Hauptmann, A. & Modarressi-Tehrani, D. (ed) Archaeometallurgy in Europe III. Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference, Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum, June 29 – July 1, 2011. Der ANSCHNITT Beiheft 26, pp. 55-62, 2015
Abstract.
The earliest gold and copper objects from Northeastern Iberian Peninsula are dated to ... more Abstract.
The earliest gold and copper objects from Northeastern Iberian Peninsula are dated to the Late Neolithic (c. 3300 cal BC). Until now it was assumed that these communities were carrying out mine, smelting and melting metal activities. However, according to our research, first unequivocal confirmation of metal production is not dated until later, related to Bell Beaker (c. 2800 cal BC). It was carried out a study of these early metal objects by compositional, metallographic and typological analysis. Our findings suggest, first, the existence of close links with metallurgical centres from Western Switzerland and mainly southern France (Cabrières-Péret district, Hérault). From there final metal products would have distributed but not the knowledge or the techniques for their production. These would have been "captive", being North Eastern Iberia communities simple consumers with little or no understanding of the metallurgical process. Secondly, within the socio-economic field, these objects would have a very relative impact. Functional analysis indicate that both tools and ornaments were used repeatedly and continuously in daily life activities. However in no case came to be used exclusively in any sphere of social production. Finally, the funerary practices of this moment show that arrival of the metal did not involve substantial changes in existing community social relations. First signs of social asymmetries will not appear until the beginning of Bell Beaker.
Keywords: First Metallurgy, Copper, Gold, Late Neolithic, Northeastern Iberian Peninsula
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Materials and Methods: Metric and non-metric methods were used to estimate the age-at-death and sex of the skeletal remains. Perimortem injuries were observed and analyzed with stereomicroscopy and confocal microscopy.
Results: Among the minimum of 51 individuals documented, at least six people showed evidence of perimortem trauma. All age groups and both sexes are represented in the skeletal sample, but those with violent injuries are predominantly males. Twenty-six bones had 49 injuries, 48 of which involved sharp force trauma on postcranial elements, and one example of blunt force trauma on a cranium. The wounds were mostly located on the upper extremities and ribs, anterior and posterior. Several antemortem lesions were also documented in the assemblage.
Discussion: The perimortem lesions, together with direct dating, suggest that more than one episode of interpersonal violence took place between the Late Chalcolithic and the Early Bronze Age in northeastern Spain. The features of the sharp force trauma indicate that different weapons were used, including sharp metal objects and lithic projectiles. The Roc de les Orenetes assemblage represents a scenario of recurrent lethal confrontation in a high mountain geographic context, representing the evidence of inferred interpersonal violence located at the highest altitude settings in the Pyrenees, at 1836 meters above sea level.
paper offers an updated review of the archaeological finds, which include some remarkable artefacts — three flanged and globules alabaster
beads, two buttons with wing-shaped appendices and one copper tanged dagger — using current methodologies: C-14 dating; lithic use-wear
analysis and raw materials; typological and contextual analysis; archaeometallurgy (elemental composition and lead isotopes). The results demonstrate that the site was used during three distinct periods: the Early Copper Age (Calcolítico Antiguo, c. 2900 cal BC), the Late Copper Age
(Calcolítico Reciente or Bell Beaker) and at the beginning of the Late Bronze Age (Bronce Final, c. 1200 cal BC). The material culture testifies
to long-distance exchange networks. On the one hand, imported manufactured artefacts are made from an exogeneous raw material, like the lacustrine flint blades originating from the French Mediterranean coastline and the Ebro depression. On the other hand, some artefacts seem to have been produced locally, but their shape is based on exogeneous typological models. This category includes the tanged dagger, most likely made of copper from the local Linda Mariquita mine (south of Priorat), and possibly the buttons with wing-shaped appendices —made from bone, in contrast to ivory typically used in its area of origin, the Tagus estuary in Portugal—as well as the flanged and globules alabaster beads, that are commonly found in southern France. These networks take part in a process of social hierarchization linked to the Bell Beaker phenomenon. The elites are buried in single graves within communities with collective burials where social dissymmetry is not observed. Several reasons may explain the absence of Bell Beaker ceramics in the artefact collection from the Cova de l’Arbonès. First, the excavations took place at a time when thorough archaeological investigations were not common. Second, the initial grave good assemblage may have been altered during the subsequent use of the cave, as attested at other collective burials from the North-eastern Iberian Peninsula.
and archaeometric) as well as to treat the interpretations
derived from them, advancing in the knowledge of metallurgical production in the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age communities.
