Lost in the South: A Roman Copper Ingot from the area of Tarragona in the Baetica (original) (raw)
Related papers
Proceedings of the XVII UISPP World Congress (1-7 September, Burgos, Spain): Volume 6/Session B 36 edited by Elisa Guerra Doce and Corina Liesau von Lettow-Vorbeck, Archaeopress 2016, avaible to buy in print and download in PDF format for free via Archaeopress Open Access. For more information regarding publishing in Open Access with Archaeopress, please visit their website. Direct link to Open Access version: http://archaeopress.com/ArchaeopressShop/Public/displayProductDetail.asp?id={44910EE6-2E5C-495E-BF06-5F5C40E2452D} Direct link to Print version: http://www.archaeopress.com/ArchaeopressShop/Public/displayProductDetail.asp?id={F10C7661-7CA6-4747-80B5-3EA1FEDE07B3} Link to publishing information: http://archaeopress.com/ArchaeopressShop/Public/defaultAll.asp?displayPage=Publish
Composition and microstructure of Roman metallic artefacts of Southwestern Iberian Peninsula
The Roman invasion introduces new alloys and metallurgical practices in Iberian Peninsula. The southwestern end of this region has many evidences of connections with the Roman World, but there are no studies about the manufacture and use of copper-based artefacts during this period. Therefore, a set of about 20 ornaments, tools and small attachments recovered at the Roman sites of Monte Molia˜o and Cidade das Rosas was studied by an analytical approach combining micro-EDXRF, optical microscopy, SEM–EDS and Vickers microhardness testing. The artefact composition shows a good correlation with function, namely pure copper for nails and rivets, lowtin bronze (2–6 wt% Sn) for basic tools, high-tin bronze (14 wt% Sn) for fibulae and high-lead bronze (19 wt% Pb) for a decorated jug handle. The manufacture also depends on function because most artefacts were subjected to thermomechanical processing, except the ornaments that would not benefit from post-casting work. Brass and gunmetal were only present in the site with a later chronology. A metallurgy visibly ruled by economical, aesthetical and technological concerns reinforces the evidences about the total integration of Southwestern Iberian Peninsula in the Roman World, but further studies will be essential to determine the evolution of copper-based alloys in Lusitania under Roman influence.
Heritage, weathering …, 2006
atice metal was recognized as a new material in prehistorical times metallic artifacts began to be made and the metallurgical skills started to develop. Metallurgical scraps found in archaeological sites normally evidence metallurgical production of artifacts in situo Studies of metal scraps can reveal the different stages ofthenno-mechanical treatments that the artifacts were subjected to in arder to obtain a selected shape and hardness. While for metal artifacts sample taking can be problematic, sample taking in metallurgical scraps can be easier since scraps have nonnally no artistic/esthetical display value. Additionally, corrosion phenomena can be evaluated in scraps that frequently have not been subjected to any conservation treatment. This paper deals with metallographic (optical and electron microscopy), EDS-SEM and EDXRF studies that have been undertaken in correr based metallurgical bars of circular and square sections from Santa Luzia site, in central Portugal.
Lead ingots from the Roman time are a particular class of fidings that can easily resist underwater: natural decay processes, after two thousand years in salt water, are often superficial and not very heavy. Thanks to the documentation provided by the ancient shipwrecks of the Mediterranean Sea, we can now count on a quite large number of ingots from the mines of Carthago Nova and, for later periods, from other Iberian and not Iberian mines. In his famous inventory, Parker recorded 46 shipwrecks with lead ingots; a lot of discoveries, some of them very recent -for example in Sicily- have increased this number. Lead ingots, moreover, are very rich of archaeological data. They can be studied through three different approaches: a typological one, considering the fidelity and the variations with respect to the standards; an epigraphic one, focused on the inscriptions, impressed or graffito, present on the surface of the artefacts; an isotopic one, retracing the origin of the metal through accurate scientific measurements. New methodologies of work, as for example tomographic inspections of the findings, can offer new data to the scholars. In this paper we discuss some new data, on the basis of recent findings and researches.