Archaeometallurgy, Mineralogy, Archaeometry

The hoards from northern Bosnia, especially those along the wider stream area of river Bosna, are culturally and technologically interpreted in close connection with the emanating pattern of their manifestation in the wider area of south-western Pannonia and the extremely rich Posavina region within it. Data on 11 hoards in the region currently exists, with around 570 items and fragments recorded within these. Most hoards are considered to be representative of the cultural circumstances of the time and place in which they were deposited. Among them are included several exceptionally interesting recently published hoards from Majdan/Ridžal, Paležnica and Srebrenik, each with their own idiosyncrasies. These are now complemented by a hoard from Cvrtkovci, which is presented here in greater detail. All of these hoards, through typological-stylistic analysis and chronological attribution, have been attributed to the earlier period of the Urnfield culture, i.e., defined as falling within the range of phase II hoards of Bosnia and Herzegovina. As a result, they are deemed to be characteristic of an integral part of the enigmatic Pan-European phenomenon of the Late Bronze Age, synchronized with the Ha A1 phase of Central European periodization of the 13th and 12th centuries BC.
In the analyses of Bosnian hoards undertaken to date, an emphasis has been placed on the interpretation of objects as a valuable resource for typological and chronological evaluation, an approach that also forms the basis of this research. However, questions as to the spatial arrangement of the hoards within the landscape, interpersonal connections and origins have only recently been raised, and here, for the first time, an archaeo-metallurgical analysis of isotopes of representative objects from the Cvrtkovci hoard is presented.

M. Numrich – E. Pernicka – R. Jung – Ch. Schwall – J. Huber – B. Horejs, Untersuchungen zur Herkunft des mykenischen Goldes mittels mobiler Laserablation und ICP-Massenspektrometrie, in: C. Herm – S. Merkel – M. Schreiner – R. Wiesinger (Hrsg.), Archäometrie und Denkmalpflege 2019. Jahrestagung an der Akademie der Bildenden Künste Wien, Institut für Naturwissenschaften und Technologie in der Kunst, 11.-14. September 2019, METALLA Sonderheft 9 (Bochum 2019) 230–233.

The first half of this article is a brief critical history of the use of lead isotopes for inferring the geological provenance of archaeological materials, with emphasis on non‐ferrous metals. The second half examines variation in the lead isotopic ratios of oxide and sulphide ore minerals in selected regions of the world, and relates these to the geological histories of ore formation in each region. This exercise shows that in regions where most ore deposits are of similar geological age ‐ as in the Andes, Europe, and the circum‐Mediterranean ‐ provenance analysis with lead isotopes is inherently difficult because geographically distant sources often exhibit similar isotopic ratios. Conversely, regions with many periods of ore formation – like southern Africa – appear to be very promising regions for future studies of provenance with lead isotopes. The wider implication of our exploratory survey is that archaeologists should consider carefully the range and clustering of geological lead isotopic ratios in their regions of interest before investing large sums of money in lead isotopic analysis of artefacts.

The present paper re-examines the purported relationship between Late Neolithic/Early Chalcolithic pottery firing technology and the world’s earliest recorded copper metallurgy at two Serbian Vinča culture sites, Belovode and Pločnik (c. 5350 to 4600 BC). A total of eighty-eight well-dated sherds including dark-burnished and graphite-painted pottery that originate across this period have been analysed using a multi-pronged scientific approach in order to reconstruct the raw materials and firing conditions that were necessary for the production of these decorative styles. This is then compared to the pyrotechnological requirements and chronology of copper smelting in order to shed new light on the assumed, yet rarely investigated, hypothesis that advances in pottery firing technology in the late 6th and early 5th millennia BC Balkans were an important precursor for the emergence of metallurgy in this region at around 5000 BC. The results of this study and the recent literature indicate that the ability to exert sufficiently close control over the redox atmosphere in a two-step firing process necessary to produce graphite-painted pottery could indeed link these two crafts. However, graphite-painted pottery and metallurgy emerge at around the same time, both benefitting from the pre-existing experience with dark-burnished pottery and an increasing focus on aesthetics and exotic minerals. Thus, they appear as related technologies, but not as one being the precursor to the other.

Evidence for early copper production on Thassos dating to the Early Bronze Age derives from Limenaria and Aghios Antonios. Both sites are situated at the SW part of the island, where most of the Thassian Cu-ore outcrops also occur while the local treatment of such ores is corroborated by the analysed smelting slags and other relevant archaeometallurgical residues. A recent experimental simulation was carried out in order to approach questions regarding copper ore reduction in a northern Aegean context. For the duration of the smelt a temperature of 1220 °C in average was maintained for about 90 minutes during which period large pieces of furnace slag formed near the tuyère openings. Analysis of the experimental slag has shown significant microstructural similarities with the archaeological slag, although the chemical and mineralogical composition of the major phases exhibits some noticeable differences. By attempting an assessment of the conditions prevalent during the experimental smelt we pursue an evaluation of the copper reduction performance on EBA Thassos. Furthermore, we initiate a technological comparison for investigating any recognizable links and differences in early copper production between Thassos and the southern Aegean islands.