Claudio GiardinoCLAUDIO GIARDINO is Associate Professor of Prehistory and Protohistory at the University of Salento (Lecce, Italy), where he also teaches Prehistoric Archaeometallurgy at the Post-graduate School of Archaeology. He has participated in archaeological rojects in many regions of Europe and Asia working on several aspects of archaeometallurgy. He has conducted extensive research on the beginning and early developments of copper-based technologies at several sites in the Sultanate of Oman, from the Neolithic period (Ras Al-Hamra and Wadi Shab) up to the Bronze and the Iron Ages (Ras Al-Hadd, Ras Al-Jinz, Al-Safah and Daba). He is the author of numerous scientific publications on prehistory and ancient metallurgy, including a handbook on the use of metals in the ancient world, books on mining and metallurgical spheres in the West Mediterranean, and studies on the early metallurgy of Southeastern Arabia. Read More Read Less