Kazburun Archaeological Micro-district of the Late Bronze Age and Copper Ore Mines in the Southern Trans-Urals

2022 ◽  
pp. 105-113
Author(s):  
Nikolai B. Shcherbakov ◽  
Iia A. Shuteleva ◽  
Alexandra A. Golyeva
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Copper Ore

scholarly journals The Chaine Operatoire of Bronze Age Mining: Tools From the Novotemirsky Copper Mine (Southern Trans-Urals)

2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 89-115
Author(s):  
Alaeva I. ◽  
◽  
Molchanov I. ◽  
Fomichev A. ◽  
Ankushev M. ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Diffraction Analysis ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Fluorescence Analysis ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Functional Identification ◽  
X Ray Diffraction ◽  
Copper Ore ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Main Research

The paper is devoted to the problem of the development level and organization models of mining within the Eurasian metallurgical province of the Late Bronze Age in the 2nd millennium BC. The main research aim is to determine the chain of technological processes taking place at the Novotemirsky ancient mine in the Southern Trans-Urals. The sources of raw materials, traces of use, and functional identification of stone (n=58) and bone tools (n=1) were determined using traceological, petrographic, X-ray fluorescence, and X-ray diffraction analysis. All tools were divided into three groups depending on their use: mining (a casting mould for a pick), ore crushing (hammers, small hammers), supporting devices (“bases”, counterweights for lifting ore). The absence of mining and processing (grinding pestles, grinding stones) and metal-working (blacksmith hammers) tools at the Novotemirsky mine indicates a narrow range of technical operations associated only with direct mining of copper ore and ore-preparing (crushing large blocks). It is assumed that there is a partial specialization of mining, which consists in the formation of temporary miners’ collectives, who are seasonally involved in these operations. Keywords: stone tools, ancient mine, Late Bronze Age, Southern Trans-Urals, Alakul culture, traceological analysis, X-ray fluorescence analysis, X-ray diffraction analysis

scholarly journals Dig out, Dig in! Plant-based diet at the Late Bronze Age copper production site of Prigglitz-Gasteil (Lower Austria) and the relevance of processed foodstuffs for the supply of Alpine Bronze Age miners

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. e0248287
Author(s):  
Andreas G. Heiss ◽  
Thorsten Jakobitsch ◽  
Silvia Wiesinger ◽  
Peter Trebsche
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Foxtail Millet ◽  
Copper Production ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Copper Ore ◽  
Plant Macroremains ◽  
Cereal Products ◽  
Mining Communities ◽  
Daily Diet ◽  
Opencast Mines

This paper starts from theoretical and methodical considerations about the role of archaeobotanical finds in culinary archaeology, emphasizing the importance of processed cereal preparations as the “missing link” between crop and consumption. These considerations are exemplified by the discussion of abundant new archaeobotanical data from the Late Bronze Age copper mining site of Prigglitz-Gasteil, situated at the easternmost fringe of the Alps. At this site, copper ore mining in opencast mines took place from the 11th until the 9th century BCE (late Urnfield Culture), as well as copper processing (beneficiation, smelting, refining, casting) on artificial terrain terraces. During archaeological excavations from 2010 to 2014, two areas of the site were investigated and sampled for archaeobotanical finds and micro-debris in a high-resolution approach. This paper aims at 1) analysing the food plant spectrum at the mining settlement of Prigglitz-Gasteil basing on charred plant macroremains, 2) investigating producer/consumer aspects of Prigglitz-Gasteil in comparison to the Bronze Age metallurgical sites of Kiechlberg, Klinglberg, and Mauken, and 3) reconstructing the miners’ and metallurgists’ diets. Our analyses demonstrate that the plant-based diet of the investigated mining communities reflects the general regional and chronological trends rather than particular preferences of the miners or metallurgists. The lack of chaff, combined with a high occurrence of processed food, suggests that the miners at Prigglitz-Gasteil were supplied from outside with ready-to-cook and processed grain, either from adjacent communities or from a larger distance. This consumer character is in accordance with observation from previously analysed metallurgical sites. Interestingly, the components observed in charred cereal products (barley, Hordeum vulgare, and foxtail millet, Setaria italica) contrast with the dominant crop taxa (broomcorn millet, Panicum miliaceum, foxtail millet, and lentil, Lens culinaris). Foraging of fruits and nuts also significantly contributed to the daily diet.

