Provenance research Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

- by Marcia Carvalho Rodrigues and +1
- •
- Provenance research, Ex Libris, Marcas de Proveniência

This paper introduces research in progress in relation to a project to digitize the East Asian collection at the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg (MKG). The two-year project started in November 2018, and digitizes information on the collection’s history together with the related objects. On this basis, my research focuses on the European networks of trading, collecting, researching, and promoting East Asian art from 1873, when the Vienna World’s Fair took place, to the beginning of World War I in 1914.

- by Wibke Schrape
- •
- Japanese Art, Digitisation Of Cultural Heritage, Art Market, Japanese Art History
- by Alice Martignon
- •
- Decorative Arts, Collecting and Collections, Art Market, Provenance research

Erfolge der Provenienzforschung bemessen sich nicht nur an der Zahl der Restitutionen, sondern auch an der Zahl der untersuchten Kulturgüter. Bundesdeutsche Museen stellen diese Zahlen aber nur selten zur Verfügung. Dabei könnte ein offensiver, transparenter Umgang mit den Forschungsergebnissen die öffentliche Kritik reduzieren. Die künftige Forschungsdatenbank des Deutschen Zentrums Kulturgutverluste, die in Teilen öffentlich zu konsultieren sein wird, soll diesem Mangel abhelfen. Daneben stellen zunehmend auch Museen, Archive und Bibliotheken ihre Ergebnisse online, zum Teil in Printform, zum Teil direkt in den Datensätzen ihrer Online-Collections. Der Beitrag stellt die o. g. Pläne wie auch exemplarisch bereits verfügbare Ressourcen und Ergebnisse vor, zeigt gelungene Beispiele und rät zu mehr Mut und Offenheit.

Based on analysis of archival sources, the article presents the thus far unresearched Nazi plunder of artistic heritage in the region of Gorenjska (Upper Carniola) during the Secod World War and focuses on organisation of operations and their protagonists. Due to the complexity and scope of the topic, identification and analysis of the plundered artworks are left for future study. The inconsistencies in understanding of the process, which arise from the numerous gaps in documentation, are overcome via a case study revealing how the operations were implemented in practice. Presented in the second part of the article, it focuses on the transfer of inventory from the church of St Lucy in Dražgoše, which was burnt down by the Germans in January 1942 in the aftermath of the battle in its immediate surroundings. A part of the artworks they removed from the church before destroying it are still missing today.

- by Katarina Mohar
- •
- Art History, Provenance research, Art plunder, Nazi-Era Provenance Research

Die Publikation stellt Fragmente jüdischer Kultur in den Handschriften und Altbeständen der Wissenschaftlichen Stadtbibliothek Mainz vor. Ihre Identifikation, Übersetzung und Interpretation leistet Andreas Lehnardt. Die Einordnung in den... more

Geschichte soll nicht nur gelesen, sie muss erzählt werden. Der Bericht Johan Adrian Jacobsens, der Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts die amerikanische Nordwestküste und Alaska bereiste, bietet ein eindrückliches Zeitdokument, das als Vorlage für... more

- by Viola Koenig and +1
- •
- Museum Anthropology, Provenance research, Pacific Northwest Coast archaeology, Northwest Coast Art

The Norwegian Adrian Jacobsen collected seven thousand objects on the northwest coast of America and in Alaska for the Ethnological Museum in Berlin. He had close ties with the Hamburg zoo director Carl Hagenbeck, both in business and in private. When Adrian couldn't find a job at the Berlin Museum after his big collecting trip was over, he hired a group of nine Nuxalk men, members of an indigenous group in British Columbia who lived north of Vancouver and were called 'Bella Coola' by Europeans at the time. He had them travel to Germany, where they performed in different cities.
The stay of the Nuxalk differed in many ways from the other Völkerschauen. They were not forcibly recruited “exotic people” but actively involved in the organization and design of their shows

- by Viola Koenig
- •
- Museum Anthropology, Provenance research, Pacific Northwest Ethnography, Bella Coola

