ICP-AES comparative study of some Late Bronze Age hoards: Evidence for low impurity bronzes in the Eastern Alps

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 Dominated 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 are of similar composition and continue the traditions of the Late Bronze Age.

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‘LITERACIES’ – 60+ YEARS OF ‘READING’ THE AEGEAN LATE BRONZE AGE

Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies ◽

10.1111/j.2041-5370.2014.00076.x ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 57 (2) ◽

pp. 127-137

Author(s):

JOHN BENNET

Keyword(s):

Comparative Study ◽

Bronze Age ◽

Academic Discipline ◽

Critical Mass ◽

Late Bronze Age ◽

Archaeological Data ◽

The 1950S ◽

Linear B

Abstract Inaugurated in January 1954, the ‘Minoan Linear B Seminar’ explored the information emerging from Ventris' decipherment of Linear B in 1952. The new academic discipline of ‘Mycenaean Studies’ rapidly moved on from questions influenced by the field's ‘pre-history’ dating back a further 60 years to Evans' first publication on Aegean scripts. Intense philological and epigraphical research in the 1950s and 1960s laid the foundations for comparative study of the Mycenaean palatial societies, while a greater appreciation of archaeological data and contexts moved interpretation on in the 1980s and 1990s. Building on this tradition, Mycenaean studies currently needs more documents to sustain a ‘critical mass’ of researchers and, ideally, a new Ventris to unlock the Aegean scripts that remain undeciphered.

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The Sword-bearers

Antiquity ◽

10.1017/s0003598x00004476 ◽

1930 ◽

Vol 4 (14) ◽

pp. 157-172 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Estyn Evans

Keyword(s):

Comparative Study ◽

Bronze Age ◽

Western Europe ◽

Late Bronze Age ◽

British Isles ◽

Type Specimens ◽

General Acceptance ◽

Invasion Theory ◽

Corroborative Evidence ◽

The Bronze Age

Eight years ago, in an article entitled ‘A prehistoric invasion of England’, Mr O. G. S. Crawford put forward the hypothesis that ‘towards the close of the Bronze Age the British Isles were invaded by the first wave of Celtic-speaking peoples bringing with them leaf-shaped bronze swords, many other entirely new types of bronze objects, and at least two types of pottery new to these islands’. It may perhaps be said that this view, with certain qualifications, notably as regards chronology, has met with general acceptance. A comparative study of types of bronze implements over a wide geographical field, while yielding corroborative evidence in support of the invasion theory, has also raised important problems in other directions; and it is my present object to give the results of an enquiry into the origins and distributions of certain type-specimens of the late Bronze Age cultures of western Europe.

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Centrality, ‘capitals’ and prehistoric cultures: a comparative study of late Bronze Age Crete and Cyprus

The Cambridge Classical Journal ◽

10.1017/s1750270500000270 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 56 ◽

pp. 1-46 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Ellen Adams

Keyword(s):

Comparative Study ◽

Bronze Age ◽

Capital City ◽

Comparative Approach ◽

Late Bronze Age ◽

Capital Cities ◽

Central Places ◽

The Past ◽

Nation States ◽

Complex Relationships

Early states functioned under entirely different circumstances from modern nation states, which politically and administratively require a capital city. The nature and extent of centralization in ancient societies is much harder to define. A comparative study of two similar geographical entities, such as islands, can shed light on the diverse and complex relationships between ancient polities and central places. Scholars have, at times, assigned capital cities to the Late Bronze Age island cultures of Crete and Cyprus – namely Knossos and Enkomi respectively. Differences in these cultures and settlements notwithstanding, this paper seeks to explore the multi-layered and diverse nature of past and present interpretations through a comparative approach. It is argued that we need to acknowledge the roles that recent politics and archaeological practices have had on previous and current narratives of the past. The often-troubled transformations undergone by modern nation states, and the expectation that such entities possess capitals, have coloured previous interpretations of the past more than is generally recognized. The categories constructed and models applied have guided our approaches but they have also imposed potentially anachronistic frameworks. This paper seeks further historical depth, and to better understand the complex and varied roles ancient central places had in their wider context.