scholarly journals To the issue of tin bronzes over the area of the Dnieper-Don region in the late bronze age

2020 ◽  
pp. 13-17
Author(s):  
Ю.М. Бровендер
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Chemical Elements ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Pure Copper ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Copper Ore ◽  
Ancient Population ◽  
Geological Surveys ◽  
Tin Deposits

The paper is devoted to tin ores as an alloying impurity in the bronze production by the ancient population of the Dnieper-Don region in the Late Bronze Age. The eastern and western supply vectors providing the local population with both ore (cassiterite) and its products are considered. The author draws attention to the assumptions of some researchers not confirmed by geological surveys about the possibility of finding tin deposits in the Donbass and Krivoy Rog basin, which could probably have been developed in the Early Metal Age. An opinion was given regarding the production of bronze from copper ore with a high content of metals - impurities in the mineral phase and separately from polymetallic ore. In ancient times for the development of any mineral, its availability for development, as well as a great volume or high content of useful mineral in ore were indispensable conditions. Due to existing technologies, the requirements for minerals in antiquity were much higher than modern ones. On the issue of tin raw materials for bronze production of the ancient population of Ukraine, attention is drawn to the assumption, not yet confirmed by geological surveys of some researchers (S.I. Tatarinov,  D.P. Kravets, D.P. Nedopako) on the possibility of finding tin deposits in such ore-rich regions of Ukraine as the Donbass and Krivoy Rog. The experimental work carried out on the basis of ores of the Kartamysh ore occurrence have indeed confirmed the idea of chemical elements redistribution, when some metals decrease and others increase. This trend with reference to the results of spectral analyzes of Bakhmut ores, slags and products of the Donetsk Mining and Metallurgical Center, performed by E.N. Chernykh was noted by S.I. Tatarinov. However, to obtain bronze, a high percentage of bronze-forming impurities is required, including tin in the minerals. However, the copper and polymetallic ores of Donbass do not contain enough tin in the initial ore to produce tin bronze. A series of our experiments yielded just pure copper. Thus, the author reposes on the commune notion, according to which it is not possible to obtain bronze from copper ores of Donbass and bronze without on purpose input of the appropriate elements into the melt.

France and The Western Alps

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
William O'Brien
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Eastern Alps ◽  
Western Alps ◽  
Copper Production ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Copper Ore ◽  
Mining Sites ◽  
Copper Mines ◽  
The Alps ◽  
Difficult Terrain

The use of copper was first established in the western Alps during the late fifth/ early fourth millennia BC. There were several metal-using groups in what is now modern Switzerland during the fourth millennium, including the Cortaillod and Pfyn cultures, followed in the third millennium BC by groups of the Saône-Rhône culture (Strahm 1994). The first direct evidence of copper production, however, only dates from the Late Bronze Age. This is based on the dating of smelting slag heaps in the valley of Oberhalbstein in the canton of Graubünden (Fasnacht 2004). These slags derive from the smelting of chalcopyrite ore derived from pillow lavas of the ophiolite geology in that area (Geiger 1984). The ability to smelt iron-rich copper ore involved a furnace technology that seems to have been first developed in the eastern Alps (see Chapter 7). No prehistoric mines are known; however, their existence may be inferred from the smelting of local ore at Late Bronze Age sites such as Savognin-Padnal and Marmorera-Stausees in the Oberhalbstein valley. Potential mining sites have been identified (see Schaer 2003), however, these have yet to be investigated in any detail. There are numerous deposits of copper mineralization in many parts of France. These occur in Brittany, the Pyrenees, the Corbières, on the margins of the Massif Central, the Maures, and the Alps. Research over the past 30 years has identified prehistoric copper mines in several of these areas. Further discoveries are possible in the difficult terrain of the Alps and Pyrenees, and also in areas where early copper mines have not been discovered, such as Brittany where deposits of steam tin and gold are also known. The oldest metal objects in France are recorded in the Paris Basin, where a small number of sheet copper beads date to the second half of the fourth millennium BC. These include the burial at Vignely (Seine-et-Marne) where a necklace of nine such beads was found with the burial of a five-year old child dated to 3499–3123 BC (Allard et al. 1998).