The petrographic and geochemical composition of the Dharla River sediments has been examined to infer their sediment type, degree of weathering, provenance, and tectonic settings. Petrographically the sediments are characterized by the high quartz content (64.97 to 74.24 wt%), followed by feldspar (7.04 to 15.20 wt%), mica (5.38 to 19.92 wt%), lithic fragment (3.46 to 8.14 wt%), and heavy minerals (1.98 to 6.94 wt%). Geochemical composition shows marked enrichment of SiO 2 (mean ~ 74.16%) and a strong negative correlation with the other major oxides because of quartz dilution. The Chemical index of alteration (CIA, 45.52 to 63.51); Plagioclase index of alteration (PIA, 43.13 to 66.55); W index (20.15 to 32.86) and Rb/Sr ratios (0.35 to 0.98) suggest low to moderate intensity of chemical weathering in the source area. Geochemical classifications of the studied samples show mostly litharenitic immature type of sediments also reflects high index of compositional variability (ICV, 0.96 to 1.72). The ternary diagrams of Al 2 O 3-(CaO + Na 2 O)-K 2 O (or A-CN-K) and of mafic rocks, felsic rocks and degree of weathering of the source rocks (or MFW) and several immobile trace element ratios (e.g. light rare earth element/heavy rare earth element or LREE

- by Md Mahabubur Rahman
- •
- Geology, Geochemistry, Mineralogy, Trace element Geochemistry

Unpuplished 1 paper and 1 excerpt of Museum Main Catalogue, compiled in 2008 in preparation of the exhibition "Benin - 600 Jahre höfische Kunst aus Nigeria. An exhibition of the Ethnological Museum, National Museums in Berlin in co-operation with the Museum für Völkerkunde in Vienna, the National Commission for Museums and Monuments in Nigeria, the musée du quai Branly in Paris and The Art Institute of Chicago. 02/08 to 5/25, 2008. By Africa Curator P. Junge for V. König, Director.
Iranola Akinolu Akingun-Roberts, Director General of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Abuja/Nigeria, opened the exhibition together with the Director General of the Staatliche Musuenn zu Berlin. It was expected that Iranola Akinolu Akingun-Roberts would address the claim for restitution of the works to Nigeria. However, in his speech and conversation, Iranola Akinolu Akingun-Roberts expressed his wish for collaboration in the first place, and did not demand any restitution.

- by Viola Koenig
- •
- History of Collections, Nigeria, Provenance research, Benin

The radial variation of the selected physical and mechanical properties of Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) H. Karst) wood from the provenance area in Głuchów. Spruce wood (Picea abies (L.) H. Karst) is one of the main species used in building constructions. Due to the wide occurrence, it is important to test various origins and in this way select those with the best material properties. Wood was obtained from one habitat from a provenance experimental area in Głuchów from 40-year-old trees. For the study, trees from three different origins were selected: Nowe Ramuki, Bliżyn and Rycerka Praszywka II (origin from respectively northern, central and southern Poland-seedlings came from these places). Spruce wood from Bliżyn, which is the closest to the proven research area in Głuchów, reached the highest average values in all studied traits (density, ultrasonic wave velocity, dynamic and static modulus of elasticity and static bending strength) and was characterized by the highest variability of these features. Regardless of the origin, the above-mentioned features of the wood showed a clear upward trend going from the pith to the to the side of the trunk.

