scholarly journals A Study on the Microstructure and Corrosion Characteristics of Early Iron Age Bronze Mirrors Excavated from the Korean Peninsula

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 2441
Author(s):  
Nam Chul Cho ◽  
Min Kyeong Jang ◽  
Il Kwon Huh
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Korean Peninsula ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Micro Raman Spectroscopy ◽  
Selective Corrosion ◽  
Production Techniques ◽  
Ancient Times ◽  
Manufacturing Techniques ◽  
Bronze Mirrors

Bronze mirrors, considered important grave goods, were widely used before glass mirrors in ancient times. Most excavated bronze artifacts are covered with corrosive materials and lose their original colors. More importantly, identifying corrosion characteristics and the manufacturing techniques used for these artifacts are essential for proper artifact preservation. In this study, Early Iron Age bronze mirrors excavated from the Korean Peninsula were examined to determine their microstructures, corrosion characteristics, and production techniques using various analytical methods, such as Micro-Raman spectroscopy and field emission electron probe microanalysis. As a result, sulfides containing iron suggested chalcopyrite use during production or that the sulfides originated from copper, iron, and sulfur residual matte. The analysis also detected corrosion layers with high tin oxide (SnO2) levels and selective corrosion in the α + δ eutectoid phase on the artifact’s surface. In the corrosive layer, cuprite, malachite, and cassiterite corrosion products were detected, and nanocrystalline SnO2 was identified as a characteristic of long-term soil erosion. Identifying these artifacts’ corrosion characteristics and manufacturing techniques is essential and can greatly contribute to proper artifact preservation.

scholarly journals A Study on the Corrosion and Microstructure Characteristics of Early Iron Age Bronze Swords Excavated from Sinpung Site in Wanju, Jeollabuk-Do, Republic of Korea

2020 ◽  
Vol 58 (7) ◽  
pp. 472-479
Author(s):  
Min Kyeong Jang ◽  
Nam Chul Cho
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Spectroscopy Analysis ◽  
Raman Spectroscopic ◽  
Α Phase ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Oxide Particles ◽  
Manufacturing Techniques ◽  
Main Components

The subject of this study was a bronze sword excavated from the early Iron Age area of Sinpung site in Wanju. SEM-EDS, FE-EPMA and Raman Micro-Spectroscopy analysis methods were applied to investigate the manufacturing techniques and corrosion characteristics. The results of the analysis indicated a casting structure composed of both α and α+δ phases. The α phase developed in the form of dendrite, and it seems that no heat treatment was performed. Through the EDS analysis results, the main components of the bronze sword were identified as Cu, Sn, Pb, etc., and it seems that the cooling rate was different depending on the shape of the dendrite, which is the α phase, and the size and distribution of the Pb particles. Regarding corrosion characteristics, the corrosion progressed considerably to the surface, and a high tin corrosion layer was formed, and lead oxide and copper oxide particles were observed between the corroded microstructures. These materials were identified by Raman spectroscopic analysis as Cuprite (Cu2O), Malachite (Cu2CO3(OH)2), Cassiterite (SnO2), Cerussite (PbCO3), Anglesite (PbSO4), and Litharge (PbO). Among them, the presence of nanocrystalline SnO2 confirmed the characteristics of long-term corrosion of bronze artifacts in the burial environment. And, materials such as Cerussite (PbCO3), Anglesite (PbSO4), and Litharge (PbO) were found only in weapons and tools such as bronze sword and spear when compared with previous studies.

Microanalytical Study of Ancient Gold Jewelry: Mediterranean Impact on the Early Iron Age Technology in Southwestern Iberia

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 1061-1073
Author(s):  
Pedro Valério ◽  
Rui J.C. Silva ◽  
António M.M. Soares ◽  
M. Fátima Araújo ◽  
Lídia Baptista ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Alloy Composition ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Gold Alloys ◽  
Fully Integrated ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Gold Jewelry ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Production Techniques ◽  
Southern Portugal

