Atomic archaeology: Italian innovation and American adventurism

Abstract

Abstract This article charts one episode in the history of archaeological field science following the end of World War II and its place within a nascent military‐industrial‐academic complex. It is an account of how archaeological innovation was tied to, and developed directly out of, US nuclear ambition and the leveraging of “peaceful” atomic research as well as American Cold War collaborations with European allies that successfully combined science, exploration, and culture for mutual benefit. The period covered is one of the most generative moments in the development of instrumentation and subsurface techniques, involving two mid‐century men who realized the potential of atomic applications in archaeology. Carlo Lerici, an Italian engineer and industrialist, and Froelich Rainey, director of the Penn Museum, were both men of science, culture, and industry. Their collaboration brought together governments, corporations, and universities to develop pathbreaking experimentation across laboratories and fieldsites. My aim is to reveal the connectivity between these disparate arenas and to underscore that such endeavors are anything but new; rather, nuclear science, tech companies, private foundations, and philanthropists, coupled with the activities of the military and intelligence community, have a deeply entrenched history in archaeology.

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