Bronze

Previously, a frequent argument among the academics was that whether the bronze-making technology in China originated locally or came from the West. This kind of discussions is often built upon the assumption of a unilinear evolution, while this essay instead seeks to answer the question through a non-linear and comprehensive perspective. First this essay will review the historical backgrounds and key elements related to the development of the bronze industry in China prior to the arrival of
bronze-making technology. Then, based on pottery and bronze ware from the time when bronze-making technology emerged in China, this essay explains the introduction of bronze ware and technology from the Eurasian Steppe to East Asia and the
localization process in China. In order to fully understand the Chinese bronze-making technology, this essay reviews the pottery-making industry available at the Dawenkou culture and Longshan
culture, so to understand the origin of “tectonic thinking” in Chinese bronze-making. The essay also points out that potters in those cultures were already quite advanced in heat control, locating raw materials, designing and division of labor, and therefore, once they were exposed to this new metallurgical knowledge of bronze-making, they were able to quickly familiarize themselves with it and even localize the technology. Secondly, the author looks into the changes that happened to the living environment. Cultures on the Chinese east coast, particularly in areas like Shandong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, were the earliest prominent cultures; however, environmental changes possibly deteriorated their leadership. Communication between countries and regions across the Steppe, on the other hand, fostered the introduction of new technologies, and gave the Luoyang region a preemptive opportunity to enter the bronze era first. Finally, this essay studies about several types of jade ware, and points out that the continental countries in East Asia formed a network for trade in luxury goods and information exchange prior to the arrival of bronze ware. This network helped the Erlitou culture to get in touch with the latest developments elsewhere, while also helping to export luxury goods from Erlitou to other cities or large settlements. The author believes that bronze-making technology in China came from the Steppe, but what came from the Steppe was not just any one single technology or one particular ready-made product. This essay systematically studies the pottery and bronze ware remains and remains of bronze foundries from the late Longshan period to the Erlitou period. It was noticed that potters at those times were able to imitate traits of hammering bronze ware on the pottery they made, so it was assumed that these potters probably had made observations of or were exposed to several different kinds of hammering bronze ware. In short, during the 200 to 300 years of time from the late Longshan to Erlitou period, many prominent settlements in East Asia were engaged in attempts of bronze making. Most of these attempts failed, and the few successful ones did not cause much influence except the ones at Erlitou.
Artisans in East Asia were also exposed to the open and bisectional stone mold technology from the Eurasian Steppe, and influences from the Steppe can be seen at the Taosi culture. However, bronze casting did not really affect the social organization and political system of the Taosi culture. Artisans from the Erlitou culture, on the other hand, successfully used complicated 2D technologies to make 3D containers, jue (爵), and eventually developed the technology of piece-mold casting. Although the bronze ware from the Erlitou period continued to show traits of lightness and thinness, the application and massive use of decoration on bronze ware led the way to monumental bronze in the Erligang and Yinxu (Shang) periods.

Biodiesel has become more attractive as alternative fuel for automobiles because of its environmental benefits and the fact that it is made from renewable sources. However, corrosion of metals in biodiesel is one of the concerns related to biodiesel compatibility issues. This study aims to characterize the corrosion behavior of commercial pure copper and leaded bronze commonly encountered in the automotive fuel system in diesel engine. Static immersion tests in B0, B50 and B100 fuels were carried out at room temperature for 2640 h. Similar immersion tests in B0, B100 and B100 (oxidized) fuels were also conducted at 60 °C for 840 h. At the end of the test, corrosion behavior was investigated by weight loss measurements and changes in surface morphology. Fuels were analyzed by using TAN analyzer, FTIR, MOA (multi-element oil analyzer) to investigate acid concentration, oxidation level with water content and corrosive impurities respectively. Results showed that under the experimental conditions, pure copper was more susceptible to corrosion in biodiesel as compared to leaded bronze. © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378382009003440 
http://ac.els-cdn.com/S0378382009003440/1-s2.0-S0378382009003440-main.pdf?_tid=25f84e0c-a9c6-11e3-87d2-00000aab0f6c&acdnat=1394615605_02776a89e9e710d4bf68a8213e0aace7

Polytetrafluroethylene (PTFE) is currently finding increasing utility due to its unique properties like high chemical resistivity, low coefficient of friction and high temperature stability. However, PTFE exhibits poor wear resistance, especially abrasion. The wear resistance of PTFE can be significantly improved by addition of suitable reinforcement (filler) materials. Among the most common filler materials are glass fibers, graphite, carbon and bronze. In this paper, it is presented a review of tribological properties of composite materials with PTFE matrix and above mentioned filler materials.

