This month's SAS Executive Board Reading Recommendation comes from Vana Orfanou, VP for Social Media. These reading recommendations are informal and unofficial, highlighting the personal selections of our board members. Papers may be chosen for their novel methodological or theoretical angles, clarity of argument, or engaging topic. (A reminder that SAS members can highlight their own research through our Spotlight program!)

Vana has selected "Tracking Bronze Age ‘itinerant smiths’ in western Poland: insights from Nd and Sr isotope data" by Mateusz Stróżyk et al., which was recently published in Archaeometry. Vana writes: "The paper presents combined insights into the provenance of metallurgical stone moulds via Nd isotopes alongside insights into human mobility via Sr isotopes on human remains from smiths’ graves identified as such from the burial offerings, including the stone moulds. I find this paper particularly exciting for its combination of methods and materials, bringing together material and bioarchaeological insights to address the long-standing question around itinerant smiths during the European Bronze Age. The results of the study, indeed, seem to prove that human mobility was an aspect of early metallurgy." 

Check out the paper (avaialable Open Access) here: