Casting Doubt: Economic and Technological Considerations Regarding Metal Casting in the Ancient World (original) (raw)

The lost wax casting technique is almost impossible to use if the finished object must be of a specified weight or must utilize all of a given batch of metal. This basic fact helps to explain why Old World ancient gold jewelry, particularly of Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine origin, is almost always-hand wrought rather than cast. Similar considerations relate to the manufacture of copper-alloy weights or other objects which appear to be of predetermined weight. The study of the manufacture of archaeological and ancient art objects should attempt to explain why they were made by a particular method. Frequently the answer is obvious, but sometimes the ancient choice of technique can reflect practicalities or features of economics that are less readily apparent today. Consideration of ancient craft practices along these lines can shed light on problems concerning many manufacturing processes. For the purposes of this paper, metal casting is taken as a case in point.