Archeometallurgy

Programma del Convegno celebrativo delle indagini archeologiche condotte nel periodo 2004-2005 e di aggiornamento del quadro conoscitivo sulle componenti storiche e archeologiche del territorio di Pontelandolfo
In ricordo di GIUSEPPINA BISOGNO e in ricordo di CARMINE DIGLIO:
"Cinque mesi, quindici anni, una Comunità civica, una prospettiva: verso un progetto “aperto” di Archeologia ‘Pubblica’ per Pontelandolfo e il suo Territorio. Lo stato dell’arte dell’archeologia del Territorio pontelandolfese a quindici anni dalle indagini archeologiche nei siti di Coste Chiavarine e Castello dell’Avellana"

Esta es una tesis defendida en 2003 que buscó explorar teórico-metodológicamente y mediante excavaciones, la relación que se establece entre el espacio construido, en particular el doméstico, y los grupos sociales vinculados a su uso. Esto genera lo que llamamos “una arquitectura dinámica”.

Dado que los aspectos sociales o ideológicos no son accesibles directamente al arqueólogo, para poder acceder a ellos deberemos definir entonces sus referentes materiales. Y la arquitectura y la estructura del espacio residencial se muestran particularmente apropiados como tales, en tanto pueden ser analizados como indicadores de la organización social, política o económica del grupo doméstico que los usa y habita. Esta perspectiva analítica pone el énfasis, además, en el comportamiento de dichos grupos sociales, entendiendo que son las actividades que ellos desarrollan las que generan residuos que se incorporan al registro arqueológico, y, por lo tanto, pueden ser estudiados en su estructura espacial y temporal en relación a una arquitectura que los contiene. Este interés queda enmarcado, en parte, dentro de la llamada "Household Archaeology", que toma como unidad de análisis para la investigación arqueológica a los correlatos materiales de los grupos domésticos.

La arquitectura prehispánica (en este caso) nos muestra que, tras ella, pueden reconocerse elecciones, reglas, determinaciones, usos y mensajes que tienen que ver con el propio contexto social, político, económico e ideológico de sus usuarios y diseñadores. Lo que intentamos, es poder explorar la lógica de estas acciones. De la arquitectura nos incumbe aquí, aquella habitacional, entendida como la materialización de actividades, estructura, organización e ideología del grupo social vinculado a su uso, como instrumento para intentar acceder a la sociedad, al estudio de los grupos domésticos, a los por qué de la gente que decidía su construcción, su forma, su uso y sus usuarios, su acceso, su organización interna, su ampliación, su abandono, o incluso su encomendación a los ancestros...

European Bronze Age swords had high functional and symbolic value, and therefore they are an interesting case for approaching questions of provenance and trade in Bronze Age Europe. It is often assumed that there is a strong affinity between metal supplies and artefact type. However, this study demonstrates that metal supply and sword types are mostly unrelated. In this paper we present a comparative provenance study of 118 Bronze Age swords, which includes lead isotope and trace elemental data for swords from Scandinavia, Germany and Italy dated between 1600 and 1100 BCE. About 70% of the swords have been analysed and published before while about 30% have been sampled and analysed for this study. The chronology and geography of the deposited swords indicate that the different regions relied on different metal trade routes which changed during the course of the Bronze Age. The analytical data indicates that the largest variation of the origin of copper is in the period of 1600–1500 BCE, when copper ores from Wales, Austria and Slovakia constituted the major copper sources for the swords. There is a visible change around 1500 BCE, when copper mines in the Italian Alps become the main suppliers for Scandinavian and Italian swords, while swords from Germany were foremost based on copper from Slovakia and Austria. Further, in the period 1300–1100 BCE the sources in the Italian Alps became the dominant supplier of copper for the swords in all regions discussed here.

