Achaeometrical Research in Hungary II., 1988

Foreword

FOREWORD It has been exactly ten years now since the volume "Archaeometrical Research in Hungary" was published. That volume undertook the very delicate task of producing a summary of a specific branch of the interdisciplinary sciences, which at that time was much too dispersed in disciplinai, thematical and cognitive respects, to give a coherent image. Archaeometry in Hungary was - and still is - homeless and undervalued. Individual scientists, both analysts and archaeologists, must make special efforts to keep things moving, get funds, friends, free hours on high-tech equipment to get more information on our cultural heritage. In 1988, the main objective of the editors of ARH, Márta Járó and László Költő was to summarise existing results, inform the international scientific community concerning our work and also, by publishing, promote future research. The passage of ten years in itself is a good argument for producing a second volume of "Archaeometrical Research in Hungary". We have, however, even stronger motives. Hungarian archaeometrical research is facing a great challenge. The most prominent academic event in world archaeometrical research, the International Symposium on Archaeometry is to convene in Budapest between 27 April and 1 May, 1998. As hosts of the event, we have double duties: to inform the scientific community on our work and to maximally profit from what we can learn of the cutting edge of our profession. To best meet this dual commitment we organised a National Archaeometry Conference in Veszprém in 1997. The lectures presented at that meeting provide the core of this volume. These papers were typically based on on-going research activities, the results of which will be presented at the Budapest Archaeometry Symposium. Following the worthwhile traditions started by the first volume of ARH, this volume contains a selected bibliography of archaeometrical and related papers published over the past ten years in Hungary. The short English summaries presented here represent many important papers and valuable data published, for most of our readers, in hidden places and exotic languages. Last but not least: it is my duty to thank colleagues for contributing to this volume. Dr. Márta Járó for organising "Veszprém Archaeometry 1997", and the editors for their careful work. Katalin T. Biró 9