An Analytical Investigation of a Durable Second Millennium BC Glass Bead from Britain

1988 ◽  
Vol 123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julian Henderson
Keyword(s):  
Chemical Composition ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Glass Bead ◽  
Original Description ◽  
Analytical Investigation ◽  
Collaborative Project ◽  
Similar Composition ◽  
Southern England ◽  
Glass Compositions ◽  
Sem Studies

AbstractThis paper deals with a unique glass bead of probable second millennium BC date from Wilsford, Wiltshire in southern England. The date of the bead is probably Wessex II; c. 1400 – 1200 BC. It was first recognised as being glass [1] in print in 1812, but until recently [2] has been considered as being of stone rather than glass in line with its original description. Here the bead is described together with surface SEM studies, the replication work on glass of similar composition reported and its unusual chemical composition discussed in terms of its durability and comparable Bronze Age glass compositions. This paper is partly the result of a collaborative project involving the author, Margaret Guido, Michael Cable, Justine Bayley and Leo Biek.

Studies of the Late Bronze Age copper-based ingots found in Greece

2000 ◽  
Vol 95 ◽  
pp. 207-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen Mangou ◽  
Panayiotis V. Ioannou
Keyword(s):  
Chemical Composition ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy ◽  
Pure Copper ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Slow Cooling ◽  
Metallographic Examination ◽  
Aegean Region ◽  
Chemical Content ◽  
Different Origin

Seven bun type, one slab type, and 44 oxhide type Late Bronze Age ingots found in the Aegean region, Crete and Mainland Greece have been analysed for their chemical content (twelve elements) by atomic absorption spectroscopy. The results show that the ingots contain variable amounts of oxygen as copper(I) oxide. The oxhide ingots are made of purer copper, the bun type are of relatively pure copper and bronze, while the slab type is bronze. The oxhide ingots from Crete may have a different origin from those found in the Aegean and in Mainland Greece because they have a different chemical composition. The metallographic examination of twenty ingots, three of bun and seventeen of oxhide type, revealed that they have been cast in open moulds, followed by slow cooling. Microanalyses of inclusions in fifteen ingots revealed the presence of copper(I) sulphide, copper(I) oxide, copper-iron and copper-iron-sulphur and their origin is discussed. Hardness measurements on fourteen ingots of various types revealed that they are somewhat harder for a cast object than control alloys and likely explanations are given.

Middle Bronze Age Long Distance Exchange through Europe and Beyond

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 266-274
Author(s):  
Flemming Kaul
Keyword(s):  
Chemical Composition ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Glass Beads ◽  
The South ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Blue Glass ◽  
The North ◽  
Southern Scandinavia ◽  
Middle Bronze Age ◽  
The Mediterranean

Abstract The introduction of the folding stool and the single-edged razor into Southern Scandinavia, as well as the testimony of chariot use during the Nordic Bronze Age Period II (1500-1300 BC), give evidence of the transfer of ideas from the Mediterranean to the North. Recent analyses of the chemical composition of blue glass beads from well-dated Danish Bronze Age burials have revealed evidence for the opening of long distance exchange routes around 1400 BC between Egypt, Mesopotamia and South Scandinavia. When including comparative material from glass workshops in Egypt and finds of glass from Mesopotamia, it becomes clear that glass from those distant lands reached Scandinavia. The routes of exchange can be traced through Europe based on finds of amber from the North and glass from the South.

Slag Investigations from Bronze Age Copper Smelting Sites

2017 ◽  
Vol 891 ◽  
pp. 608-612 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roland Haubner ◽  
Susanne Strobl
Keyword(s):  
Phase Diagram ◽  
Chemical Composition ◽  
Phase Diagrams ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Equilibrium Phase ◽  
Eastern Alps ◽  
Copper Production ◽  
Copper Smelting ◽  
Smelting Process ◽  
Melting Properties

During the Bronze Age intensive mining and smelting activities for copper production took place in the Eastern Alps. To get information about the copper smelting process, the elemental compositions of slags are marked in equilibrium phase diagrams (e.g. FeO-CaO-SiO2) and so the melting properties can be estimated. Doing so you have to keep in mind that slags have complex compositions and phase diagrams are available for three compounds only. For the analytical measurements it has to be ensured that only molten parts of the slag are measured and not contamination of other ambient material. Spot and area measurements by SEM-EDX are useful to get realistic data. In this case a complete correlation between the image of the analyzed area, the microstructure and the chemical composition of the sample is necessary. For marking spots in the phase diagram the calculation method has to be described exactly. For our results we calculated the ratio FeO-SiO2-CaO(+MgO+Al2O3). From the morphology of the observed phases, their chemical composition and the data from the phase diagram a solidification sequence can be suggested. We recommend this method because measurements by e.g. XRF provide rather general composition values. If the slag samples are inhomogeneous, unrealistic melting points are read from the phase diagram. Inhomogeneities can be caused by soil contaminations, which are not part of the molten slag, or by corrosion, when some phases were attacked and changed during storage in soil.

