria, Turkey, Tunisia, and Turkmenistan. His analytical specialties encompass the chemical, mineralogical and microstructural analysis of inorganic materials, especially metals, ores, slags, ceramics, and glass.
Current activities
Dr Erb-Satullo ongoing research projects explore how archaeological data, especially materials analysis and geospatial investigations, can illuminate the dynamics of technological innovation, economic organization, and social change. Many current research projects relate to metallurgical innovation in the Near East and the Caucasus during the Bronze and Iron Ages. He currently direct the project, Archaeological Research in Kvemo Kartli (Project ARKK), a field and laboratory initiative with the Georgian National Museum, which explores the intersection of social and technological change during Late Bronze and Early Iron Age (c.1500-500 BC).
Publications
Articles In Journals
- Erb-Satullo NL, Rutter M, Frahm E, Jachvliani D, Albert PG & Smith VC (2023) Obsidian exchange networks and highland-lowland interaction in the Lesser Caucasus Borderlands, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 49 (June) Article No. 103988.
- Erb-Satullo NL (2022) Towards a spatial archaeology of crafting landscapes, Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 32 (4) 567-583.
- Erb-Satullo NL & Jachvliani D (2022) Fortified communities in the South Caucasus: insights from Mtsvane Gora and Dmanisis Gora, Journal of Field Archaeology, 47 (5) 305-323.
- Erb-Satullu N (2022) The Golden Fleece Paradox: Why did gold disappear for centuries from ancient societies in the Caucasus?, Current World Archaeology, 112 (March).
- Ho JWI & Erb-Satullo NL (2021) Spatial investigation of technological choice and recycling in copper-base metallurgy of the South Caucasus, Archaeometry, 63 (6) 1306-1326.
- Erb-Satullo N (2021) Technological rejection in regions of early gold innovation revealed by geospatial analysis, Scientific Reports, 11 (1) Article No. 20255.
- Erb-Satullo NL, Jachvliani D, Kakhiani K & Newman R (2020) Direct evidence for the co-manufacturing of early iron and copper-alloy artifacts in the Caucasus, Journal of Archaeological Science, 123 (November) Article No. 105220.
- Erb-Satullo NL (2020) Archaeomaterials, innovation, and technological change, Advances in Archaeomaterials, 1 (1) 36-50.
- Erb-Satullo NL, Gilmour BJJ & Khakhutaishvili N (2020) The metal behind the myths: iron metallurgy in the south-eastern Black Sea region, Antiquity, 94 (374) 401-419.
- Erb-Satullo N (2019) On the trail of early iron metallurgy in the Caucasus mountains, Heritage Turkey, 9.
- Erb-Satullo NL (2019) The innovation and adoption of iron in the ancient Near East, Journal of Archaeological Research, 27 (4) 557-607.
- Erb-Satullo NL, Jachvliani D, Kalayci T, Puturidze M & Simon K (2019) Investigating the spatial organisation of Bronze and Iron Age fortress complexes in the South Caucasus, Antiquity, 93 (368) 412-431.
- Erb-Satullo NL, Gilmour BJJ & Khakhutaishvili N (2018) The ebb and flow of copper and iron smelting in the South Caucasus, Radiocarbon, 60 (1) 159-180.
- Erb-Satullo NL & Walton JT (2017) Iron and copper production at Iron Age Ashkelon: Implications for the organization of Levantine metal production, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 15 (October) 8-19.
- Erb-Satullo NL, Gilmour BJJ & Khakhutaishvili N (2017) Copper production landscapes of the South Caucasus, Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 47 (September) 109-126.
- Erb-Satullo NL, Gilmour BJJ & Khakhutaishvilic N (2015) Crucible technologies in the Late Bronze–Early Iron Age South Caucasus: copper processing, tin bronze production, and the possibility of local tin ores, Journal of Archaeological Science, 61 (September) 260-276.
- Erb-Satullo NL, Gilmour BJ & Khakhutaishvili N (2014) Late Bronze and Early Iron Age copper smelting technologies in the South Caucasus: the view from ancient Colchis c. 1500–600 BC, Journal of Archaeological Science, 49 (September) 147-159.
- Gilmour B, Khakhutaishvili N & Erb-Satullo N (2014) Ancient metal production sites from southwest Georgia in light of new archaeological evidence, Phasis, 17 137-158.
- Erb-Satullo NL (2011) Alloys from Anau: the manipulation of metallic properties in 3rd millennium B.C. southern Central Asia, MRS Online Proceedings Library, 1319 Article No. 802.
- Erb-Satullo NL, Shortland AJ & Eremin K (2011) Chemical and mineralogical approaches to the organization of Late Bronze Age Nuzi Ware production, Archaeometry, 53 (6) 1171-1192.
- McKitterick CB, Erb-Satullo NL, LaRacuente ND, Dickinson AJ & Collings PJ (2010) Aggregation properties of the chromonic liquid crystal Benzopurpurin 4B, Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 114 (5) 1888-1896.
- Degryse P, Boyce A, Erb-Satullo N, Eremin K, Kirk S, Scott R, Shortland AJ, Schneider J & Walton M (2010) Isotopic discriminants between late Bronze Age glasses from Egypt and the Near East, Archaeometry, 52 (3) 380-388.
Books
- Erb-Satullo N (2023) Chapter 43: Materials analysis of ceramics. In: Handbook of Archaeological Sciences, Wiley, p. 867-883, ed. 2nd.
- Gilmour B, Cox M, Erb-Satullo N, Khakhutaishvili N & Pollard M (2020) Ancient Colchis and the origins of iron: interim results from recent field survey work in Guria, western Georgia. In: Wonders Lost and Found: A Celebration of the Archaeological Work of Professor Michael Vickers, Archaeopress Publishing Ltd, p. 18-32.
- Erb-Satullo N (2018) Patterns of settlement and metallurgy in Late Bronze-Early Iron Age Kvemo Kartli, southern Georgia. In: Landscape archaeology in southern Caucasia. Finding common ground in diverse environments: Proceedings of the Workshop held at 10th ICAANE in Vienna, April 2016, OREA, Austrian Academy of Sciences, p. 37-52.
- Eremin K, Degryse P, Erb-Satullo N, Ganio M, Greene J, Shortland A, Walton M & Stager L (2012) Iron Age glass beads from Carthage. In: Historical technology, materials, and conservation: SEM and microanalysis, Archetype, p. 30-35.