The ultimate cause of much historical, social and cultural change is the gradual accumulation of human knowledge of the environment. Human beings use the materials in their environment, including fire and metals, to meet their needs and increased human knowledge of fire and metals enables human needs to be met in a more efficient manner. Fire and metals have particular properties and human knowledge of those properties increases over time in a particular order. Increasing human knowledge of how to create higher and higher temperatures enables the smelting and melting of a wider range of ores and metals. Those ores and metals that could be smelted and melted at lower temperatures were used before the ores and metals which had higher smelting and melting points. This meant that copper, and its alloy bronze, were used before iron and its alloy steel. Pure metals, like copper and iron, were used before alloys such as, bronze and steel, as the manufacture of alloys is more complicated than the manufacture of pure metals. The simplest knowledge is acquired first and more complex knowledge is acquired later. The order of discovery determines the course of human social and cultural history, as knowledge of new and more efficient means of smelting ores and melting metals, results in new technology, which contributes to the development of new social and ideological systems. This means human social and cultural history, had to follow a particular course, a course that was determined by the properties of the materials in the human environment.

"Production processes of small pewter objects in the High and Late Middle Ages

The find of a thirteenth century complex of stone molds in Magdeburg increased our knowledge of the casting of pewter objects in the Middle Ages. Molds and casting waste can tell us more about the various production methods than the cast objects themselves. The same casting methods for pewter objects were used for centuries, namely full casting, core or hollow casting and the slush casting, i. e. the casting of three-dimensional objects by pouring out the metal that had not yet solidified (Vollgieß-, Kerngieß- and Sturzgießverfahren). The full casting method was most commonly used. In order to make a
successful cast the mold had to fulfill certain requirements. The mold was brushed with soot, lime water, or chalk slip. It also had to be heated so that the hot metal could flow freely to all parts and not solidify immediately. Another condition was the presence of vents by which air could escape from the mold and so prevent air bubbles forming in the cast. A great change in the thirteenth century was the enormous increase in pewter products. It was in this period that mass pilgrimage developed and the demand for cheap, quickly produced souvenirs grew. The opening of the tin mines in the Erzgebirge in the first half of the thirteenth century met this need. Tin was no longer a Cornish monopoly: it was a cheap alternative for gold and silver and became available to much more of the population. The lower costs led to a bigger market in west and north-western Europe, to the development of pewter/tin molding as an independent craft and the emergence of the tin molders gilds in Paris (1268) and Nuremberg (1285)."

On 26 June 2012, the Israel Museum opened a spectacular exhibit of early electrum coinage entitled “White Gold,” and, in the days before, hosted an important academic conference reexamining the many economic, political and numismatic problems associated with these early coins. The papers of the academic conference are to be published this year under the auspices of Haim Gitler, Catherine Lorber, and Koray Konuk. What follows is the keynote address from the exhibit opening summarizing the results of the conference and where we now stand in our understanding of the earliest western coinages.

Etude d'un ensemble de 19 petits alabastrons en albâtre et de 9 autres alabastrons en matières diverses (céramique, faïence, pâte de verre et bronze). Ces objets proviennent des tombes, essentiellement de Carthage; les plus anciens sont attribués aux VIIe-début du Ve s. av J.-C. sont d'origine égyptienne; les plus récents se situent dans le courant des IVe-IIe s. av. J.-C., ils seraient des imitations dont les centres de production ne sont pas bien déterminés.

Restoration of a Roman Statuary Group, representing the God Jupiter The statuary group (Jupiter Fulminans) is composed of three components: a statuette representing the God Jupiter, an eagle figure and a socket. Its precarious state of conservation imposed a detailed physical-chemical analysis, and the applied restorative treatments required a complex approach. The use of modern restorative methods such as ultrasound, laser or vacuum treatments made this piece regain its shape, chemical and mechanical stability.

The author assigns ten fibulae, distributed only in Friuli and in the Soča region, to a new type of Middle La Tène construction fibulae, named by him the “San Floriano type.” Until now different authors have ascribed them to various types, e.g. the Kastav and Picugi types of fibulae. Four of them are of silver, the rest are bronze. The reverted foot is decorated with three knobs, between which there are usually collars. The spring consists of ten or twelve coils made of round wire. The cord is wrapped around the bow from the inside. The type can be dated to the LT D1 phase and subdivided into variant A with a semi-oval bow of circular cross-section, variant B with a knob on the bow, and variant C with a richly decorated flat bow.