Metallurgy in pre-Columbian America first developed in the Andes, and Peru has long been considered to be the initial point of origin. The recent discovery of an anthropomorphic copper mask in north-west Argentina, however, draws new attention to the southern Andes as a centre of early metalworking. Found in a funerary context c. 3000 BP, at a time of transition from mobile hunter-gatherer bands to agropastoral villages, the mask from Bordo Marcial shows that the Cajón Valley and its
surrounding region was an important locus for copper metallurgy. To date, the mask is the oldest intentionally shaped copper object
discovered in the Andes, and suggests that more than one region was involved in the origin of this technology.
Keywords: southern Andes, Argentina, 3000 BP, pre-Hispanic, metallurgy, technology

Le projet de création du centre culturel est né en 2014 avec les premières idées d'exposition et le choix des matériaux archéologiques. Les travaux de l'ex-cinéma du village français, choisi comme emplacement idéal du centre, ont débuté en 2018 grâce à l'engagement de la CMT dans la rénovation du bâtiment et au soutien de l'Institut d'études sur la Méditerranée antique du CNR, du Ministère de Affaires Etrangères et Coopération Internationale

Identifiées dans les années 1960 au lieu-dit Fraisegoutte, les premières traces de métallurgie du fer à Saâles n'ont fait l'objet de véritables recherches que dans les années 1990 (Leypold, 1996). D'abord datés de l'Antiquité par des observations de terrain, les mines et ferriers de Saâles-Sapin Dessus ont vu leur datation révisée par une première datation radiocarbone en 2014 (Disser, 2014). Cette nouvelle datation a permis de rattacher le ferrier supérieur au Haut Moyen Âge. Le sondage du ferrier intermédiaire a permis de confirmer ces datations et d'apporter des informations sur la culture technique des sites métallurgiques de Sapin Dessus. Une nouvelle prospection a permis d'identifier deux nouveaux ferriers et d'en retrouver un troisième, observé dans les années 1990.

The collections of the National Museum of Slovenia boast a relatively large group of swords from the high and late Middle Ages. Virtually all of them were found in waterways, particularly in the river Ljubljanica, which was formerly a traffic route of considerable importance. While this material has already been a subject of considerable research, it is nevertheless regrettable that much of the work carried out to date remains largely inaccessible to non-Slovenian readers due to a lack of international publications.
The following paper presents a selection of six double-edged swords and one late-medieval sabre kept at the Department of History and Applied Art of the National Museum of Slovenia. Apart from a general historical and typological assessment, each of the objects has been investigated by metallography, and in one case hardness testing as well. This is the first such examination of medieval swords from Slovenia. The results of these analyses show valuable insight into the technology of medieval cut-and-thrust weapons and will hopefully provide useful material for further comparative studies.

De 1983 à 1987, une fouille archéologique rue Saint-Julien à Douai révèle un atelier et ses quelques milliers de déchets témoignant d’un travail du cuivre et de ses alliages au XIIIe siècle. Cette publication examine l’unité de production à la lumière des sources archéologiques, mais aussi de sources écrites et archéométriques. Elle présente le cadre de la découverte à l’échelle de la ville jusqu’à celle de la parcelle en s’intéressant à l’intégration des métiers du cuivre dans le tissu urbain. L’étude de la stratigraphie et des structures composant cet atelier dans un vaste espace de près de 1 000 m² précède l’analyse du mobilier métallurgique, des techniques variées, en particulier celles des réparations de vaisselle, mais aussi des alliages mis en œuvre. Enrichie par l’examen du travail du fer, associé à celui du cuivre, et d’une partie de la vaisselle en céramique consommée sur le site, l’étude illustre un de ces ateliers de proximité qui ont subsisté à côté des grands centres de production tels ceux de la vallée de la Meuse. Voué à l’entretien des vaisselles, enclin à répondre à des commandes variées, ce type d’ateliers actifs aux échelles locales, celles de la ville et de ses alentours, profite de la circulation des productions de masse mises sur le marché à une échelle globale.

From 1983 to 1987, an archaeological excavation along the rue Saint-Julien in Douai revealed a workshop and its several thousand pieces of waste, testifying to the work of copper and its alloys during the 13th century. In this book, the workplace is examined in the light of archaeological sources, but also of written and archaeometric sources. It presents the framework of the discovery from the global scale of the city to the particular plot by focusing on the integration of the metalworking professions into the urban fabric. The study of the stratigraphy and structures composing this workshop in a vast space of nearly 1,000 m² precedes the analysis of the metallurgical finds, of the various techniques, in particular those of cooking and table utensil’s repairs, but also of the alloys used. Enriched by the examination of the ironwork associated with the copperwork, and part of the ceramic tableware consumed on the site, the study illustrates one of these local workshops that have survived alongside major production centres, such as those in the Meuse valley. Dedicated to the maintenance of crockery, inclined to respond to various demands, this type of workshop, active at the local level of the city and its surroundings, benefits from the circulation of mass productions placed on the market on a global scale.