Archaeometallurgy in Europe

The quest for the ‘when’ and ‘where’ of the world’s earliest metallurgy has been dominating scholarly research on this topic for decades. This paper looks beyond the question of origins by discussing ‘how’ and ‘why’ metallurgy was invented. It is attempted by looking into choices and skills involved in selection, experimentation and processing of distinctively coloured copper minerals and ores throughout c. 2000 years in the Balkans. The body of evidence is built around the currently earliest evidence for copper smelting dated at c. 5000 BC and discovered in the Serbian Vinča culture site of Belovode. The ‘microstructure’ of a metal invention process is explored through optical and compositional analyses of a selection of copper minerals and metal production evidence: ores, slags, slagged sherds and metal droplets recovered from seven settlements in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, altogether dated between the late 7th and the late 5th millennium BC. This research suggests an independent technological trajectory of the emergence of metallurgy in the Balkans based on a unique technological meme, black and green mineral, which follows the evolution of early metallurgy from mono- to polymetallic within the 5th millennium BC.

The document includes comments by Šljivar & Borić (2014) and from page 1315 a response by Radivojević et al. (2014).

Šljivar and Borić (2014) challenge the validity of the archaeological context of the tin bronze foil found at the Vinča culture site of Pločnik and, therefore, its broader interpretation. The archaeological context, as described in Radivojević et al. (2013), is recorded in the original field journals, annual field reports and academic publications for Pločnik (all of which were co-authored by Dušan Šljivar); these records support our earlier description of the context. Their criticisms of the broader interpretation of the tin bronze foil appear to be based on a misunderstanding of the nature of ores and metallurgy. Here we respond in detail to the challenges levelled at our interpretation.

This study provides the earliest unambiguous evidence for the extraction of lead in Northern Europe. Previous studies of early metal extraction have focused on copper ores in Ireland, with an increasing number of mines identified in western Britain, particularly in mid‐ and north‐Wales, in recent years. The evidence presented here focuses on the extraction of lead in the north‐west of England, extending our understanding of metal extraction beyond copper ores. Radiocarbon dating of sample sites to c.1800 cal.BC places anthropogenic activity in the British Early Bronze Age, challenging assumptions that lead was first utilised in the Middle Bronze Age period in Britain. Excavation of two Early Bronze Age burials, of contemporaneous date, found Collared Urn cremations with associated crystals of galena, placed as apparent grave offerings, inviting the possibility that they are the graves of putative mine workers.
KEYWORDS
EARLY BRONZE AGE, LEAD, MINING, MINERAL EXTRACTION, MAGNETIC MEASUREMENT, SATURATION ISOTHERMAL
REMANENT MAGNETISATION ASSAY, HEAVY METAL (LEAD) ASSAY, PREHISTORIC METALLURGY, COLLARED URN BURIAL,
UPLAND, PEAT, LANCASHIRE, ARCHAEOLOGY, ARCHAEOLOGICAL METHOD, EUROPEAN BRONZE AGE, BRITISH BRONZE AGE

"An assemblage of 23 fired 9 mm bullets found at the atrium of the Menga dolmen during the University of Málaga 1991 excavations is described and studied. These bullets are first described from a morphological and ballistic viewpoint; then they are analysed from an archaeometallurgical perspective by means of X-Ray Micro-Fluorescence and Lead Isotope Analysis; finally they are discussed within the historical context of the Spanish Civil War through oral and archival data. As a conclusion, it is suggested that the bullets could be material evidence of summary executions occurred in Antequera in the weeks after the military rebellion of July 1936, which would establish Menga as unexpected witness to some of the most tragic events in the 20th century local history."

The ongoing co-operation between the National Archaeological Institute with Museum, Bulgarian Academy of Science (NAIM) and the Vienna Institute for Archaeological Science, University Vienna focuses on the technological examination of the famous gold hoard from Vălčitrăn, BG. In its current form it represents one of the biggest ensemble of gold artefacts dating to the Bronze Age within Europe, it includes 13 objects with an overall weight of about 12,4 kg of gold. Its archaeological meaning and cultural historical classification are still a much-debated topic. The aim of the currently ongoing analyses is the description of a complete object biography, starting at the raw material to the manufacture of a finished product to its reuse or deposition. Doing so, several working techniques – including casting, hammering, engraving, soldering and silver-gold inlays – at individual objects of the hoard could be documented. Up to this point, it can be concluded, that for the production of these extraordinary artefacts a defined number of techniques have been applied, showing the high experience of the craftsmen. It can be assumed that the craftsmen could most likely resort to metallurgical knowledge on the casting of non-ferrous and precious metals acquired empirically over a long time.  .
Der Schatzfund von Vălčitrăn, BG repräsentiert eines der größte Ensemble an Goldgegenständen aus der Bronzezeit Osteuropas. Er besteht im heutigen Zustand 13 Objekte mit einem Gesamtgewicht von ca. 12-13 kg Gold. Seine kulturhistorische Deutung und Einordnung ist ein bis heute intensiv disktutiertes Thema. Technologische Untersuchungen können zu diesen Fragen einen wertvollen Beitrag leisten, da sie naturwissenschaftliche Forschungsmethoden zur Klärung kulturhistorischer Fragestellungen anwenden. Die technologischen Charakteristika und Parameter lassen sich in weiterer Folge zu den archäologisch-typologischen Erkenntnissen in Bezug setzen. Die noch laufenden Untersuchungen lassen bereits einige Schlussfolgerungen zu. So kann man, ausgehend von den technischen Beschreibungen, drei technologische Gruppen definieren, die sich durch unterschiedliche Techniken charakterisieren lassen. Sie werden im vorliegenden Artikel beschrieben.