Keywords: Copper Age, Bell Beaker, Early-Middle Bronze Age, Copper, Lead, Northeast Iberian Peninsula, Western Mediterranean.
were recovered during the campaigns from 2015 to 2017. The site with a lengthy occupation from the end of the
fourth millennium to the Islamic period is well known for its important finds attesting copper metallurgy production
during Iron Age II. Other rich archaeological finds in iron, stone and pottery, in some cases showing a
snake iconography, point to a ceremonial place where production processes and exchanges took place.
We present an archaeometric study of a significative sample of the gold items found at the site using OM
(Optical Microscopy) and SEM-EDS (Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy). Our
provisional results suggest the existence of a workshop -the first archaeologically attested at the Arabian
Peninsula- where lost wax casting and plastic deformation were usual practices, together with other goldwork
techniques like polychrome alloying, filigree and granulation. Evidence of the production processes were
workshop wastes and raw material, although no associated archaeological structures could be identified.
Keywords: Iron age, Arabian peninsula, Gold, SEM-EDS, Lost-wax casting, Polychromy
Key words: Cova del Gegant; Late Bell Beaker pottery; Gold; Bronze Age
cabo en el asentamiento prehistórico de Vilches IV (La Torre Uchea, Hellín). La intervención vino
motivada por el avance de la cantera que la empresa Grupo Levantina estaba explotando en el cerro
de Vistahermosa, junto a la Loma de Vilches. El proceso de excavación permitió documentar tres
cabañas de planta circular con áreas de actividad asociadas. El registro material remite al observado
en otros yacimientos del Neolítico final, aunque aparecen novedades entre las que cabe destacar
varios punzones de cobre.
Palabras clave: Calcolítico, Cabañas circulares, Áreas de actividad, Metalurgia.
Abstract: In this paper we present the preliminary results of the archaeological excavation carried
out in the prehistoric settlement of Vilches IV (LaTorre Uchea, Hellín). The intervention was motivated
by the advance of the quarry that Grupo Levantina was exploding on the hill of Vistahermosa, near
the Loma de Vilches. The excavation process showed the existence of three circular huts associated
with areas of activity. The archaeological record refers to that one observed at other sites of the Late
Neolithic, although it appears innovations which include several copper awls.
Keywords: Chalcolithic, Circular huts, Areas of activity, Metallurgy
Materials and Methods: Metric and non-metric methods were used to estimate the age-at-death and sex of the skeletal remains. Perimortem injuries were observed and analyzed with stereomicroscopy and confocal microscopy.
Results: Among the minimum of 51 individuals documented, at least six people showed evidence of perimortem trauma. All age groups and both sexes are represented in the skeletal sample, but those with violent injuries are predominantly males. Twenty-six bones had 49 injuries, 48 of which involved sharp force trauma on postcranial elements, and one example of blunt force trauma on a cranium. The wounds were mostly located on the upper extremities and ribs, anterior and posterior. Several antemortem lesions were also documented in the assemblage.