AbstractThe gold technology in Iberia underwent an important development during the Early Iron Age (EIA) following the arrival of new technological skills from the Mediterranean region, including the use of filigree, granulation, and brazing. This work presents the microanalytical study of EIA gold jewels (22 spherical beads and four tongue pendants) recovered from three graves in southern Portugal. The set of jewelry, showing an extraordinary stylistic resemblance, was characterized by optical microscopy, micro energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry and scanning electron microscopy with X-ray microanalysis to establish the alloy composition and production techniques. The pieces show a close technological relation, making use of artificial gold alloys with different amounts of silver (c. 40 and 25%). The decorative styles include different types of filigree (solid wires and hollow wires), while the joining techniques comprise brazing with Au-Ag-Cu solders and, probably, sintering. In spite of those technological and stylistic features, clearly pointing to a Mediterranean influence, the absence of granulation suggests an indigenous workshop where exogenous technologies/decorations were not yet fully integrated in the manufacture of such luxury items.

Iron Age Camps in northwestern France and southwestern Britain

Antiquity ◽  
1939 ◽  
Vol 13 (49) ◽  
pp. 58-79
Author(s):  
R. E. M. Wheeler
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
British Isles ◽  
Local Initiative ◽  
The Real ◽  
Local Basis ◽  
Ancient Times ◽  
Local Differentiation ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Map Distance

In recent years considerable attention has been devoted to the problems of the Early Iron Age in the British Isles; and, amongst these problems, that of the relationship between the insular and the continental cultures of the period has not become simpler or clearer as the British evidence has accumulated. How far, and in what manner, were the various Iron Age cultures of Britain derived from the continent? How far, and under what conditions, were they due to local initiative in Britain itself? Until questions such as these can be answered approximately, it will remain impossible alike to estimate the real achievement of the later prehistoric civilization of the island and to visualize the full significance of the adjacent civilization of northwestern Europe. The problem is not an easy one. The agricultural and therefore local basis of most of the Iron Age economy of Britain encouraged the strong local differentiation of cultural forms, and this local individuality was enhanced by the fashion in which the major tracts of open and habitable chalk or greensand tended, in ancient times, to be isolated by expanses of dense and often impassable forest. And, similarly, an intrusive element from overseas might easily take root in a particular area of southern or eastern Britain without directly affecting other areas within a relatively short map-distance.

scholarly journals TIMING THE EMERGENCE AND DEVELOPMENT OF ARABLE FARMING IN SOUTHEASTERN NORWAY BY USING SUMMED PROBABILITY DISTRIBUTION OF RADIOCARBON DATES AND A BAYESIAN AGE MODEL

Radiocarbon ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Steinar Solheim
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Bayesian Modeling ◽  
Probability Distributions ◽  
Comprehensive Analysis ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Arable Farming ◽  
Age Model

ABSTRACT The paper explores the emergence and development of arable farming in southeastern Norway by compiling and analyzing directly dated cereals from archaeological contexts. By using summed probability distributions of radiocarbon dates and Bayesian modeling, the paper presents the first comprehensive analysis of the directly dated evidence for farming in the region. The models provide a more precise temporal resolution to the development than hitherto presented. The results demonstrate that the introduction of arable farming to southeastern Norway was a long-term development including several steps. Three different stages are pointed out as important in the process of establishing arable farming: the Early and Middle Neolithic, the Late Neolithic, and the Early Iron Age.

Handles of Early Iron Age Cauldrons from Southwestern Siberia

2022 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 37-42
Author(s):  
A. P. Borodovsky
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Summer Camps ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Forest Steppe ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Southwestern Siberia ◽  
European Forest

Handles of Early Iron Age bronze cauldrons from southwestern Siberia are described with reference to their ritual meaning. Typological features, such as knobs, arcuate, or square shape, are relevant for dating. Two chronological groups are established: the Tagar (second half of the 1st millennium BC) and Xiongnu-Xianbei (late 1st millennium BC to early 1st millennium AD). The interpretation of handles depends on the context. At settlements (Turunovka-4) and in certain hoards (First Dzhirim) of the Late Bronze Age, they can belong to foundry scrap. However, handles occur in long-term ritual sites such as Aidashenskaya Cave, suggesting a different interpretation. Indeed, at Eastern European forest-steppe sites of the Xiongnu era, handles of cauldrons had been intentionally buried, most often near water sources, where the summer camps of nomadic herders were situated. A similar situation is observed in southwestern Siberia, from the Baraba forest-steppe to the Middle Yenisei valley.

