Physical Barriers, Cultural Connections: Prehistoric Metallurgy across the Alpine Region (original) (raw)
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2017
This thesis considers the early copper and copper-alloy metallurgy of the entire Circum-Alpine region. It introduces a new approach to the interpretation of chemical composition data sets, which has been applied to a comprehensive regional database for the first time. An extensive use of GIS has been applied to investigate the role of topography in the distribution of metal and to undertake spatial and geostastical analysis that may highlight patterns of distribution of some specific key compositional element. The Circum-Alpine Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age show some distinctively different patterns of metal use, which can be interpreted through changes in mining and social choices. But there are also some signs of continuity, in particular those which respect the use of major landscape features such as watersheds and river systems. Interestingly, the Alpine range does not act as a north-south barrier, as major differences in composition tend to appear on an east-west axis. Conversely, the river system seems to have a key role in the movement of metal. Geostastical analyses demonstrate the presence of a remelting process, applicable also in the case of ingots; evidence that opens new and interesting questions about the role of ingots and hoards in the distribution of metal at the beginning of the Metal Age. New tools and new analysis may also be useful to identify zones where there was a primary metal production and zones where metal was mostly received and heavily manipulated. b 3.2 A new perspective: the Flow Model .
Aspects of the earliest copper metalallurgy in the northern sub-alpine area in its cultural setting
1979
PAGE viii) Determination of copper 184 ix) Determination of tin x) Some comparison of results obtained by atomic absorption and neutron activation analysis xi) Comparison with 'Washington standards' 2. CLASSIFICATION AND STATISTICAL TREATMENT OF THE DATA .. i) Sub-cluster 1.1 vii) Cluster 9 viii) Cluster 7 ix) Cluster 5 x) Cluster 3 xi) Cluster 4 xii) Cluster 6 xiii) Cluster 8 xiv) Correlation between artifacts and copper types xv) Correlation between artifact type and culture 4. THE BRONZE CLUSTERS 260 5.
Prehistoric copper from the Eastern Alps
Open Journal of Archaeometry, 2013
The rich copper ore deposits in the Eastern Alps have long been considered as important sources for copper in prehistoric Central Europe. It is, however, not so clear which role each deposit played. To evaluate the amount of prehistoric copper production of the various mining regions it was attempted to link prehistoric metal artefacts with copper ores based on the geochemical characteristics of the ore deposits that have been exploited in ancient times. More than 120 ore samples from the well known mining districts Mitterberg, Viehhofen, Kitzbühel and Schwaz/Brixlegg have been analysed so far (lead isotope ratios, trace elements). Furthermore, about 730 archaeological copper/bronze artifacts were investigated and analysed. These results were combined with analytical data generated by previous archaeometallurgical projects in order to compile a substantial database for comparative studies. In the Early Bronze Age, most metal artifacts were made of copper or bronze with fahlore impurity patterns and most finds from this period match excellently the fahlore deposits in Schwaz and Brixlegg. At the end of the Early Bronze Age, a new variety of copper with lower concentrations of impurities appeared. The impurity patterns of these finds match the ores from the Mitterberg district. In the Middle Bronze Age, this variety of copper minated while in the Late Bronze Age fahlores from Schwaz and Brixlegg experienced a comeback. The reason for this may be a decline of the chalcopyrite mines or a rising demand for copper which could not be covered by the chalcopyrite mines alone. The finds of the Early Iron Age continue the traditions of the Late Bronze Age.
Der Anschnitt. Beiheft 42, 2019
Since the 1990s, archaeological investigations of prehistoric copper mines have been conducted in the famous mining district of Schwaz/Brixlegg in the Lower Inn Valley, North Tyrol (Austria). A large number of sites (mainly from the Late Bronze Age and up to the Early Iron Age) have been investigated so far with the aim to record and to analyse this extraordinary prehistoric mining landscape. A focal point of research is the reconstruction of the process chain connected to the prehistoric copper production comprising ore mining, beneficiation, and smelting processes. This paper discusses the final step of metal production, the smelting of copper ores. Whereas dozens of prehistoric mines and several sites with traces of mechanical ore treatment have been examined in the last years, only two smelting sites from the period under consideration are known so far. One of these sites, the smelting site Rotholz (municipality of Buch in Tyrol), could be prospected by geophysical methods (geomagnetic) and partly excavated during several campaigns in 2010 and 2015-2017. A detailed documentation of the archaeological remains could be performed in the frame of the DACH-project “Prehistoric copper production in the eastern and central Alps - technical, social and economic dynamics in space and time” (supported by the Austrian Science Fund FWF, the German research foundation DFG and the Swiss National Research Foundation SNF, 2015-2018). The Rotholz smelting site dates into the 12th/11th cent. BC (Late Bronze Age, Urnfield culture, dated by 14C-analysis). The basic raw material used for the local copper production were fahlores which occur in considerable quantities in the Devonian dolomitic hostrock (Schwazer Dolomit). As a result of the excavations a multiphase roasting bed, a battery of four furnaces, a slag heap (crushed slag, slag sand) and many other informative structures could be uncovered and documented. The findings (ceramic, slags, ores, stone tools, animal bones,…) have been furnished to archaeological and archaeometrical analysis.
Journal of Archaeological Science, 2016
The Southeastern Alps were an important source of copper metal in prehistory, at least from the Eneolithic and through the Bronze Age, as documented by the abundant and substantial presence of smelting slags. Evidence of mining activity is scarce, because of limited ad hoc investigation and because of the subsequent systematic erasing by post-Medieval exploitation. Moreover, until recently the profusion of archeometallurgical and archaeological investigations focusing on the prehistoric exploitation of Northern Alpine, Central European, and Balkan ore sources has somehow obscured the early role of the Italian Southern Alps as a major copper producing area. The recent advances in the systematic characterization of the copper ores in the Southeastern Alps (including Alto Adige, Trentino, Veneto, and nearby regions) by lead isotope analysis, supported by mineralogical and geochemical interpretation, offer now the appropriate tools to re-evaluate the extent of prehistoric mining and the local patterns of ore exploitation. The developed database is a powerful tool to identify the metal derived from local production. It is suggested that (1) based on the abundance and chronological distribution of smelting slags evidence, two major periods of mining exploitation took place, the first in the middle of the 3 rd millennium BC and the second during the Late Bronze Age; and (2) based on the discrimination of copper sources and the available analyses, most of the metal circulating in Northern Italy and in the greater Po Valley region was actually produced from Southern Alpine ores.
Prehistoric copper metallurgy in the Italian Eastern Alps: recent results
The University of Padova has developed a geochemical database for the Alpine copper mines which contains lead isotope data for most of the copper deposits in the Western Alps and Italian Eastern Alps, besides a number of other geochemical tracers for selected deposits. The database fills an existing gap in available reference data and provides information for the geochemical interpretation of the mineral deposits. It is of course also an important reference for archaeometric purposes, to provenance the mineral source of slags and metal objects. Several Alpine copper deposits may now be successfully discriminated from those of other European and Mediterranean mining areas. The results obtained on a number of Copper Age and Bronze Age metal objects are presented. A few objects made with copper ores of South-East Alpine origin have been positively identified for the first time, though the data also indicate a wide circulation of copper metal possibly originating from ore sources outside the Alps.