Chalcolithic Metallurgy

Results of archaeometallurgical study (pXRF elemental composition, use-wear analysis) of prehistoric copper objects (3 awls and a possible arrowhead) from Copper Age site Vilches IV (Albacete, Spain). And a review of the first metallurgy at this zone (2nd half III mil cal BC).

The excavations at the site of Souskiou-Laona brought to light a small number of metal artefacts and faience beads, all of which are discussed in detail in other chapters of this monograph. They form two distinct, and yet related assemblages, as will be made clear further on. They have raised interesting questions and at the same time provided important insights regarding the level of pyrotechnology available at the time on the island and/or beyond, especially as one should consider/cannot exclude the possibility that some or even all of these artefacts may have been imports. It was thus deemed important that both assemblages should be subjected to chemical analysis. The fact that both are composed of rare artefacts that could not be sampled also dictated the method of analysis that could be used for their characterization. Namely, they were analyzed using a handheld portable XRF.  THere we report on the results of the analysis of the metal and faience objects from Souskiou Laona.

Open access; free download from https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0227259
The paper discusses results of an interdisciplinary research project integrating lead isotope, chemical, and archaeological analysis of 20 early metal objects from central Italy. The aim of the research was to develop robust provenance hypotheses for 4th and 3rd millennia BC metals from an important, yet hitherto neglected, metallurgical district in prehistoric Europe, displaying precocious copper mining and smelting, as well as socially significant uses of metals in ‘Rinaldone-style’ burials. All major (and most minor) ore bodies from Tuscany and neighbouring regions were characterised chemically and isotopically, and 20 Copper Age axe-heads, daggers and halberds were sampled and analysed. The objects were also reassessed archaeologically, paying special attention to find context, typology, and chronology. This multi-pronged approach has allowed us to challenge received wisdom concerning the local character of early metal production and exchange in the region. The research has shown that most objects were likely manufactured in west-central Italy using copper from Southern Tuscany and, quite possibly, the Apuanian Alps. A few objects, however, display isotopic and chemical signatures compatible with the Western Alpine and, in one case, French ore deposits. This shows that the Copper Age communities of west-central Italy participated in superregional exchange networks tying together the middle/upper Tyrrhenian region, the western Alps, and perhaps the French Midi. These networks were largely independent from other metal displacement circuits in operation at the time, which embraced the north-Alpine region and the south-eastern Alps, respectively.

In many sites belonging to the Neolithic, Eneolithic and Bronze Age in our country, several anthropomorphic figures have been discovered that made it possible to create an image about the plastic of the prehistoric communities. Masculine anthropomorphic representations are present in a much smaller percentage compared to female ones and they are not very spectacular neither in terms of artistic expression, nor of the technical means used.
A phallus from the collection of the Museum of Oltenia, present among the materials from the excavations carried out between the 6-9 decades of the 20th century, but for which we do not have any information regarding the place and the context of the discovery, represented the starting point of the present study.
Most phallus type objects can be attributed to the Eneolithic, but are present also in the Neolithic and the Bronze age.
The artifacts analyzed in this study highlight the fact that we are in front of two categories of objects.
Some are made according to the anatomical structure of the male sexual organ, while others are schematic representations.
If the conclusions are clear regarding the typology for the first category, the second category has allowed numerous speculations regarding the identification, the role and the utilitarian or cultic destination of this
type of object.
Apart from phallic figurines and phallus-shaped vessels or with such handles, a number of phallus-shaped Eneolithic objects are considered by some authors to have been used as tuyeres in metallurgical activity.

Abstract: It has been believed that the technique in making bronze in China was transmitted from Western Asia around four thousand years ago, although the transmission routes/processes, are unclear and contain numerous contradictions. This article, however, provides evidence to show that the bronze technology in Chine is native, originating from the areas around the Middle course of the Yangtze River, where copper, tin, and lead mines exist and easy to mine. This area at 4th millennium bc, the pottery kiln technology of the Daxi and Qujialing cultures is advanced, and its national society is sufficiently developed and complex enough to support artisans and form the demand for metalware.
The current academic circles the Daxi, the Qujialing, the Shijiahe cultures, even the Post-Shijiahe culture generally classify as “the Neolithic Age”; therefore the excavation does not pay attention to the relics related to the bronze technology; the recorded information is sparse and scattered. Despite this, by carefully combing the archaeological data, we find that in this area, copper or fragments, copper/ bronze slag and fragments of wares have been revealed from many archeological sites 4th-3th millennium bc.

