Archaeologist – Engineer at INRAP, lecturer, specialist in coppersmithing and ancient metallurgy
Nicolas Thomas is an archaeologist and engineer at INRAP (National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research), a recognized specialist in ancient metallurgy and coppersmithing, a complex craft he explores through a dual scientific and experimental approach.
For over twenty years, he has conducted in-depth research on the manufacturing techniques, techniques, materials, and production circuits associated with medieval and modern coppersmithing. He has led or co-organized numerous public and scientific experiments, reconstructing bronze workshops, melting furnaces, and brass production processes using cementation. His work is now a benchmark in the field.
Holding some thirty excavation permits, he has participated in over 80 archaeological operations and written some fifty reports. He also leads international assignments (Spain, Cambodia, Algeria, Lebanon) and regularly collaborates with archaeometry laboratories for detailed material analysis (metallography, SEM-EDS, PIXE, XRD).
Trained in the history and archaeology of technology, he combines the perspectives of materials chemistry, production economics, and object anthropology. His expertise covers medieval and urban archaeology, stakeholder networks, and material production logics. He also uses statistical tools (multivariate analyses) to model technical practices based on material remains.
Committed to the dissemination of knowledge, he has organized numerous experimental archaeology workshops, participated in documentaries (radio and television), and given around twenty public lectures internationally. He has also curated exhibitions. A lecturer for over fifteen years, he has trained numerous students and young researchers in ancient techniques, materials analysis, and experimental approaches. He is the author of approximately one hundred publications, including three books, and regularly speaks at scientific conferences in France and abroad.
Recipient of a Wallonia-Brussels International Excellence Scholarship in 2021, he was a visiting researcher for a year at the Catholic University of Louvain (UCLouvain), at the National Archaeology Research Center.
At the intersection of scientific research, experimentation, and transmission, Nicolas Thomas embodies a vibrant and rigorous archaeology, committed to the techniques, materials, and intelligence of ancient know-how.