Samenvatting Ballast en ballaststenen zijn archeologisch erg ondergewaardeerde objecten en kregen traditioneel weinig aandacht in de wetenschappelijke literatuur omdat hun potentieel onvoldoende bekend is. Nochtans vormt de aanwezigheid van vele honderden "exotische" ballaststenen in het middeleeuwse havenlandschap van Brugge nu extra materieel bewijs voor belangrijke handelsactiviteiten van de voormalige metropool met verschillende havensteden uit het Baltoscandische zeegebied en Oost-Engeland, vooral tijdens de Hanze-periode. Deze ballaststenen zijn bovendien een echte geologische primeur: het is de eerste vondst in Vlaanderen van antropogeen aangevoerde noordelijke zwerfstenen, buiten het gebruikelijke areaal van voorkomen van glaciale afzettingen in Noord-West Europa. In het kader van een grootscheeps multidisciplinair landschapsarcheologisch onderzoek van het Zwingebied door de Vak-groep Archeologie van de Universiteit Gent, bracht gedetailleerd onderzoek van ballaststenen nieuw bewijs voor reeds gekende of vermoede historische Hanseatische vaarroutes. Bovendien gaf het geologisch onderzoek van de ballaststenen ook interessante aanwijzingen over hun vermoedelijke herkomstgebieden en verzamelplaatsen. Tegenwoordig duiken middeleeuwse ballaststenen regelmatig terug op bij de inspectie van natuursteen in bestratingen en historische gebouwen: ballaststenen werden hergebruikt als kasseistenen of als bouwstenen in de voormalige middeleeuwse voorhavens van Brugge, zoals Damme, Hoeke, Monnikenrede, Oostkerke, Aardenburg, Sint Anna ter Muiden en Sluis. Sleutelwoorden: noordelijke zwerfstenen, hergebruik, Zwin, Baltische Zee, Oost-Engeland 1 Universiteit Gent, Vakgroep Archeologie, roland.dreesen@telenet.be & Belgische Geologische Dienst, Brussel 2 Universiteit Gent, Vakgroep Archeologie, W.Declercq@UGent.be 1. Ballast en ballaststeen "Navigare necesse est (vivere non est necesse) […]" varen is noodzakelijk (het is niet nodig te leven…): deze woorden van de Romeinse proconsul Gnaius Pompeius (56 v.C.) zijn in de loop van de geschiedenis uitgegroeid tot een aanduiding voor het economische en militaire belang van de scheepvaart. Dit (halve) citaat zou ook als motto kunnen hebben gediend voor de laat-middeleeuwse Hanze. Varen is dus noodzakelijk maar alle boten hebben daarvoor ook ballast nodig. Ballast geeft een boot immers de nodige stabiliteit en belet dat deze gaat kapseizen wanneer hij onvoldoende of ongelijk geladen is met cargo. Dat het slecht en snel kan vergaan wordt bewezen door het Zweedse oorlogsschip Vasa dat op zijn "maidentrip" in 1628 na nauwelijks 1300 m te hebben gezeild in de haven van Stockholm, plots kapseizde en zonk, omwille van problemen met de ballast. Het ruim bevatte nochtans 10 000 ballaststenen (120 ton). Ze bleken echter onvoldoende om het destabiliserende effect van de hoogte en het grote gewicht van het schip (1200 ton) te compenseren. De Vasa lag inderdaad veel te hoog boven de waterlijn en kon zich niet meer oprichten om zijn evenwicht terug te vinden na slagzij te hebben germaakt als gevolg van enkele windstoten (https:// www.vasamuseet.se/en/vasa-history). Vele handelswaren uit de klassieke en middeleeuwse wereld, zoals stokvis en zijde, hadden bovendien een laag gewicht en hun transport per schip maakte het gebruik van voldoende ballast noodzakelijk, een praktijk die evengoed gold voor schepen die zeilden zonder cargo. Tegenwoordig pompt men water in grote ballasttanks maar vroeger was ballast uitsluitend vast: zand, grind of steen, soms ijzer en baksteen of elk ander vast materiaal dat voorhanden was daar waar het schip aanmeerde. Na de cargo te hebben ontladen in de haven van bestemming was deze ballast niet meer nodig en werd ze ter plekke achtergelaten, vaak gewoon overboord gesmeten, in zee of aan land. Wanner ballast echter op land belandde, kon deze opnieuw gebruikt worden, ofwel opnieuw als ballast ofwel voor een andere bestemming, bijvoorbeeld als nuttige grondstof:

- by Roland Dreesen
- •
- Geoarchaeology, Provenance research, glacial erratics

The Ghent Altarpiece in the Word War I.

- by Stephan Kemperdick and +1
- •
- History of Museums, History of Collections, Provenance research, Jan Van Eyck

Cultural objects have a special, protected, status because of their intangible ‘heritage’ value to people, as symbols of an identity. This has been so since the first days of international law and, today, there is an extensive legal framework to protect cultural objects and to prohibit looting. Despite this, for as long as demand exists and profits are high, cultural objects continue to be looted, smuggled and traded. At some point, their character tends to change from protected heritage in an original setting to valuable art and commodity in the hands of new possessors. In this new setting, the legal status of such objects most likely will be a matter of ownership and the private law regime in the country where they happen to end up. This article suggests that, irrespective of the acquired rights of others, original owners should still be able to rely on a ‘heritage title’ if there is a continuing cultural link. The term aims to capture the legal bond between cultural objects and p...

- by Evelien Campfens
- •
- Law, Cultural Heritage, Political Science, Indigenous Peoples Rights

This collection of essays highlights the enduring significance of provenance and its implications for historians and art historians, as well as students and researchers engaged in museum studies. It also offers an opportunity to demonstrate its relevance to other fields of expertise, such as conservation, visual culture studies, aesthetics, authentication, and connoisseurship versus technology as a means of establishing attributions and detecting forgeries. Provenance is still of vital importance to jurisdiction, whether it concerns property law or ownership. It also remains topical because of the ongoing debates over looted art in the 1930s and 1940s and the illicit trade in antiquities conducted from Iraq and Syria by terrorist groups.