L’autore attribuisce dieci fibule, diffuse solamente in Friuli e nell’Isontino, a un nuovo tipo delle fibule dello schema medio La Tène, denominato da lui “tipo San Floriano”. Vari autori le hanno attribuite finora a tipi diversi, per esempio Kastav e Picugi. Quattro di esse sono in argento, il resto è in bronzo. La staffa ripiegata è decorata da tre globetti, tra i cui ci sono abitualmente delle costolature. La molla è composta di dieci o dodici avvolgimenti, fatti da un filo a
sezione circolare. La corda è avvolta attorno all’arco dall’interno verso esterno. Il tipo può essere datato in fase LT D1 e suddiviso in variante A con un arco semiovale dalla sezione circolare, in variante B con un globetto sull’arco e in variante C con un arco appiattito e riccamente decorato.

The North Western Iberia metal ore wealth, especially tin ore and gold, have been proposed as the main reason for the development of intense trade routes since early prehistory. Several authors have argued the existence of interactions between the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula and other cultures of the European Occident and the Mediterranean area. Ancient sources comment on the abundance of minerals and metals in the  Cassiterides or  Tin Islands. These accounts must have originated from sailors who from time immemorial were trading in these coasts. The name Cassiterides represents the first vague knowledge of the Greeks that tin was found overseas somewhere in or off Western Europe. The word  κασσιτερος  was known to Homer and is mentioned ten times in the Iliad. Cape Finisterre (Land’s End for the Romans) was proposed as the northernmost point recorded in the  Periplous of Pytheas the Massaliot, which seems to be the basic source used by Rufus Festus Avienus. B.Cunliffe has suggested that if Cape Finisterre was the place called estrymnis by Avienus in Ora Marítima, then Periplous could be
seen as the guide that led Greek sailors from Marseille to the northwest of Iberia to trade for the coveted Galician tin some time around 500 BC. 
Recently, the study of prehistoric bronze working places more emphasis on technological aspects as a means of detecting changes in the pattern of metal production in the archaeological
record. Bronze working appears in North Western Iberia at the end of the 3rd and the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC for short-scale production, distribution and consumption, mainly as
prestige goods. Metals are a major component of the prestige economy described in the Homeric Epics and his accounts of Phoenician traders carrying metals hither and thither constitute the earliest literature reference. They suggest a prestige economy based in interchange of presents (most of them metals) that contribute to the perpetuation of the aristocracy, excluding ownership by the rest of the population.
Recent preliminary analyses carried out at the synchrotron and the neutron sources at the Daresbury and Rutherford Laboratories have contributed to the understanding of technological details of this very early bronze metallurgy. Archaeological evidence sustains the hypothesis of an increase of the production during the late Bronze Age. Most of these objects are produced
locally, imitating foreign styles, especially in the Atlantic area, with singular features related to the alloy composition and other features.  Indeed, as early as the beginning of the 8th century BC, the Phoenicians had established a trading post at Gadir. From here Phoenician ships regularly sailed north up the Atlantic coast of Iberia. We can observe differences between the Late Bronze Age-Iron Age north-western metal production and the so-called tartesic bronzes. The technical aspects of the production of bronze during the Orientalising Period in the Iberian Peninsula
favours the individualization of different manufacturing tradition

La restitution du circuit économique des métaux en Provence n’a jusqu’à présent pas fait l’objet de recherches poussées. Or, cet espace géographique qui ouvre sur la Méditerranée est aussi une voie de passage entre le nord de l’Europe, le midi de la France et l’Italie. Un trafic des métaux assez intense s’y est probablement déroulé.
Plusieurs sources ont été mises à contribution, en tenant compte de leurs biais propres, pour proposer une restitution de la circulation des métaux, de leur importation, de leur exportation, des acteurs économiques et des principaux centres d’utilisation de ces matériaux en Provence au cours du temps. La bibliographie régionale et extrarégionale a été dépouillée, des recherches en archives effectuées, notamment concernant l’activité minière, la localisation des martinets et les tarifs de péage.

No advanced research has been done up to now on the economic circuit of metals in Provence. Yet, this geographical area which opens onto the Mediterranean is also a passageway between Northern Europe, the South of France, and Italy. Relatively intense metal trading is likely to have taken place there.Several sources were called upon to make a contribution, according to their biases, to propose an account of metal circulation, importing and exporting, economic actors, and the main centers of use of these materials in Provence over time. The regional and extra-regional literature reviews have been done, and the archival research has been done, particularly on mining activity, the localization of hammers and toll rates.

