scholarly journals Mineralogical Analysis of the Kestel Mine: An Early Bronze Age Source of Tin Ore in the Taurus Mountains, Turkey

Minerals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 91
Author(s):  
Wayne Powell ◽  
Evren Yazgan ◽  
Michael Johnson ◽  
K. Aslıhan Yener ◽  
Ryan Mathur
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Mineral Assemblage ◽  
Heavy Mineral ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Mineralogical Analysis ◽  
Trace Component ◽  
Taurus Mountains ◽  
Quartz Veins ◽  
Emerging Pattern

Since its discovery in 1987, the Early Bronze Kestel Mine has been a topic of archaeological and geological controversy. The initial interpretation of the extensive marble-hosted galleries as the oldest known tin mine was challenged due to the low tin grade in remaining hematite-quartz veins, and it was suggested that Kestel was more likely mined for gold. Mineralogical analysis of the remaining mineralization was compared to a heavy mineral concentrate extracted from the soil preserved within the mine. The compositionally complex, arsenate-rich mineral assemblage from the mine sediment, contrasts with that of the remaining surface mineralization. Thus, the outcropping veins do not represent the nature of the extracted ore. Only one grain of gold was found in the heavy mineral concentrate, whereas cassiterite composed 1.5% of the sample. Cassiterite occurs in complex assemblages with arsenates, clays, hematite, quartz, and dolomite, bearing resemblance to hematite-arsenate tin mineralization that occurs near Kayseri, 60 km to the northeast. These findings indicate that although gold was a trace component of the Kestel ore, cassiterite was the mineral of interest to the Early Bronze Age miners, and that Kestel represents the earliest evidence thus far for an emerging pattern of local tin exploitation.

scholarly journals Jade Artifacts from Bronze Age Cemeteries in the Cis-Olkhon Area, the Western Coast of Lake Baikal

2018 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 33-41
Author(s):  
O I. Goriunova ◽  
A. G. Novikov
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Lake Baikal ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Western Coast ◽  
Mineralogical Analysis ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Reservoir Effect ◽  
Eastern Sayan ◽  
Manufacturing Technologies

This study describes all known 150 jade items from ten Early Bronze Age cemeteries on the western coast of Lake Baikal. Although the outcrops of jade are located far away, the material was widely used. Green jade was employed for making tools, whereas ornaments were made of white or light-colored jade. The choice was motivated by durability, color, translucency, and rarity. Binocular microscopy was used to reconstruct manufacturing technologies. Most artifacts belong to the Glazkovo culture. Calibrated radiocarbon dates of burials with jade items, corrected for the reservoir effect, fall within the 4597–3726 BP interval. Results of the mineralogical analysis indicate two remote sources––the Eastern Sayan Range and the Middle Vitim Highland.

Bulgarmaden: Thoughts about iron, Bolkardağ and the Taurus mountains

Iraq ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 72 ◽  
pp. 183-191
Author(s):  
K. Aslihan Yener
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Ore ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Taurus Mountains ◽  
Chalcolithic Period ◽  
Tell Kurdu

It has long been suspected that the use of iron predated the so-called meteoric and smelted iron of the later stages of prehistory. Certainly small objects of iron such as awls and pins are found from the Chalcolithic period onwards and the rightly famous iron swords from Alaca Höyük demonstrate skills in making larger weapons in the Early Bronze Age. I document the use of iron ore for hammers and maces at Early Bronze Age sites in the Taurus Mountains and early Chalcolithic Tell Kurdu in the Amuq valley. This intensive understanding of materials and their properties led, millennia later, to the ability to smelt terrestrial iron.

Kestel: An Early Bronze Age Source of Tin Ore in the Taurus Mountains, Turkey

Science ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 244 (4901) ◽  
pp. 200-203 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. A. YENER ◽  
H. OZBAL ◽  
E. KAPTAN ◽  
A. N. PEHLIdotVAN ◽  
M. GOODWAY
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Taurus Mountains

Two Early Helladic II terracotta rollers from Asine and their glyptic context

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
pp. 81-96
Author(s):  
Michael Lindblom ◽  
Gullög Nordquist ◽  
Hans Mommsen
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Chemical Characterization ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
The Third ◽  
Archaeological Perspective

Two Early Helladic II terracotta rollers from the Third Terrace at Asine are presented. The objects, used to impress relief decoration on pithoi and hearths, are unique in that no other examples are known from the Early Bronze Age Aegean. Their origin is discussed based on chemical characterization and their depositional contexts are reviewed from an archaeological perspective. Although there are no known impressions from these rollers on pithoi and hearths at Asine, it is shown that their owners surrounded themselves with different objects featuring similar glyptic impressions. Two such impressions find identical parallels at Tiryns and the combined evidence strongly suggest that Asine was the home for one or several potters who produced Early Helladic impressed hearths and pithoi.

Dairy Queen. Churns and milk products in the Aegean Bronze Age

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 205-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah P. Morris
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Dairy Products ◽  
Near East ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Specific Function ◽  
Milk Products ◽  
The Third ◽  
Household Processing

This article assembles examples of an unusual vessel found in domestic contexts of the Early Bronze Age around the Aegean and in the Eastern Mediterranean. Identified as a “barrel vessel” by the excavators of Troy, Lesbos (Thermi), Lemnos (Poliochni), and various sites in the Chalkidike, the shape finds its best parallels in containers identified as churns in the Chalcolithic Levant, and related vessels from the Eneolithic Balkans. Levantine parallels also exist in miniature form, as in the Aegean at Troy, Thermi, and Poliochni, and appear as part of votive figures in the Near East. My interpretation of their use and development will consider how they compare to similar shapes in the archaeological record, especially in Aegean prehistory, and what possible transregional relationships they may express along with their specific function as household processing vessels for dairy products during the third millennium BC.

Pictures and people. Seals, figurines and Peloponnesian imagery

2010 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 185-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erika Weiberg
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
North East ◽  
The North ◽  
Initial Description ◽  
Seal Impressions ◽  
Point Of Departure ◽  
Coastal Settlement

The point of departure for this paper is the publication of two Early Helladic sealing fragments from the coastal settlement of Asine on the north-east Peloponnese in Greece. After an initial description and discussion they are set in the context of sealing custom established on the Greek mainland around 2500 BCE. In the first part of the paper focus is on the apparent qualitative differences between the available seals and the contemporary seal impressions, as well as between different sealing assemblages on northeastern Peloponnese. This geographical emphasis is carried into the second part of the paper which is a review and contextualisation of the representational art of the Aegean Early Bronze Age in general, and northeastern Peloponnese in particular. Seal motifs and figurines are the main media for Early Helladic representational art preserved until today, yet in many ways very dissimilar. These opposites are explored in order to begin to build a better understanding of Peloponnesian representational art, the choices of motifs, and their roles in the lives of the Early Helladic people.

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