- by Gal Ventura and +1
- •
- Museum Studies, Museology, History of Collections (Archaeology), Provenance research

This essay shows the provenance for one of Arthur Streeton’s greatest paintings, The Grand Canal (1908) which has not been featured in major Streeton publications of the late nineteenth century, or twentieth century, because it has been... more

- by Sara E Cole and +2
- •
- Egyptology, Provenance research, Ancient Egyptian Art and Archaeology
- by Šárka Radostová
- •
- History, Art History, Provenance, Collecting and Collections
- by David Saunders and +1
- •
- Classical Archaeology, Museum Studies, Classical Art, Provenance research

Using an illustrated album of the Qing imperial court of the eighteenth century as a case study, the article explores the specific challenges presented for provenance re-search by this type of object, as well as the reciprocal benefits of interlinking research in provenance with that of traditional art history. The Huangchao Liqi Tushi (HCLQTS), or the Illustrations of Imperial Ritual Paraphernalia, is an illustrated en-cyclopedic album of Qing imperial regulations and codes. The album discussed here was potentially looted from the Qing imperial garden, the Yuanming yuan, in 1860 by Anglo-French troops. Today, seven public institutions across the world are known to hold pages of the coloured version of the HCLQTS. In Europe, the Victoria & Albert Museum, the National Museum of Scot-land, the National Museum of Ireland, and the British Library all have incomplete sections of the HCLQTS in their collections. In North America, the Mactaggart Collection of the University of Alberta Museums also holds an incomplete section. As research on this project is ongoing, a comprehensive report on the album’s provenance will not yet be outlined. Instead, the author shares his experience on how disregarded marks on the back of each page, together with the materials typically categorised as art historical, provided essential support for provenance investigation in a case where limited records were available.

- by Haoyang Zhao
- •
- Provenance research, History of Collecting, Qing Court Art, Huangchao Liqi Tushi
- by Anna Ecsedy
- •
- Art History, Architecture, Early Modern Hungarian History, 17th century Europe

Lapis lazuli is among the earliest and most priced ornamental stone worked to produce carvings, beads
and inlays as early as the 4th millennium BC. It is an heterogeneous rock composed of blue lazurite
Na3Ca(Si3Al3O12)S mixed with other minerals like calcite, diopside and pyrite. The historical source of
lapis lazuli in antiquity is supposedly located in Afghanistan, in the Sar-e-Sang district, while other
sources are known in Tajikistan and Russia (Baïkal area).
This work focuses on the lapis-lazuli of the Egyptian treasure of Tôd dated from Middle Kingdom
(20th c. BC). Deposited in four copper boxes, it consists of thousands of blocks of raw lapis lazuli, minute
fragments, beads and carvings stylistically dated to various periods. This discovery raises the question of
the use of lapis lazuli in ancient Egypt because there is no source of lapis in this country. In addition, most
of the lapis lazuli artefacts are strongly weathered. The aim of this work is to understand the alteration
process and to verify if its provenance can still be determined.
A few artefacts were analysed using the new external microbeam line of the AGLAE facility of the
C2RMF. The mineral phases were identified and corresponding trace elements (e.g. Ti, As, Ni, Ba) were
ascribed using the quantitative PIXE elemental maps collected on the entire artefacts or on cross-sections.
In parallel, the IBIL spectrum recorded for each point in the image provided an additional fingerprint of
the luminescent phases, notably mineral species belonging to the cancrinite group. Most alteration products appeared to derive from the oxidation of the pyrite FeS2. It was observed that the alteration process
extends to the core of most investigated artefacts. Despite such a strong alteration state, the chemical fingerprints recorded on the studied artefacts proved to be consistent with that of lapis lazuli from historical
deposit of Badakshan, Afghanistan, previously investigated using the same l-PIXE/l-IBIL protocol

- by Pedro Campos and +1
- •
- Archaeology, Provenance, Provenance research, micro-PIXE

The Sarawak Museum Registration Book describes sun-hat No.90/62 as “one old Sa’ban rare sun-hat” acquired by the Sarawak Museum in 1990. It is rare because it is not found at the borderland Sa’ban settlement of Long Banga, but comes from the upper Bahau river in Kalimantan. There, the sun-hat is made by Kenyah Lepo Keh and Kenyah Lepo Maut and is known as a sa’ung seling. An earlier version of this sun-hat, No.1233 in the Sarawak Museum collection from the early twentieth century, states that this example was “looted” from the Madang (Badeng) and then donated to the museum. The key to unravelling the biographical history of each hat lies with analysing the notes on provenance in the Sarawak Museum Ethnology Registration Book in order to track down the circumstances of each acquisition. Further to this, this case-study illustrates that different examples of the same object may have very different biographies, with their trajectories extending beyond the limited field of their assumed provenance to reveal a significance beyond their immediate usage.