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Ancient metallurgical traditions and connections around the caput Adriae

Journal of Mining and Metallurgy Section B Metallurgy ◽

10.2298/jmmb0902149g ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 45 (2) ◽

pp. 149-163 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

A. Giumlia-Mair

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Late Antiquity ◽

Analytical Techniques ◽

Eastern Alps ◽

Late Bronze Age ◽

Northern Adriatic ◽

Metal Artefacts ◽

Ancient Metallurgy

In the last decade several archaeological projects concerning metallurgical tradition and techniques, were carried out on metal finds from various sites around the Northern Adriatic and in the Eastern Alps. The pieces, made of different metals, are dated to various periods, between the Late Bronze Age and Late Antiquity. The results of different kinds of analytical techniques, applied to several hundreds of archaeological metal artefacts from this area, are presented and evaluated in the paper. The different metallurgical techniques and traditions, identified during the researches are illustrated, compared and interpreted. An overview of the available data and of the general trends of ancient metallurgy in this broader area is attempted.

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Facing the complexity of copper-sulphide ore smelting and assessing the role of copper in south-central Cyprus: A comparative study of the slag assemblage from Late Bronze Age Kalavasos-Ayios Dhimitrios

Journal of Archaeological Science Reports ◽

10.1016/j.jasrep.2015.08.022 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 7 ◽

pp. 539-553 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Lente Van Brempt ◽

Vasiliki Kassianidou

Keyword(s):

Comparative Study ◽

Bronze Age ◽

Late Bronze Age ◽

Copper Sulphide ◽

Sulphide Ore ◽

South Central

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Testing the Limits: Radiocarbon Dating and the End of the Late Bronze Age

Radiocarbon ◽

10.1017/s0033822200035414 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 48 (1) ◽

pp. 83-100 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Graham Hagens

Keyword(s):

Comparative Study ◽

Bronze Age ◽

Iron Age ◽

Radiocarbon Dating ◽

Near East ◽

Late Bronze Age ◽

Historical Evidence ◽

Radiocarbon Data ◽

Better Than

Archaeometry is becoming an increasingly important tool in chronological research related to events in the Ancient Near East during the 2nd millennium BCE. This paper is a review of recently published radiometric results in an attempt to establish the probable dating range for one particular event that occurred during the last quarter of that millennium, the end of the Late Bronze Age. The conclusion is that in spite of significant improvements in methodology in recent years, the quantity and quality of radiocarbon data are still insufficient to define the range of that date to much better than a century. It is concluded that the most likely date of the Late Bronze/Iron Age transition (here defined by the arrival of Mycenaean LH IIIC:1b pottery in the Levant) is somewhere in the 8-decade range between ∼1170 to 1100 BCE. A comparative study of archaeological and historical evidence would appear to favor the lower value.

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A comparative study of oral health in three Late Bronze Age populations with different subsistence practices in North China

Quaternary International ◽

10.1016/j.quaint.2015.05.029 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 405 ◽

pp. 44-57 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Hua Zhang ◽

Deborah C. Merrett ◽

Xiaoming Xiao ◽

Quanchao Zhang ◽

Dong Wei ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Oral Health ◽

Comparative Study ◽

Bronze Age ◽

North China ◽

Late Bronze Age ◽

Subsistence Practices

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France and The Western Alps

Prehistoric Copper Mining in Europe ◽

10.1093/oso/9780199605651.003.0010 ◽

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).

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The Iconography of Divinity: El

The Origin and Character of God ◽

10.1093/oso/9780190072544.003.0005 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 119-208

Author(s):

Theodore J. Lewis

Keyword(s):

Material Culture ◽

Comparative Study ◽

Bronze Age ◽

Iron Age ◽

Material Object ◽

Late Bronze Age ◽

Key Sites ◽

Solid Block

The literary portrayals of El worship must be complemented by a look at the aesthetically physical. Was El imagined in the form of an enthroned, benevolent patriarch or a majestic bull or even a solid block of stone? Chapter Five situates the iconography of El within a comparative study of ancient Israel’s neighbors, especially the robust El religion of Late Bronze Age Syria (Ugarit). Methodologically, the chapter examines the misuse of comparative iconography prior to articulating criteria for determining whether a material object represents the divine. The numerous cults of standing stones or masseboth (known elsewhere as betyls or “houses of El”) attested archaeologically throughout Iron Age Israel’s history are discussed including at the key sites of Shechem, the so-called “Bull Site,” Hazor, Arad, Tel Dan and Khirbet Ataruz. Possible theriomorphic representations of El (especially as a lion and bull) in text and material culture are also discussed.

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