The scientific commission “Metal Ages in Europe and the Mediterranean” forms part of the UISPP domain “Archaeology and Society” (specific periods, diachronic themes, regional peculiarities), and its objectives are the exchange of information between scholars of all institutions working on the Bronze and Iron Ages in Europe and the Mediterranean.
Geographically, the activities of the commission cover the whole of Europe and the countries of the Mediterranean and Black Sea basins, from North Africa to Scandinavia and from Ireland to the Levant, Anatolia, the Caucasus and the Urals. In chronological terms, the main focus is on the last three millennia BC, but both earlier Chalcolithic societis as well as protohistoric societies of the early AD period may also be considered as falling under the commission's remit.
As concerns specific subject matters, the commission's work covers all aspects of Bronze and Iron Age research, including chronology, material culture, settlements, burials, landscapes, techniques, technology, etc. Limitations of its remit arise where specific fields of research are covered by the work of other commissions, e.g. Mortuary Practices in Prehistory and Protohistory or the commissions operating under the domain of Historiography, Methods and Theory. Such overlap evidently does not preclude cooperation between commissions. On the contrary, any form of scientific partnership is strongly encouraged. The commission organizes at least one scientific meeting per year focusing on a transversal theme that addresses current debates in Metal Ages research in Europe and the Mediterranean.
