Aude Mongiatti

Dr Aude Mongiatti has been a research scientist at the British Museum since 2007. She specialises in studying ancient metalwork using a range of microscope and X-ray techniques to investigate different alloys and learn how they were manufactured.

 

After an MSc at France’s prestigious National School of Chemistry in Paris, she completed a PhD at University College London focusing on the production of precious metals in early modern Austria.

 

Recent and current projects include studying the work of women silversmiths in modern Oman, gold artefacts from the Eurasian steppe and the beautiful gold torcs, or neck rings, found in the famous Snettisham Hoard in Norfolk.

 

Aude says she’s long been interested in the craftspeople who created the objects she analyses and is “in awe of their knowledge and savoir-faire”.

With Horsepower, she’s fascinated by the comparison of two cultures, one settled, the other mobile, and how they organised their very different techniques of metalworking. She hopes to answer a host of questions, particularly about the people of the steppe. Where did they get their raw materials? How did they make their tools? And did they exchange skills and knowledge with their counterparts in other cultures?