Discussion: The perimortem lesions, together with direct dating, suggest that more than one episode of interpersonal violence took place between the Late Chalcolithic and the Early Bronze Age in northeastern Spain. The features of the sharp force trauma indicate that different weapons were used, including sharp metal objects and lithic projectiles. The Roc de les Orenetes assemblage represents a scenario of recurrent lethal confrontation in a high mountain geographic context, representing the evidence of inferred interpersonal violence located at the highest altitude settings in the Pyrenees, at 1836 meters above sea level.
paper offers an updated review of the archaeological finds, which include some remarkable artefacts — three flanged and globules alabaster
beads, two buttons with wing-shaped appendices and one copper tanged dagger — using current methodologies: C-14 dating; lithic use-wear
analysis and raw materials; typological and contextual analysis; archaeometallurgy (elemental composition and lead isotopes). The results demonstrate that the site was used during three distinct periods: the Early Copper Age (Calcolítico Antiguo, c. 2900 cal BC), the Late Copper Age
(Calcolítico Reciente or Bell Beaker) and at the beginning of the Late Bronze Age (Bronce Final, c. 1200 cal BC). The material culture testifies
to long-distance exchange networks. On the one hand, imported manufactured artefacts are made from an exogeneous raw material, like the lacustrine flint blades originating from the French Mediterranean coastline and the Ebro depression. On the other hand, some artefacts seem to have been produced locally, but their shape is based on exogeneous typological models. This category includes the tanged dagger, most likely made of copper from the local Linda Mariquita mine (south of Priorat), and possibly the buttons with wing-shaped appendices —made from bone, in contrast to ivory typically used in its area of origin, the Tagus estuary in Portugal—as well as the flanged and globules alabaster beads, that are commonly found in southern France. These networks take part in a process of social hierarchization linked to the Bell Beaker phenomenon. The elites are buried in single graves within communities with collective burials where social dissymmetry is not observed. Several reasons may explain the absence of Bell Beaker ceramics in the artefact collection from the Cova de l’Arbonès. First, the excavations took place at a time when thorough archaeological investigations were not common. Second, the initial grave good assemblage may have been altered during the subsequent use of the cave, as attested at other collective burials from the North-eastern Iberian Peninsula.
and archaeometric) as well as to treat the interpretations
derived from them, advancing in the knowledge of metallurgical production in the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age communities.
Keywords: Copper Age, Bell Beaker, Early-Middle Bronze Age, Copper, Lead, Northeast Iberian Peninsula, Western Mediterranean.
were recovered during the campaigns from 2015 to 2017. The site with a lengthy occupation from the end of the
fourth millennium to the Islamic period is well known for its important finds attesting copper metallurgy production
during Iron Age II. Other rich archaeological finds in iron, stone and pottery, in some cases showing a
snake iconography, point to a ceremonial place where production processes and exchanges took place.
We present an archaeometric study of a significative sample of the gold items found at the site using OM
(Optical Microscopy) and SEM-EDS (Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy). Our
provisional results suggest the existence of a workshop -the first archaeologically attested at the Arabian
Peninsula- where lost wax casting and plastic deformation were usual practices, together with other goldwork
techniques like polychrome alloying, filigree and granulation. Evidence of the production processes were
workshop wastes and raw material, although no associated archaeological structures could be identified.
Keywords: Iron age, Arabian peninsula, Gold, SEM-EDS, Lost-wax casting, Polychromy
Key words: Cova del Gegant; Late Bell Beaker pottery; Gold; Bronze Age
cabo en el asentamiento prehistórico de Vilches IV (La Torre Uchea, Hellín). La intervención vino
motivada por el avance de la cantera que la empresa Grupo Levantina estaba explotando en el cerro
de Vistahermosa, junto a la Loma de Vilches. El proceso de excavación permitió documentar tres
cabañas de planta circular con áreas de actividad asociadas. El registro material remite al observado
en otros yacimientos del Neolítico final, aunque aparecen novedades entre las que cabe destacar
varios punzones de cobre.
Palabras clave: Calcolítico, Cabañas circulares, Áreas de actividad, Metalurgia.
Abstract: In this paper we present the preliminary results of the archaeological excavation carried
out in the prehistoric settlement of Vilches IV (LaTorre Uchea, Hellín). The intervention was motivated
by the advance of the quarry that Grupo Levantina was exploding on the hill of Vistahermosa, near
the Loma de Vilches. The excavation process showed the existence of three circular huts associated
with areas of activity. The archaeological record refers to that one observed at other sites of the Late
Neolithic, although it appears innovations which include several copper awls.
