A Espada do Monte das Oliveiras (Serpa) - uma arma do Bronze Pleno do Sudoeste

In this paper, we present a detailed examination of a sword dating from the Southwestern Middle Bronze Age, which was found several years ago during farming activities near the town of Serpa, Portugal. The sword was apparently found out of an archaeological context. The finder of the sword, who kindly allowed us to study it, cleaned the artefact of its corrosion and kept it in good conditions. The sword is about 50 cm long and its handle show two rivets (another one is missing) which are kept housed in notches. The rivets’ heads are spherical caps covered with a golden leaf. The use of a p-EDXRF equipment allowed us to determine and quantify the elemental composition of the blade, as well as of the golden leaf covering the rivet heads. It was thus possible to establish that the blade was manufactured with arsenical copper, while the composition of the golden leaf refers to a natural alloy. Finally, the Monte das Oliveiras sword is compared with several other coeval examples of Southern Iberia weaponry. Its hilt design, namely the three peripheral notches, seems to be of an unique variant in swords, being relatively rare in similarly shaped weapons, such as daggers.

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Charophyte Population Dynamics during the Late Quaternary at Lake Bibersee, Switzerland

Australian Journal of Botany ◽

10.1071/bt97082 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 47 (3) ◽

pp. 315 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Jean Nicolas Haas

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Lake Level ◽

Climatic Factors ◽

Late Quaternary ◽

Prehistoric Agriculture ◽

The Holocene ◽

Ph Values ◽

Middle Bronze Age ◽

The Town ◽

Boreal Period

Oospores of 11 charophyte species were found in the Late Quaternary gyttja deposits of Lake Bibersee near the town of Zug. Except for the Boreal period rarely more than three different species were growing simultaneously during the Holocene. This compares well to typical Characeae lakes of the same size today, and shows that considerable changes in the hydrophyte diversity have taken place through time. During the first part of the Holocene the lake was oligotrophic and the species composition was mainly regulated by lake-level fluctuations due to climatic factors. During the younger periods of the Holocene the lake became mesotrophic, and pH values were for a longer period slightly alkaline. During the Early to Middle Bronze Age (1900–1400 BC) the considerable alterations in the hydrophyte composition and the simultaneous extensive prehistoric agriculture on the fertile shores of the lake point to human impact as the primary cause for changes in charophyte diversity.

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Arsenical copper and bronze in Middle Bronze Age burial sites of southern Portugal: the first bronzes in Southwestern Iberia

Journal of Archaeological Science ◽

10.1016/j.jas.2013.10.039 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 42 ◽

pp. 68-80 ◽

Cited By ~ 26

Author(s):

Pedro Valério ◽

António M. Monge Soares ◽

Maria Fátima Araújo ◽

Rui J.C. Silva ◽

Eduardo Porfírio ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Southern Portugal ◽

Middle Bronze Age ◽

Arsenical Copper

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Unpublished Middle Minoan and Late Minoan I material from the 1962–3 excavations at Palaikastro, East Crete (PK VIII)

The Annual of the British School at Athens ◽

10.1017/s0068245400021468 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 102 ◽

pp. 153-217

Author(s):

Carl Knappett ◽

Anna Collar

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Preliminary Report ◽

Good Evidence ◽

Current Paper ◽

Middle Bronze Age ◽

The Town

Results of excavations in 1962–3 at the Minoan coastal town of Palaikastro were published in the Annual in 1965 and 1970, as PK VI and PK VII. While those publications did report on all excavated contexts, in some cases this took the form of a preliminary report pending fuller study. The current paper (PK VIII) fills in most of the main gaps, particularly where the Middle Minoan period is concerned, but also with some attention to the Early and Late Minoan periods. Contexts and deposits from different blocks in the town are presented, as well as from outside the main town towards the area known as Sarantari. These provide good evidence for the existence of particular phases of occupation in the town, notably throughout the Middle Minoan period (MM IA, IB, II, IIIA and IIIB), as well as in EM IIB and LM IB. Some of these phases are not very well known at Palaikastro, or in east Crete more generally. This paper thus contributes to a fuller characterisation of certain ceramic phases at the level of both the site and the region, as well as supplementing our knowledge of the long-term occupation of this important coastal town throughout the Middle Bronze Age.