The determination of composition and thermal history of plagioclase by the X-ray powder method

1955 ◽  
Vol 30 (229) ◽  
pp. 648-656 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Goodyear ◽  
W. J. Duffin
Keyword(s):  
Chemical Composition ◽  
Low Temperature ◽  
Similar Composition ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Cell Dimensions ◽  
History Of ◽  
Unit Cell Dimensions ◽  
Ray Patterns

In a recent paper (hereafter referred to as GD) Goodyear and Dufiln (1954) described X-ray powder data for a number of synthetic and chemically analysed plagioclases of composition An0Abl00-Anl00Ab0. Important aspects of this work were a correlation of the X-ray patterns with chemical composition, and a distinction between the pattern of a naturally occurring material of low-temperature origin and that of a synthetic of similar composition. The investigation showed quite clearly that the unit-cell dimensions of a synthetic plagioelase depend but little on composition from An0Abl00 to An70Ab30, whilst they differ from those of the low-temperature modification greatly for albite, to a lessening degree as the composition approaches An70Ab30, and practically not at all in the range An70Ab30-Anl00Ab0.

scholarly journals The Early Bronze Age figurine from Hasanoğlan, central Turkey: new archaeometrical insights

2016 ◽  
Vol 66 ◽  
pp. 17-22
Author(s):  
Thomas Zimmermann ◽  
Latif Özen
Keyword(s):  
Chemical Composition ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Critical Comparison ◽  
Central Turkey

AbstractThe following article discusses the archaeometrical dimension of a well-known Early Bronze Age metal figurine from Hasanoğlan, Turkey, on permanent display in the Anatolian Civilisations Museum in Ankara. The transfer of the object to a new display case allowed for an examination with a portable x-ray fluorescence (P-XRF) device in order to reveal the chemical composition of the statuette and its attached ornaments. The figurine was confirmed to be made of silver. However, it is alloyed with a small but still substantial amount of copper. The applications are basically made of gold, but with a suspected substantial (up to 23%) amount of silver involved. The final section of the article is dedicated to a critical comparison with recently published figurines from Alaca Höyük, together with an archaeological and chronological reappraisal of this unique piece of art.

scholarly journals Contextualisation of the Early Iron Age hoard of bronze objects discovered in Gdynia-Karwiny, site 1

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 21-78
Author(s):  
Karol Dzięgielewski ◽  
Anna Longa ◽  
Jerzy Langer ◽  
Magdalena Moskal-del Hoyo
Keyword(s):  
Chemical Composition ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Copper Alloy ◽  
The Other ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Use Value ◽  
Porous Copper ◽  
Narrow Valley ◽  
The Bronze Age

After the amateur discovery of a hoard of bronze ornaments (a kidney bracelet and two hollow ankle rings) in 2014 in a forest near Gdynia (Pomerania, northern Poland), the place was subjected to excavation. It turned out that in the nearest context of the bronzes (which had been found arranged one on top of the other in a narrow pit reaching 60 cm in depth) there was a cluster of stones, some of which could have been arranged intentionally in order to mark the place of the deposit. Next to this alleged stone circle there was a deep hearth used to heat stones, and for burning amber as incense. Remains of amber were preserved in the form of lumps and probably also as a deposit on the walls of some vessels. Some of the features of the examined complex may indicate a non-profane nature of the deposit: the presence of the stone structure, traces of burning amber, the location of the deposition spot in a not very habitable flattening of a narrow valley, as well as the chemical composition of the alloy of metals themselves. The ornaments were made of a porous copper alloy with a high addition of lead, antimony and arsenic, which could promote their fragility and poor use value. However, the ceramics found near the place where the bronzes are deposited do not differ from the settlement pottery of the time. The hoard and its context should be dated to the transition phase between the periods HaC1 and HaC2 (the turn of the 8th and 7th cent. BC). The Gdynia-Karwiny deposit adds to the list of finds from a period marked by the most frequent occurrence of hoards in Pomerania (turn of the Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age). Its research seems to contribute to the interpretation of the deposition of metal objects as a phenomenon primarily of a ritual nature, and at the same time a social behaviour: a manifestation of competition for prestige.

scholarly journals Provenance and production technology of late medieval ‘Besztercebánya/Banská Bystrica–type’ high-quality stove tiles

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dorottya Györkös ◽  
Bernadett Bajnóczi ◽  
György Szakmány ◽  
Máté Szabó ◽  
Ralf Milke ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Chemical Composition ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Ceramic Body ◽  
Analytical Investigation ◽  
X Ray Diffraction ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Production Techniques ◽  
Phase And Chemical Composition ◽  
Primary Groups

AbstractA unique collection of high-quality late medieval (fifteenth–sixteenth century) glazed and unglazed stove tiles from the northern part of the Carpathian Basin is of great interest to archaeologists and art historians. It is yet to be determined if these products, which are characterised by similar features, were produced in a single workshop, perhaps in Besztercebánya/Banská Bystrica (in present-day Slovakia), or in several workshops throughout the region. The first systematic multi-analytical investigation was carried out on the ceramic body and glaze of one hundred and seventeen tile fragments from six sites (Besztercebánya/Banská Bystrica, Fülek/Fiľakovo, and Csábrág/Čabraď in Slovakia; Salgó, Eger, and Szécsény in Hungary) using polarising microscopy, X-ray diffraction, electron microprobe, and Raman microspectroscopy analyses to determine the raw materials and production techniques used. Based on the petrographic characteristics, phase and chemical composition of the ceramic body, and the chemical composition and colourants of the glazes, the stove tiles can be classified into three primary groups. Tiles from different sites are different to each other, only the tiles from the Hungarian sites and from Fülek/Fiľakovo are similar. Thus, it is probable that the tiles were produced in several (at least three) workshops in the region from where they were then dispersed. The technological knowledge of the master(s) producing the polychrome Csábrág/Čabraď tiles with tin-opacified glazes was higher than that of the master(s) producing the other tiles. However, the exact location of the workshops as well as their existence through time is still in unknown.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document