Keywords: Chalcolithic, Circular huts, Areas of activity, Metallurgy
The contribution we present here focuses on the second line of research and is based on a detailed study of La Solana del Bepo mine, as well as the related La Coveta de l’Heura (Ulldemolins) archaeological site. Both sites were discov¬ered just before the middle of the last century, but only very generalist studies have been made of them to date. None of these studies has emphasised the importance of the documented archaeological evidence of prehistoric mining and metallurgy in the north-east of the Iberian Peninsula. In methodological terms, this study takes into account the archaeological, historical and archaeometric aspects, thus placing the sites in their correct regional context. The mining tools found at La Solana del Bepo are unique in the whole north-east: the assemblage of finds from the survey consists of 81 macrolithic artefacts, mainly highly intensively manufactured picks, most of which have fittings for handles. The main aspects revealed by the traceological study and analysis of the tools are the use of local rock types, the continu-ous reuse of tools, even after they were broken, and the presence of copper residue on some percussion surfaces. We have no direct chronological data as, although abundant, the tools provide little information in this respect; however, we can date the neighbouring La Coveta de l’Heura archaeological site between the Late Chalcolithic (2800-2300 cal. BC) and the Early to Middle Bronze Age (2300-1300 cal. BC). On the other hand, the isotopic characterisation of the Montsant basin mines, of which Solana del Bepo is one, and its comparison with the isotopic analyses of finds from the area, prove that mining activities were carried out there during prehistory. La Coveta de l’Heura, located barely half a kilometre from Solana del Bepo, is an archaeological site in a para-dolmenic shelter that at different times has served as a collective burial site, a flint arrowhead workshop and a metallurgic workshop. The evidence for metallurgy consists of a smelting vessel, pieces of copper-bearing mineral, various bronze smelting remains, a copper awl and a rolled bronze plate bead. The assemblage of finds, which shows affinities with the Fontbouïsse horizon, is mainly from the Late Neo¬lithic/Chalcolithic and we have a radiometric dating to corroborate this. Especially noteworthy are the pottery finds that are clearly related to the Neolithic of the Languedoc, as well as a lead bead, a type of ornament highly characteristic of Fontbouïsse and the only one of its type documented to date on the whole of the Iberian Peninsula. However, in this case the bead is made of local lead. Other finds, for example the evidence of bronze, indicate that the shelter was also used during the Early and Middle Bronze Age.
If we look at our study zone in the context of the north-eastern Iberian Peninsula, there can be no doubt that both in relative and absolute terms it is the area with the largest amount of evidence of prehistoric mining and metallurgy. It is in the Late Chalcolithic (2800-2300 ca. BC) that we have to place the evidence of mineral exploitation in the Montsant and Molar-Bellmunt-Falset mining basins, a chronology corroborated by lead isotope data from the flat axes found at Cova M in Arbolí and the lead bead from La Coveta de l’Heura. With the current state of art, we are unable to specify between that period and the Early and Middle Bronze Age (2300-1300 cal. BC). We can highlight the find of eight smelting vessels, one of which appears to have been used for smelting mineral ore from the Montsant basin. The three-rivet dagger from La Cova de la Font Major (L’Espluga de Francolí), dated to c. 1850 cal. BC, was made of cop¬per mineral from Montsant and confirms mining in that area between the Early and Middle Bronze Age. On the other hand, the recent discovery of a previously unknown prehistoric mine in the Montsant basin, La Turquesa or Mas de les Moreres, which is still being studied, has given us another unique set of mining tools (almost 75 implements), together with analytical data, both compositional
Keywords: Use-wear Analysis, Functionality, Experimentation, Archaeometallurgy, Copper, Bronze alloy."
Keywords: use-wear analysis, functionality, experimentation, post-casting treatments, raw material, archaeometallurgy, Copper and Bronze Age.""
