Investigating Technological Changes in Copper-Based Metals Using Portable XRF Analysis. A Case Study in Sicily (original) (raw)
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STAR: Science & Technology of Archaeological Research
An analytical study is presented, aimed to determine the elemental composition of copperbased artefacts dated back from Copper Age to Early Iron Age (mid-fourth millennium to the VIIIth century B.C.), found on the Tyrrhenian side of the peninsula, corresponding to the Lazio region. The objects belong to different archaeological contexts and had various functions. They were analysed by the X-ray fluorescence technique. The results highlight the experimental character of Copper Age metallurgy, which will later evolve in the established use of copper-tin alloys. Regarding the Bronze Age, despite the typological and functional heterogeneity of the artefacts and the wide chronological range, the alloys are relatively homogeneous in composition, with regular changes that appear related to chronology, according to what is already known for the Italian peninsula. Such changes are supposedly due to variations in the availability of tin, which was not locally mined. Early Iron Age metallurgy is represented by the Selvicciola Hoard solely, which restricts the possibility of generalizing the conclusions. A striking feature of the alloys is the great compositional difference between the complete and the fragmented artefacts. The formers are made of tin bronze, whereas in the latter tin is replaced by antimony and/or lead. The use of such unusual alloys is unlikely due to lack of metallurgical knowledge. Considering the urbanized communities that arose in the Middle-Tyrrhenian area during the Early Iron Age, we suppose that such variability in a single context might be related to a production system capable of using alloys of different quality and value to satisfy a diversified demand.
Early copper metallurgy in Central Italy: Issues of production and social consumption
The Later Neolithic (c. 4500 to 3600 BC) and the Copper Age (c. 3600 to 2200 BC) in central Italy witness the first introduction and diffusion of copper-base artefacts. Metal finds are very limited during the Neolithic, though their number increases remarkably in the Copper Age, up to almost 400 items. Interestingly, it is observed that the scarce Neolithic metal artefacts are evenly distributed within settlement and burial sites, whereas the vast majority of the Copper Age finds are located in funerary contexts. It appears that metallurgy played a marginal role within the Neolithic communities, and it progressively became an important element within prehistoric society during the 4 th and the 3 rd millennia BC. There is also little doubt that burial played a key role as a social arena for metal to be fully incorporated into prehistoric society. However, it is not yet clear how far metal objects were used in the Copper Age before being deposited in graves, and whether some artefacts were used at all. Prior to entering the grave copper axes, daggers and awls may have been used within different spheres of action and for different purposes. In order to understand how a major technological innovation such as metallurgy was integrated into Copper Age society, metal objects need to be investigated to assess their potential both as tools and as symbols. The Copper Age in Central Italy, being coincident with the first massive diffusion of copper-base metallurgy in the area, seems to be an appropriate example to investigate in detail the parallel development of metallurgical techniques and their impact on society. Representative copper objects from funerary sites have been carefully selected on the basis of context, chronology, typology, and geographical distribution. The objects are being investigated by a range of analytical techniques (X-ray fluorescence, optical metallography, mass spectrometry, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction) in order to assess: (1) their physico-chemical properties and how far they could have been used as practical tools; (2) the provenance and diffusion of the metal; (3) the relationship between chemical composition, manufacturing process, and typology. The functionality of these objects, based on experimental parameters, allows a better understanding of their practical and symbolic role within prehistoric society in Central Italy.
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2018
Reports is aimed at archaeologists and scientists engaged with the application of scientific techniques and methodologies to all areas of archaeology. The journal focuses on the results of the application of scientific methods to archaeological problems and debates of wide interest. It provides a forum for reviews and scientific debate of issues in scientific archaeology and their impact in the wider subject. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports publishes papers of excellent archaeological science. Case studies, reviews, and short papers are welcomed where an established or new scientific technique sheds light on archaeological questions and debates. The research must be demonstrably contextualised within national and/or international contexts. The application of analytical techniques must be underpinned by clear archaeological or methodological research questions and set within established and/or developing research frameworks. Submission of papers focused around the analysis of single or small numbers/groups of objects is strongly discouraged, unless of exceptional quality and international significance. Datasets must be statistically robust.
The Copper Age in northern Italy
During the period between the IVth and IIIrd millennia BC, profound changes for the ancient populations inhabiting the northern region of Italy occurred. The first Indo-European migrations were altering the ethnographic characteristics and, with the production of the first copper artifacts, the Neolithic Age was drawing to an end. The most significant testimony of that dramatic period is unquestionably the Ötztal iceman. In addition, many other valuable archaeological sites, such as Alba (Cuneo, Italy), have been discovered. Although Alba produced the oldest evidence of copper objects in a Neolithic context (5380 ± 40 BP; GX-25859-AMS), more recent discoveries have underlined the importance of this archaeological site. In this paper we will report on a series of radiocarbon measurements of bone remnants which, combined with morphologic, stratigraphic, paleoanthropologic, and paleopathologic studies, have allowed us to gain new insights into the culture and chronology of the European Copper Age.