Tracing looted instruments and music material

- by Marko Jelusić
- •
- Art History, Second World War, World War II, Provenance research
- by Marko Jelusić
- •
- Art History, Museum Studies, Second World War, History of Collections
- by Sven Pabstmann
- •
- History of Collections, Art Market, Museum Collection history, Provenance research

Nel saggio si ripercorrono i momenti salienti della storia collezionistica di alcune delle opere più significative dell'artista italiano Mimmo Rotella (Catanzaro, 1918 - Milano, 2006) giunte in collezioni pubbliche nazionali e... more

- by Veronica Locatelli
- •
- Cultural Studies, Art History, Art Theory, Museum Studies

The Princessehof Museum in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands, was founded in 1917 by the notary Nanne Ottema. He had a particular interest in Chinese ceramics and acquired an extensive collection on which he also published several books. Even though Ottema never travelled to Asia, a major part of his collection was gathered there by other individuals. In particular the collections assembled during the early twentieth century in Indonesia (the former Dutch East Indies) by Anne Tjibbes van der Meulen (1862- 1934) and Reinier Verbeek (1841-1926) form an important part of the Princessehof collection. The former is particularly known for its collection of storage jars (also known as martaban) and the latter for its collection of Zhanghzou ware. These ceramics had often for centuries been important heirloom pieces for local families, while other pieces were found during excavations. One notable example are several Tang dynasty storage jars found in the vicinity of the Borobudur. This article will discuss the formation of the Asian ceramics collection at the Princessehof by looking at these two collectors and highlighting the provenance of several exemplary objects.

- by Eline van den Berg
- •
- Museum Studies, Colonialism, Indonesia, Provenance research
- by Erin Gibbons
- •
- Archaeology, Museum Studies, Museum, Holocaust Studies

The paper covers the research conducted in 2018 to identify the provenance of an early-nineteenth-century engraving of The Sistine Madonna after Raphael, which has been part of the collection of the Maymont Mansion Museum since its foundation. The engraving, of exceptional clarity and crispness, is a proof made "before any letters," i.e., before any inscriptions, dedications, or other identifying marks. The research led to its identification as an “Avanti Lettera” of the famous Madonna di San Sisto by Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Müller.
Maymont is a late-Victorian estate in Richmond, Virginia, considered a nationally important treasure house and a distinct testimonial of the Gilded Age. The eclectic collection at The Maymont Mansion Museum comprises a great variety of different styles and epochs and many treasures, including tapestries, fine European and Asian porcelain, oriental rugs, Tiffany & Co. treasures, paintings, and other works of art. Marian themes, mainly through reproductions of famous paintings, represent a particular tract of the collection itself.
Alongside researching the provenance of the Müller engraving, the paper focuses on the "why" such a print became part of the Maymont collection. Ample sections are dedicated to the fortune of Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Müller's work and to the influence of Marian imagery to taste and collecting in America in the second half of the nineteenth century.

This article attempts to classify monograms that appear on Fabergé pieces. The frequent use of monograms on objects of decorative and applied art produced by master craftsmen of this particular jewellery firm pieces firm makes it possible to extrapolate the results of systematisation on the majority of Russian-made wares with monograms dating from the second half of the nineteenth – early twentieth century.
Two major monogram types were used in the Russian Empire: a monogram with a crown (nobility) and without a crown (all other social classes). The research identified no less than 5,000 pieces created by the Fabergé firm, all of them bearing monograms with a crown. Such a vast number of monograms attributable to an enormous amount of commissions from the House of Romanovs for bespoke gifts for both members of the imperial family and their relatives living abroad. It has been established that over 80% of all pieces bear monograms of donors, with the rest of the monograms designating donees.
While attempting to attribute the pieces based on the monograms they bear, the researchers encountered quite a few controversies: most of them stemmed from the duplication of their famous clients’ initials. One such example is a cigarette case that auctioned at Sotheby’s in 2009. The monogram on the cigarette case can be deciphered in two ways – as WA and as AW: in the first case, the cigarette case might have belonged to Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich (1847–1909), whereas in the second case it might have been his son, Andrey Vladimirovich (1879–1956). Incorrect interpretation of the monogram, therefore, may lead to the misattribution of the object. As thorough examination of these works has clearly demonstrated, it is not enough to decipher a monogram to establish the provenance of the piece – one needs to corroborate it with solid evidence from archives or other documentary sources.