Más allá de la hegemonía que el acero ha ejercido en la historia de la arquitectura del último siglo, la aplicación que el mundo de la edificación hace de los metales está lejos de resultar caduca, máxime cuando con ellos se acrecientan las virtudes tanto técnicas como expresivas de las obras a dibujar. Es por tanto objetivo de las próximas líneas intentar arrojar algo de luz a la compleja perspectiva de la constructiva actual en materia de trabajos metálicos, aunque el resultado sólo logre arañar la superficie de una realidad más profunda y ramificada de lo que se pueda sugerir. Dado que dicho acercamiento supone relacionar una gran cantidad de edificios, distantes en uso y configuración, quizá una de las propuestas más seguras a la hora de ofrecer un resultado panorámico sea la de analizar el comportamiento que cada metal presenta por separado, observando al tiempo cuán preferente es su uso y, en esa medida, lo extendido de su empleo.
Abstract: The prominent role played by metals as basic elements for the daily development of human life is obvious and irrefutable. In the same way that most of our daily activities would be impossible without the support given by metals, a large percentage of the architecture of the last century also builds its foundations on the solidity of a metallic structure. Apart from iron as a predecessor and steel as a worthy successor, architecture also regularly resorts to other metals to shape with them the final image of the building, profiting from both technical and expressive elements for which are responsible the different metal alternatives here considered (aluminium, titanium, zinc, copper, bronze, lead). With these examples, the present paper tries to suggest the extensive formal, aesthetic and conceptual variety revealed by the twenty-first century architecture , characterised, among other things, by the never-ending quest for diversity, plurality and originality demanded by the contemporary world.

The study takes it starting point in Fosie IV, a site situated just outside of Malmö, Sweden, containing material from a period spanning from the Late Neolithic to the Iron Age. From a conflictbased, contextual point of view, the author seeks to link the changes in the settlement-structure of Fosie IV, during Bronze Age, to changes in European centre-periphery relations during the same period. The method is definable as the study of a micro-object from a macro-contextual perspective, enabling the mapping of how the inhabitants of Fosie IV responded to large-scale processes occurring outside of southern Scandinavia. The structure of the study implicates (1) the acceptance of the term chiefdom, and (2) the treatment of Europe, during Bronze Age, as a kaleidoscope of cultures and traditions, interacting on a local and regional level, where the existence of chiefdoms, as part of the European structure, rested on the flow of bronze (prestige goods) and chiefs ability to control the metal via commercial networks. The analysis has shown, that Fosie IV already during the latter half of the Late Neolithic saw the introduction of bronze. As a consequence of this, houses became larger, and the process as a whole can be seen as an early, local example of the prestige goods economy mentioned above. During Early Bronze Age the new economy was consolidated, which is represented by houses maintaining at least the same size as the ones in the preceding period. As a consequence of bronze becoming scarcer though, following the increased importance of iron, further south, crisis struck at Fosie during Early Bronze Age. This is demonstrated by houses getting smaller, while at the same time being equipped with Late Neolithic constructional details, the latter to be seen as a way of dealing with the crisis by ideologically connecting to "a great past". The analysis has also shown that the prestige goods economy was legitimized by a malt liquor-/solar concept, that is - the use of these elements as symbols for power.

Diffusion has become a ‘dirty word’ in many quarters of archaeology, but a realistic consideration of the empirical data shows the importance of spreading innovations from one area to another in the ancient world. This paper makes use of a modern framework to analyse diffusion of technologies in order to make sense of three important and potentially profoundly linked innovations from the later fourth and third millennia BC in Western Asia and Europe: tin-bronzes, sealing practices and weight metrology. It is argued that macro-scale processes, like the spread or diffusion of innovations studied in world systems approaches to pre- and protohistory, cannot be adequately assessed or critiqued without the detailed analysis of empirical data.

The history of metals and metallurgy is rooted in the history of civilizations as the" Archaeometallurgy" and has been a subject of great interest for over a century. Due to the relatively good preservation of metallic goods and the modern values related to metals, metal artefact typologies often served as the very basis for prehistoric sequences during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In many ways, it was V. Gordon Childe who placed metallurgical technology at the front, arguing as he did for the roles of" itinerant metal ...