The transition between Copper and Bronze Ages in Southern Italy and Sicily
in: H.H. Meller, R. Risch, R. Jung, H. W. Arz (eds.), 2200 BC - Ein Klimasturz als Ursache für den Zerfall der alten Welt? │2200 BC - A climatic breakdown as a cause for the collapse of the old world? , 2015
The date of 22oo BC corresponds conventionally in Italy and Sicily to the transition between the Copper and the Bronze Ages. The discussion will proceed by considering three major geographic sub-areas – south-western Italy, corresponding to Campania and Calabria, south-eastern Italy, corresponding to Apulia and Basilicata, and Sicily – and a subdivision into four main chronological phases. The first phase, corresponding to an early stage of the Late Copper Age dating roughly from 28oo/275o BC to 26oo/255o BC, sees the diffusion of the Laterza Culture groups across southern Italy and the Malpasso Culture in Sicily (the latter, probably with an earlier origin, is sometimes associated with the so-called Sant’Ippolito painted style). The second phase, corresponding to an advanced stage of the Late Copper Age, probably starts around 26oo/255oBC and ends somewhere around 235o/23ooBC. During this period, processes of local evolution and changes in previous traditions are seen, together with a limited introduction of the »international« Bell Beaker Culture group (fairly common only in western Sicily). The third phase, corresponding to a final stage of the Late Copper Age, spans from 235o/23ooBC to 215o/21ooBC. This is a phase of transition, during which we see a disappearance or a marked weakening of older traditions (Laterza and Malpasso), and the spread of new Culture groups and ceramic styles. In southern Italy, Cetina-related cultural elements of trans-Adriatic origin spread, and in Sicily, besides some artefacts relating to a late Beaker tradition and a very limited presence of Cetina-related pottery (sometimes called »Thermi Ware«), painted potteries of the so-called Naro-Partanna style appear, a style preluding to the subsequent Castelluccio Culture group. The fourth phase corresponds to the Early Bronze Age, beginning around 215o/21ooBC and ending at approximately 165oBC. This period is characterised by regional long-lasting archaeological facies like Palma Campania, prov. Naples, in Campania (evolving within the Protoapennine Culture group in a late phase of the Early Bronze Age); Cessaniti, prov. Vibo Valentia, in Calabria; Capo Graziano 1, prov. Messina, in the Aeolian Islands, and Castelluccio, prov. Syracuse, in Sicily (coexisting with the Rodì-Tindari-Vallelunga Culture group). Phenomena of depopulation and cultural discontinuity are attested in peninsular Italy, and mainly correspond to the earliest phase of transition from the Late Copper Age to the Early Bronze Age, dating to the late 22nd century BC and early 21st century BC.
Metallurgy in Italy between the Late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age: the Coming of Iron
Papers in Italian Archaeology VI, Communities and Settlements from the Neolithic to the Early Medieval Period. Proceedings of the 6th Conference of Italian Archaeology (Groningen 2003), BAR Int. Series 1452 (II), Oxford 2005.
Metallurgy had a special flourishing in Italian area between Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age. The large number of metal finds testifies this very peculiar moment; they are coming from settlements, tombs and hoards. Most of these objects are made of bronze, but there are also some realised in iron or bimetallic (bronze and iron) too. The alloying technology of copper reaches its apogee, as it is shown by the generalised use of bronze during LBA. The metallurgical analyses demonstrate that frequently copper came from recycling. Italian metallurgists of LBA and EIA used different copper alloys according to the mechanical and physical characteristics of the object they want to realise. This paper focalizes some areas of Italian territory, that are better known at present: Northern Italy, the East Alpine area, Lombardy and the Po valley, where there are the late Terramare; Central Italy, Etruria (Tuscany and Northern Latium); the Southern Italy, Calabria; besides the two main islands, Sardinia and Sicily. The spread of iron is an element of significant innovation. Recent researches give us new information about the beginnings of iron metallurgy in Italian area. So as for the bronze metallurgy, also for iron we selected some area: For the North: East Alpine area; for the Central Italy: Etruria, Latium and Campania; for the South: Calabria and Apulia; besides, Sardinia and Sicily. It seems probable that Sardinia had a relevant role in the diffusion of iron technology toward continental Italy.
Journal of Mining and Metallurgy, Section B: Metallurgy, 2009
The project aims to characterize, by a corpus of archaeometric analyses, an assemblage of finds known as the Fucino bronzes, most of which lacking of finding data. The Fucino bronzes include bronzes emerged during the Fucino lake drainage, at the end of the XIX century, and bronzes locally bought or dug after that by a number of collectors on behalf of various italian museums, where the finds are currently dispersed.
Antiquity, 2010
Precision radiocarbon dating continues to bring historical order into key moments of social and economic change, such as the use of metals. Here the author dates human bone in graves with metal artefacts and shows that copper, antimony and silver were being fashioned into daggers and beads in west central Italy by the early to mid fourth millennium cal BC; but the newfangled objects had not reached contemporary cemeteries on the other side of the Apennines. We can perhaps look forward to a time when the arrival of metallurgy in Europe is neither diffusionary nor piecemeal, but the result of real historical events and social contacts, mapped for us by radiocarbon.