Andrew Meek

Scientist
Scientific analysis of the materials and technology of glass, enamel and vitreous glazes Department: Conservation and Scientific Research

 

Andrew works on vitreous materials which include glasses, enamels and glazed artifacts. He provides specialist scientific information on these artefacts to conservators and curators.

In the British Museum Research Laboratory he mainly uses scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray analysis and X-ray fluorescence to identify the composition of vitreous artefacts. This information is used for the preparation of exhibitions, catalogues and excavation reports, and allows a greater understanding of the Museum collections. It is also used by glass and ceramics conservators striving to prevent the deterioration of certain object types.

Andrew studied archaeology, specialising in scientific analysis, at the University of Nottingham where he graduated with an MSc and PhD in Archaeology. The title of his thesis was ‘The chemical and isotopic analysis of English forest glass’. Discovering the provenance of glass objects using isotopic analysis remains one of his main fields of interest.

Contact

science@thebritishmuseum.ac.uk
+44 (0)20 7323 8275

Current projects

  • Glass vessels and beads from the Ringlemere Anglo-Saxon cemetery

  • PIXE analysis of Abbasid and Fatimid lustreware ceramics

  • The production of gold glass in late antiquity: scientific analysis of the British Museum collection

  • The provenance of late medieval and early modern glass artefacts produced in the UK

  • Developing strategies for the correct storage and cleaning of deteriorating glass artefacts

Recent publications

Meek, A.S., Henderson, J. and Evans, J.A. 2011. ‘North-western European Forest Glass: Working towards an independent means of provenance’. Proceedings of the 37th International Symposium on Archaeometry, 13th-16th May 2008, Siena, Italy, pp. 105-111.

Smirniou, M., Verri, G., Roberts, P., Meek, A.S. and Spataro, M. 2010. ‘An Opus Vermiculatum Panel of the Greek and Roman Collection: A New Perspective on the Methods of Construction’ British Museum Technical Research Bulletin, 4, pp. 67-78.