In the years between 2008 and 2012, as a result of a building conversion, it has been carried out a set of archaeological excavations in the western district of Chinzica, in Pisa.
Th e archaeological investigations allowed us to bring to light a complex workshop area, designed to produce and sale glassware and metal items, chronologically framed in the period between the beginning of the thirteenth century and 1406 the year that witnessed the fl orentine conquest and the consequent destruction of the workshops.
Set in the northern sector, sealed by a thick layer of iron slag, it has been identifi ed an entire shop, apt for the production and sale of copper alloy and iron items.
Th e whole organization of the craft ing process can be reconstructed thanks to the detection of smelting furnaces, forges areas, areas for workbenches and goods storage. The numerous finds -particularly those related to the clothing accessories – show off the complete manufacturing process by off ering an insight into the techniques of the copper alloy processing. Of particular interest are the many clay crucibles and fragments of clay molds for mass production that testify to a highly specialized activity that could meet high-volume production.
The exceptionality of the ceramic context found in association with the productive areas grants us the opportunity to date the techniques and tools used in metalworking, as well as allowing a thorough analysis of the socio-economic impact of pisan blacksmiths in the city's economy.

Studies concerning European Proto-historic metallic artefacts can provide important clues about technological transfers during a period of time characterised by diverse cultural interactions. A collection of Proto-historic metallic artefacts from Medronhal (western Iberian Peninsula) composed by rings, bracelets and a fibula related to different cultural affiliations were investigated by micro-EDXRF to provide a major and a minor elemental characterisation. Results show that the Medronhal collection was manufactured in a Cu-Sn alloy (binary bronze) with similar Sn contents among the various types of artefacts and a low impurity pattern. Results of the type and quality of metal were compared to other artefact collections to infer about metallurgical parallels. Strong parallels with indigenous Late Bronze Age Iberian metallurgical productions were found.

The study of early metallurgy has many aspects and
has, accordingly, taken many forms and foci (Rehren
and Pernicka 2008 and literature therein). Some
scholars have documented the morpho-typological
evolution of artefact types and some have explored the
role of metals in creating social hierarchies, in storing
and displaying wealth, or the more transcendent role
of metals in a variety of rituals. Other researchers are
fascinated by the skills and technical achievements
of the metalworkers and their intangible heritage
as expressed in intricate castings, ingenious
manufacturing methods and elaborate surface
decorations. Yet others study the transformation of
rocks and ores to metal as documented in the slags
and furnace fragments or try to trace the geological
origins of metal objects, as a proxy for the movement
of people, materials, and ideas. The investigation
of ancient mining extends well beyond the field of
archaeometallurgy, with mines for flint, pigments,
precious stones and salt all pre-dating metal smelting,
and quarrying for building stone exceeding metal
mining both in scale and value generation (e.g. Schauer
et al. 2020). This range of interests inevitably implies the
application of a multitude of methods, borrowed from a
host of mother disciplines, adjusted and refined to form
the interdisciplinary field of archaeometallurgy. It also
makes any holistic project both a daunting prospect
and an exercise in interdisciplinary diplomacy.

El objetivo de este trabajo es someter a prueba un modelo
de proceso técnico que considera la vasija de reducción
como elemento principal de la tecnología metalúrgica
calcolítica. Aquí presentamos los resultados preliminares
obtenidos a partir de los experimentos realizados en el
Centro de Arqueología Experimental de la Algaba (Ronda,
Málaga) así como un protocolo experimental y propuestas
para estudios futuros.

The conference at Miskolc was the fifth of a series that begun in Milan in 2003, followed in 2007 by the conference in Aquileia, both in Italy. The third was held at Bochum, in Germany, in 2011 and the fourth at Madrid, Spain, in 2015. The special aim of our 2019 conference was that of emphasizing and strengthening the interdisciplinary character and the various activities in the field of archaeometallurgy and widening the focus towards Eastern Europe.

A traditional archaeological approach to the study of metal artifacts has some restrictions, because it is
unable to expose the information contained inside them about the method of their production. The
introduction of metallographic methods into archaeology has made it possible to obtain fundamentally
new types of information. The analytical framework at the disposal of the archaeological metallography
group of the Laboratory of Nature Sciences in Archaeology of the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian
Academy of Sciences makes it possible to solve many problems in the formation and development of
the iron industry, including some controversial issues.