- by Dmitry Krivoshey and +1
- •
- Russian Studies, Art History, Provenance, Russian History

In this paper I focus on a set of five misericords which came onto the art market a couple of years ago. Offered by a British auction house the misericords are described as originating from Spain. The exact provenance is however not known. The quest for their origin leads from France to Germany and Spain. The surprising outcome of this research in Central Spain is presented in this paper.

- by Christel Theunissen
- •
- Art History, Medieval Studies, Medieval Art, Art Market

Die Nationalgalerie der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin besitzt eine der weltweit bedeutendsten Sammlungen der Kunst des 20. Jahrhunderts. Das zweibändige Bestandsverzeichnis enthält 1.800 Werke der Zeit 1905 bis 1945. Es dokumentiert eindrücklich die Entwicklung der Kunst mit Werken des Expressionismus, Dada oder der Neuen Sachlichkeit bis hin zu anderen nationalen und internationalen Tendenzen. Die im Katalog versammelten Werke umfassen Malerei, Skulptur und Grafik von hunderten Künstlerinnen und Künstlern wie Max Beckmann, Lovis Corinth, Otto Dix, Georges Grosz, Hannah Höch, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Paul Klee, Lotte Laserstein, Pablo Picasso oder René Sintenis. Neben diesen Protagonisten sind auch zahlreiche Werke zu finden, die in die allzu simple Erzählung einer reinen Avantgarde-Geschichte nicht passen und andere Perspektiven auf die Kunst jener Zeit eröffnen. Die Werke werden mit präzisen, vielfach neu erforschten Werk- und Ankaufsdaten und anhand von prägnanten Kurztexten vorgestellt. Der vollständig bebilderte Katalog enthält Texte von über 50 namhaften Autorinnen und Autoren. Zwei einführende Aufsätze erläutern die Geschichte der Sammlung und ihre Bedeutung für die Kunstgeschichte.

- by Maike Steinkamp
- •
- Abstract Art, Modern Art, Surrealism, History of Museums

Abstract and list of chapters for doctoral thesis.

- by Anne-Marie Eze
- •
- Rare Books and Manuscripts, Provenance, Provenance research, History of Collecting
- by Gudrun Swoboda
- •
- Museology, Provenance research, Vienna, Habsburg

Since the mid-1970s a Bronze Age assemblage of metal objects has been recovered from the seabed off the south Devon coast at Salcombe, southwest England. The assemblage spans two suspected shipwreck events and comprises nearly 400 pieces of raw materials and finished artefacts, primarily in copper, tin, bronze and gold. Among these are 280 copper and 40 tin ingots, by far the largest discovery of Bronze Age ingots in either metal from northwestern Europe. Research in recent years revealed the microstructural and chemical nature of the ingots and enabled some preliminary conclusions on the metals trade in Europe in the Later Bronze Age. The present study aims to extend this knowledge by determining the tin, copper and lead isotopic compositions of the ingots using HR-MC-ICP-MS. In addition, bronze artefacts (swords, rapiers, palstaves and weights) from the Salcombe site are included in the multi-proxy approach in order to investigate their history and the possible relationships between finished products and ingots. In combination with the available chemical data of previous studies, the current results of the tin metal show that most likely two tin sources in southwest Britain supplied the ore for their production. This also sheds light on Late Bronze Age tin ingots from Israel that share the same geochemical characteristics with one group of the finds from Salcombe. Although the tin in the bronzes is similar to the tin in the ingots, it is not certain that the latter were used to make the bronzes. Correlations of copper and tin isotopes and trace elements of the bronzes point to a mixing or even recycling of copper-tin alloys rather than the alloying of individual components of copper and tin. However, the copper ingots from the assemblage could have been an additional component in the mixing process given their impurity pattern and isotopic composition. At the same time, a close relationship between swords of the Rosnoën type and palstaves from the cargo is disclosed. Lead isotope ratios for their part suggest Sardinian and/or south Spanish copper ores as a source for both the copper ingots and the copper of the bronzes. This would mean long-distance metal trade in the Later Bronze Age in both cases and would provide new insights into the interpretation of the prehistoric networks in Europe.

- by Daniel Berger and +2
- •
- Archaeology, Stable Isotope Analysis, Recycling, Stable Isotopes