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On the Chemical composition of prehistoric Greek copper-based artefacts from Crete

The Annual of the British School at Athens ◽

10.1017/s0068245400003385 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 93 ◽

pp. 91-102 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Helen Mangou ◽

Panayiotis V. Ioannou

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Absorption Spectrometry ◽

Early Bronze Age ◽

Late Bronze Age ◽

Equal Frequency ◽

Metallographic Examination ◽

Chemical Content ◽

Middle Bronze Age ◽

Arsenical Copper ◽

The Bronze Age

110 copper-based objects from various sites on Crete, covering the whole of the Bronze Age, were analysed for their chemical content (12 elements) by Atomic Absorption Spectrometry. The results indicate that during the Early Bronze Age arsenical copper was mainly used while in the Middle Bronze Age copper, arsenical copper, and arsenical bronze were in use with about equal frequency. During the Late Bronze Age normal bronze was used when required. The copper technology in each era was the same at all of the sites examined. Metallographic examination of four triangular daggers of the Early Bronze Age showed that they had been cast. In the case of three Late Bronze Age hydriae, the component sheets had been hammered and annealed.

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Northern Europe

Prehistoric Copper Mining in Europe ◽

10.1093/oso/9780199605651.003.0011 ◽

2014 ◽

Author(s):

William O'Brien

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Copper Production ◽

Systematic Research ◽

Copper Mining ◽

South West ◽

Copper Mines ◽

Middle Bronze Age ◽

Arsenical Copper ◽

The Bronze Age

Copper objects first circulated in Britain and Ireland around 2500 BC, thus beginning a short-lived Chalcolithic that ended with the rapid adoption of tin-bronze metallurgy after 2100 BC. Both islands have numerous sources of copper; however, these orebodies are not evenly distributed, nor were they all accessible to the prehistoric miner. This is part of the explanation why certain regions developed a strong tradition of copper mining that lasted well into the Bronze Age. Ireland has long been regarded as a significant producer of metal in the Bronze Age. This reflects the large quantities of Bronze Age metalwork found in a part of Europe with abundant sources of copper. The south-west region of Cork and Kerry was the main centre for early copper production. This began with mining at Ross Island in Killarney, where Beaker culture groups produced arsenical copper during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age (c.2400–1900 BC). Farther south, there are seven copper mines now dated to the Early to Middle Bronze Age (c.1800–1400 BC) in the peninsulas of west Cork. These are known as Mount Gabriel-type mines, the name coming from the single largest concentration of such workings located on the eastern slopes of this mountain in the Mizen Peninsula (O’Brien 1994, 2003). The recent discovery of trench workings at Derrycarhoon continues the story of Bronze Age copper mining in that area to 1300–1100 BC, after which this activity seems to have ceased (O’Brien 2013). The study of these mines began during the late eighteenth/ early nineteenth centuries, when mineral prospecting led to the discovery of primitive workings at several locations in south-west Ireland. Described as ‘Dane’s Workings’ in the antiquarian literature, these mines were associated with the use of firesetting and stone hammers (see quotations from Griffith 1828 and Thomas 1850 (in O’Brien 2003) in Chapter 1). The first systematic research began in the 1930s with the discovery of the Mount Gabriel group by the geologist, Tom Duffy. These were subsequently mapped by another geologist, John Jackson, who brought these mines to wider attention when he obtained a Bronze Age date for charcoal taken from mine spoil on the mountain (Jackson 1968).