Myskhako necropolis. Excavations in 1978 – 1979

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Burial Ground ◽  
Funerary Monuments ◽  
Ancient Times

The series of articles «The Pontic necropolises» has been published since 2007, and has explored a number of funerary monuments of the Early Iron Age and ancient times of the Abrau Peninsula. In the fi volume of the series the complex of burials of the Myskhako burial ground is introduced into scientifi circulation. Two burial horizons have been discovered in this region, which are separated by two and a half millennia. Like the neighboring ancient Gorgippia, the settlement of Myskhako (Bata village: Strabo, XI, 2, 14; Ptol., Geogr. V, 89), with which the published necropolis is connected, is located at the crossroads of sea and land highways.

Unraveling the Occupation History of the Cremation Cemetery at Wijnegem/Blikstraat (Belgium)

Radiocarbon ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 59 (6) ◽  
pp. 1645-1656
Author(s):  
Guy De Mulder ◽  
Mark Van Strydonck ◽  
Mathieu Boudin ◽  
Ignace Bourgeois
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Funerary Monuments ◽  
Late Iron Age ◽  
History Of

ABSTRACTRecently a cremation cemetery was excavated at the site of Wijnegem where 29 cremation graves and 9 funerary monuments were uncovered. Thirty radiocarbon (14C) dates were carried out, mostly on cremated bone but also 10 charcoal samples were dated. Twenty-four cremations were studied. Four ring ditches were dated by charcoal samples from the infill of the ditch. The 14C dates showed an interesting long-term occupation of the cemetery. Different phases were ascertained. The history of the cemetery starts in the northern part of the site around a circular funerary monument. Two cremations were dated at the transition of the Early to Middle Bronze Ages. Two other graves represent the transition from the Middle to the Late Bronze Ages. The main occupation period dates between the end of the Late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age. Finally, an isolated cremation grave marks the definite abandonment of the site during the Late Iron Age.

scholarly journals A 4000-year long Late Holocene climate record from Hermes Cave (Peloponnese, Greece)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tobias Kluge ◽  
Tatjana S. Münster ◽  
Norbert Frank ◽  
Elisabeth Eiche ◽  
Regina Mertz-Kraus ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Cultural Development ◽  
Clumped Isotopes ◽  
Elemental Ratios ◽  
Ancient Times ◽  
High Degree ◽  
Age Constraints

Abstract. The societal and cultural development during the Bronze Age and the subsequent Iron Age was enormous in Greece, however interrupted by two significant transformations around 4200 years b2k (Early Helladic II/III; b2k refers to years before 2000 CE) and 3200 years b2k (end of Late Helladic III). Artefacts and building remains provide some insights into the cultural evolution, but only little is known about environmental and climatic changes on a detailed temporal and spatial scale. Here we present a 4000-year long stalagmite record (GH17-05) from Hermes Cave, Greece, located on Mount Ziria in the close vicinity of the Late Bronze Age citadel of Mycenae and the Classical-Hellenistic polis of Corinth. The cave was used in ancient times, as indicated by ceramic fragments in the entrance area and a pronounced soot layer in the stalagmite. 230Th-U dating provides age constraints for the growth of the stalagmite (continuous between ~ 800 and ~ 5300 years b2k) and the formation of a soot layer (2.5+0.5-0.65 ka b2k). Speleothem δ18O and δ13C values together with clumped isotopes and elemental ratios provide a detailed paleoclimate record of the Northern Peloponnese. The proxy data suggest significant centennial scale climate variability (i.e., wet vs. dry). Furthermore, carbonate δ18O values, calculated drip water δ18O values, 234U/238U activity ratios and elemental ratios suggest a long-term trend towards drier conditions from ca 3.7 to ~ 2.0 ka b2k. From 2.0 ka b2k towards growth stop of the stalagmite, a trend towards wetter conditions is observed. A high degree of correlation was found for isotope trends of different speleothems from the Peloponnese and partially with climate records from the Eastern Mediterranean, whereas speleothems and lake records with a larger distance to the Peloponnese show little correlation or even opposing trends.

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