Keywords: Archaeometallurgy, compositional analysis, metallography, axe – adze – hoe, copper, bronze, Northeastern Iberian Peninsula, IIIrd – IInd millennia cal BC."
The present communication sets out a series of problems that we consider in the promotion of archaeological heritage and positioning adopted by the authors. We review some issues such as the revolutionary change that The New Museology has in the field of museums; the false dichotomy between communicate, exhibit and display; the importance of the informal education above the rest; the current focus on extremely restricted potential visitors and the need to democratize the cultural heritage; the benefits of the universal accessibility; or the potential of information and communication technologies (ICT). As a final point, we present a specific case of archaeological heritage promotion in which the authors have been involved directly and in what ICTs play a central role: La Roca Prehistoric Park (Vallès Oriental, Barcelona)
Keywords: Museum, Archaeological Heritage, Visitors, Accessibility, ICT, La Roca Prehistoric Park.
This paper makes a review of a set of metal artefacts (from gold, silver, copper and bronze) and other items related to the metallurgical process from prehistoric sites of Berguedà and Solsonès regions, in Catalonia (IVth and IInd millennia cal BC). These sites, widely known, are Balma dels Ossos (Berga), Cova of Sant Bartomeu (Olius), Cova d'Aigües Vives (Olius) and Forat de la Tuta (Riner). The objects are studied from a chronological, technological, typological and contextual point of view. Comparison with contemporary metallurgical evidence of the Iberian Peninsula and the rest of Europe point towards the existence of certain contacts and relationships of various kinds with different areas of the continent (south east Spain, south France, Switzerland, north Italy, Central Europe). The data indicate that during the late prehistory these territories constituted one of the main "metallurgical crossroads" who joined the Northeastern Iberian Peninsula with neighbouring regions.
Keywords: Archaeometallurgy, gold, silver, copper, copper-tin, Late Prehistory, Northeastern Iberian Peninsula
The earliest gold and copper objects from Northeastern Iberian Peninsula are dated to the Late Neolithic (c. 3300 cal BC). Until now it was assumed that these communities were carrying out mine, smelting and melting metal activities. However, according to our research, first unequivocal confirmation of metal production is not dated until later, related to Bell Beaker (c. 2800 cal BC). It was carried out a study of these early metal objects by compositional, metallographic and typological analysis. Our findings suggest, first, the existence of close links with metallurgical centres from Western Switzerland and mainly southern France (Cabrières-Péret district, Hérault). From there final metal products would have distributed but not the knowledge or the techniques for their production. These would have been "captive", being North Eastern Iberia communities simple consumers with little or no understanding of the metallurgical process. Secondly, within the socio-economic field, these objects would have a very relative impact. Functional analysis indicate that both tools and ornaments were used repeatedly and continuously in daily life activities. However in no case came to be used exclusively in any sphere of social production. Finally, the funerary practices of this moment show that arrival of the metal did not involve substantial changes in existing community social relations. First signs of social asymmetries will not appear until the beginning of Bell Beaker.
Keywords: First Metallurgy, Copper, Gold, Late Neolithic, Northeastern Iberian Peninsula
The Early Bronze Age site of Camp Cinzano (Vilafranca del Penedès, Barcelona, Northeastern Iberian Peninsula) is a characteristic example of little agricultural settlement from inland coastal Catalan plains. The main characteristics of these settlements are wood-and-clay houses, silos with stock capacity to accumulate surplus output, burial practices right inside the settlement and certain metallurgical capacity. This paper exposes the find of a riveted dagger mould, the only known throughout the region and one of the few documented in the Iberian Peninsula. The mould was located in a funerary context dated c. 1850 cal BC (AMS date). The study deals with issues related to raw material, method of use and similar objects documented elsewhere. In the current state of knowledge two hypotheses are set out about the origins of the mould: the East Iberian Peninsula and the Northern Italy region (Polada and Terramara groups).
Keywords: Archaeometallurgy, Copper-tin metallurgy, Mould, Late Prehistory, Early Bronze Age, Western Mediterranean, Northeastern Iberian Peninsula