This work is part of a broader research line that aims to develop and implement a nondestructive methodology for the chemical characterization of archaeological metals based on a protocol that combines energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (ED-XRF) with a Monte Carlo (MC) simulation algorithm. In this paper, the ED-XRF/MC protocol has been applied to estimate the chemical composition of a selected group of 26 copper-based artifacts and fragments recovered at Perdigões, one of the larger Chalcolithic sites of Southwest Iberia. All the analyzed artifacts have a multilayered structure composed by the alloy substrate and by a superficial layer common in each metal buried for hundreds of years and consisting of the patina mixed with soil. Due to the difficulty in determining the quantitative composition of these alloys in the presence of this complex patina/encrustation layer, the spectrometric

Fifth- and fourth-millennium copper tools from south-east Europe from French findspots

In France, in recent years, there have been several finds of metal objects that pre-date the oldest known evidence for metalworking there. These objects are associated with the Cortaillod and Pfyn cultures and are made from ‘Mondsee copper’, demonstrating that they had been imported over several hundred kilometres. In addition, two axe-/adze-heads of Jászladány type, dating to the beginning of the fourth millennium BC, plus an axe-hammer head of Čoka type, have been identified among old collections. Two of these objects have been subjected to a detailed typo-chronological study and elemental and isotopic analyses.

While the findspot of the axe-/adze-head of Jászladány type found at Meaux (Seine-et-Marne) is not in doubt, that of Bû (Eure-et-Loir) has been identified more recently. As for the massive axehead of Čoka type, its findspot is not secure.

These three objects, which belong to the ‘Schwergeräte’ category, originated in south-east Europe. The axe-/adze-heads of Jászladány type belong to the Bodrogkeresztúr culture, centred on the eastern part of Hungary and dated to the beginning of the fourth millennium; as for the Čoka-type axe-hammer head, this probably belongs to the Tiszapolgar culture or to its transition to the  Bodrogkeresztúr culture at the end of the fifth millennium.

It was possible to undertake elemental and isotopic analyses on the axe-hammer head from Meaux and on the Čoka-type specimen. While minor differences in composition were detected, both had been made from a very pure copper. The elemental and isotopic results for the Meaux object point clearly towards the mine of Majdanpek in Serbia, even though it had not necessarily been manufactured in that locality; it is known that copper from this mine had been exported to neighbouring areas (Romania and Hungary). By contrast, the results obtained from the Čoka-type axe-hammer head do not allow us to pinpoint the origin of the copper. However, Romania appears to be the most likely region.

The findspots of the two axe-hammer heads found at Meaux and Bû, and probably that of the unprovenanced example, are considerably to the west of their region of origin in the Carpathian Basin. Several routes are possible. The first, and least likely, is across central Europe; the second would have been along the northern margins of the Alps; the last, and most plausible, is via northern Italy and the south of France.

The two artefacts whose provenance is secure (Meaux and Bû) are currently the oldest metal objects known from France; but they are probably not the only objects to have reached France from south-east Europe at the end of the fifth and beginning of the fourth millennium BC. Other objects, such as perhaps the idol and the beads from Pauilhac (Gers), or the agrafes from Erdeven/Saint-Germain (Morbihan) could well be imports from south-east Europe at the end of the fifth millenniun BC. As for the gold disc-ring found at Guern an Floc’h/Maël-Pestivien (Côtes-d’Armor), this could be a local copy of the disc-rings of Alpine jade, made using imported gold. We should also mention here the idol made of haematite found at Plovan/Renongar (Finistère), which is most likely to be an imitation of a gold object from Bulgaria, made during the second half of the fifth millennium. But unfortunately, in all these cases, there are uncertainties about their dating and/or their precise findspot.

Thus, in France, metal objects originating in south-east Europe and dating to the transition between the fifth and fourth millennia may be less rare than had been suspected previously, even though these long-distance imports do not weaken the argument for a division of Europe at this period between an eastern ‘Europe of copper’ and a western ‘Europe of jade’.

This paper considers the structure of production, distribution and consumption of ceramics within Chalcolithic communities of SE Iberia, an important region for modelling social and technological change in the recent prehistory of Eurasia. Our research provides new data through the comparative analysis of domestic and metallurgical ceramics, as well as building and other clay-rich materials from the archaeological site of Las Pilas (2875–2620 cal. BC 2σ to 2460–2205 cal. BC 2σ) (Mojácar, Almería). In total, 56 samples are characterised by optical petrography, with SEM analysis of 22 of those individuals, in order to assess firing conditions. Results point to the existence of a local tradition in which domestic and metallurgical wares exhibit important similarities in their production processes. In terms of technology, the assemblage shows a relative homogeneity, although firing conditions, surface treatment and decoration seem to have played an important role in the differentiation of highly symbolic wares from other ceramics. We conclude that raw material procurement and processing at Las Pilas differ from those at other Copper Age sites already studied in SE and SW Iberia. This is in agreement with earlier archaeometallurgical studies on Las Pilas, suggesting the development of local and community-based technological traditions. As such, the paper attempts to bridge the recent divide between re-emergent top-down models and our detailed understandings of technological practice.