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A Preliminary Investigation of Two Prehistoric Cave Sites in Southern Albania

The Annual of the British School at Athens ◽

10.1017/s0068245400000186 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 104 ◽

pp. 9-26 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

K.D. Francis ◽

D.J. Bescoby ◽

I. Gjipali

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Iron Age ◽

Preliminary Investigation ◽

Radiocarbon Dates ◽

Lithic Assemblage ◽

The North ◽

Late Iron Age ◽

Middle Bronze Age ◽

Trading Networks ◽

The Town

In this article we describe the evaluation of two prehistoric sites situated within the coastal zone of south-western Albania, originally investigated by the Italian prehistorian Luigi Cardini in 1939. The first is a cave site in the town of Himara; the second a rock-shelter at Kanalit in the Acroceraunian Mountains to the north. Investigations at both locations revealed stratified evidence of prehistoric activity dating from the mid-Holocene. At Kanalit, an extensive lithic assemblage provided evidence for the exploitation of the adjoining coastal lowlands during the Mesolithic, while at Himara, a largely unbroken sequence of deposits records often intensive human activity at the cave from the Early Bronze Age. Radiocarbon dates have provided a significant independent chronological marker for Early/Middle Bronze Age horizons. The ceramic evidence indicates a predominance of local influences, the site not becoming part of wider trading networks until the late Iron Age, c. seventh to sixth centuries BC.Σε αυτό το άρθρο πραγματευόμαστε τη σημασία δύο προϊστορικών θέσεων, οι οποίες βρίσκονται στην παράκτια ζώνη της ΝΔ Αλβανίας. Οι θέσεις αυτές είχαν αρχικά ερευνητεί από τον Ιταλό προϊστορικό αρχαιολόγο Luigi Cardini το 1939. Η πρώτη θέση αφορά ένα σπήλαιο στην πόλη της Χειμάρρας και η δεύτερη μία βραχοσκεπή, στη θέση Kanalit, στα Ακροκεραύνια όρη προς βορρά. Έρευνες στις δύο θέσενς αποκάλυψαν στρωματογραφημένες ενδείξεις προϊστορικής δραστηριότητας, που χρονολογούνται από το μέσο Ολόκαινο. Στη θέση Kanalit ένα ευρύ σύνολο λίθινων αντικειμένων παρέχει στοιχεία για την εκμετάλλευση των γειτονικών παράκτιων πεδινών περιοχών κατά τη Μεσολιτική περίοδο. Στο σπήλαιο της Χειμάρρας μία σειρά από αδιάσπαστες, στο μεγαλύτερο μέρος τους, αποθέσεις μαρτυρεί συχνά έντονη ανθρώπινη δραστηριότητα από την Πρώιμη Εποχή του Χαλκού. Οι ραδιοχρονολογήσεις παρέχουν ένα σημαντικό ανεξάρτητο χρονολογικό δείκτη για τους ορίζοντες της Πρώιμης/Μέσης Εποχής του Χαλκού. Η κεραμική φανερώνει την επικράτηση τοπικών επιρροών, με τη θέση αυτή να μην λαμβάνεν μέρος στα ευρύτερα εμπορικά δίκτυα πριν από την όψιμη Εποχή του Σιδήρου, περίπου τον 70 – 60 αιώνα π.Χ.

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On the Chemical Composition of Prehistoric Greek copper-based artefacts from the Aegean region

The Annual of the British School at Athens ◽

10.1017/s0068245400016634 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 92 ◽

pp. 59-72 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Helen Mangou ◽

Panayiotis V. Ioannou

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

Pure Copper ◽

Absorption Spectrometry ◽

Late Neolithic ◽

Aegean Region ◽

Chemical Content ◽

Middle Bronze Age ◽

Copper Metallurgy ◽

Arsenical Copper ◽

Of Greece

Thirty-nine copper-based objects from the Aegean region of Greece, covering the Late Neolithic, Early and Late Bronze Ages, but excluding the Middle Bronze Age, were analysed for their chemical content (twelve elements) by atomic absorption spectrometry. The results show that there was a gradual shift in copper metallurgy from pure copper (Late Neolithic), to arsenical copper (Early Bronze Age), to bronze (Late Bronze Age). The results tend to indicate that the same type of copper metallurgy existed throughout the Aegean in each period.

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