scholarly journals Mining under the early metal in the context of Kartamysh ore occurrence of Ukrainian Donbas

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 45-53
Author(s):  
Yurii Brovender ◽  
Hennadii Haiko ◽  
Olena Brovender
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Business Performance ◽  
Production Method ◽  
Process Engineering ◽  
Ore Deposits ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Copper Ore ◽  
Mining System ◽  
Experimental Modelling ◽  
Second Millennium Bce

Purpose is to identify process engineering of mining under the Late Bronze age (18th-13th centuries BCE) in the context of copper deposits in the Eastern Ukraine. Among other things, it concerns analysis of manufacturing artifacts (i.e. ore production and preparation) in Kartamysh archeological area within the copper-ore territory of Bakhmut basin of Donbas. Methods. Following methods have been applied: a comparative historical method supported by typological archaeological approach; statistical procedures; engineering and geological methods to determine extraction volumes and evaluate copper ore extraction from the mines in Kartamysh archaeological area as well as structural and technologic analysis; functional and typological analysis; traceological analysis; experimental modelling; and carbon dating. Findings. Analysis of the specialized mining artifacts in Kartamysh archaeological area as well as mining artifacts within other copper-ore deposits in Bakhmut basin, extracted actively under the Late Bronze age, has made it possible to consider newly a number of important issues connected with process engineering of mining, specialization and labour division of ancient miners as well as evaluate significance of Donbas copper mines for the system of metal production development in the Eastern Europe of the second millennium BCE. Originality.Analysis of Kartamysh archaeological area, where the majority of business performance objects are connected with mining, has helped the authors consider specialization of the industrial systems (i.e. different-purpose mine workings, various mining tools, and areas to prepare ore) right from the viewpoint of the production method. Since similar situation is typical for other Donets complex artifacts, being involved in scientific terminology as the mining and smelting one, it would be more reasonable to represent it as Donets ore mining system owing to its specialization in the integrated copper ore extraction and preparation. Practical implications.The research results develop the history of mining science and engineering inclusive of ancient mining history in the Eastern Ukraine. They may be applied to train mining experts and in the process of creation of museum exhibitions (looking ahead, creation of Kartamysh skansen) while synthesizing technical and humanitarian aspects of engineering activities.

The Concept of Palestine: The Conception Of Palestine from the Late Bronze Age to the Modern Period

2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nur Masalha
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Political Geography ◽  
Classical Antiquity ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Collective Consciousness ◽  
Ancient History ◽  
Master Narratives ◽  
The Bible ◽  
School History

The Concept of Palestine is deeply rooted in the collective consciousness of the indigenous people of Palestine and the multicultural ancient past. The name Palestine is the most commonly used from the Late Bronze Age (from 1300 BCE) onwards. The name Palestine is evident in countless histories, inscriptions, maps and coins from antiquity, medieval and modern Palestine. From the Late Bronze Age onwards the names used for the region, such as Djahi, Retenu and Cana'an, all gave way to the name Palestine. Throughout Classical Antiquity the name Palestine remained the most common and during the Roman, Byzantine and Islamic periods the concept and political geography of Palestine acquired official administrative status. This article sets out to explain the historical origins of the concept of Palestine and the evolving political geography of the country. It will seek to demonstrate how the name ‘Palestine’ (rather than the term ‘Cana'an’) was most commonly and formally used in ancient history. It argues that the legend of the ‘Israelites’ conquest of Cana'an’ and other master narratives of the Bible evolved across many centuries; they are myth-narratives, not evidence-based accurate history. It further argues that academic and school history curricula should be based on historical facts/empirical evidence/archaeological discoveries – not on master narratives or Old Testament sacred-history and religio-ideological constructs.

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