Based on archaeological finds, we attempt herein to analyse “Sarmatian” brooches of headknob and outer
chord variant in Roman Dacia and the Barbarian environment in the Tisza river basin. Given the rich existent
material and depending on the spring attachment system, the authors propose two main variants: variant A (inner
chord) and variant B (outer chord). Variant B may be subdivided according to the chord attachment type into B1
(outer chord and fastening support) and B2 (outer chord and headknob). The authors analysed a number of 72
specimens belonging to the headknob and outer chord sub-variant. Both in setting forth the typology as well as the
approach of the other issues related to the brooches in this sub-variant, the authors considered similar specimens
spread over a broad geographical area and dating to a chronological interval comprised between the last decades of
the 2nd c. – early 4th century AD. The authors noted that the use period of the “Sarmatian” brooches, headknob and
outer chord in Roman Dacia frames mainly in the chronological interval between the last two decades of the 2nd
century AD and mid 3rd century AD. Moreover, the authors concluded said brooches reached Dacia via the
Barbarians. According to the authors, the distribution area of this brooch variant as well as the workshops producing
it clearly clustered in the Barbarian world, mainly in the German world or that in very close connection to it.
Furthermore, it was noted that brooches in this variant are the only ones for which finds point to centres where
operated workshops manufacturing them. Based on brooch, bronze and clay moulds as well as of half-finished
specimen finds, the authors concluded that the area of the finds evidencing the production of the “Sarmatian”
brooches, headknob and outer chord variant comprises, with one exception (Porolissum), the German or German
influence world. Accordingly, the authors reached the conclusion that the association of such brooches with the
Sarmatian world as well as the view they are of Sarmatian origin should be abandoned entirely. The analysis of all
bronze and silver headknob and outer chord brooches made the authors conclude that this brooch variant was born in
the Przeworsk culture environment from where they diffused southwards and eastwards. The authors also noticed
that brooches in this variant were borrowed by the Sarmatian Iazyges from the German populations (most likely the
Vandals) once with their arrival and settlement of regions in the northern vicinity of the area inhabited by the first.
Another conclusion is that brooches in this variant are artifacts evidencing existent cultural and economic contacts
and interferences between various populations and moreover, clearly showing the moving direction of German
population groups starting with the last quarter of the 2nd century AD.

We attempt herein, based on archaeological finds, to analyse brooches of type Almgren VII, Series I, the headknob and external chord variation from territories east and south-east of Romania. The authors discuss a number of 46 such brooches. The typological analysis of the finds as well as the approach of the other issues these raise, also considered similar specimens diffused on a vast geographical area and a chronological time span comprised between the last decades of the 2nd century – early 4th century AD.
Out of the total analysed exemplars, 35 were discovered in settlements and 11 in cemeteries, of which four were identified in inhumations. Out of the total brooches, only three are in silver, while with respect to the spring making type, 24 are single springed, five are provided with a double spring while in the case of 17 exemplars, it was impossible to say with certainty whether they had a single spring and chord inserted through the second hole of the support or were double-springed.
Subsequent to the analysis of these type brooches and the contexts and features where they were discovered, the authors concluded that chronologically, the specimens date in the area under discussion mainly to stage C1b – early stage C3 (AD 230-320/330), though emerging in the late period of stage C1a.
The authors noted, based on finds yielded by certain graves, that these were often worn in pairs, a custom specific mainly to the Germanic world, ascribing their wear to women. Based on the examination of the finds, the authors further noted that in the area discussed here it may be currently assumed that brooches of the sort were manufactured only at Bucharest-Străulești, reminding though both their making in several other sites within territories located outside the Roman empire and by possible travelling artisans.
Also, it is mentioned again that these brooches of type Almgren, group VII, series I, emerged in the Przeworsk and Wielbark culture environments, where many such brooch finds are found, together with most numerous subvariants.
The authors also conclude that the presence of these brooches may be related to the territories north and north-east of the Upper Dniester and that they are indicative, beside other artefacts, of the arrival and settlement in the discussed area, starting with the end phase of stage C1a – early stage C1b, of certain groups of Germanic populaces from the region of the Upper Dniester and territories north of it.
Last but not least, the authors construe that in the current state of research, it is impossible to reach more definite conclusions on who were the bearers of these brooches, mentioning though that it is not excluded that their emergence is connected to the arrival of the bearers of the early stage (beginning) of the Sântana de Mureș-Chernyakhov culture on the territory east and south of the Carpathians.

Simposio "El estudio arqueológico de la complejidad y la desigualdad en el Noroeste argentino". XI Congreso Nacional de Arqueología Argentina. 23-29/Mayo/1994. San Rafael. Mendoza. Actas y Memorias (I Parte pp: 136). (Joan Gero y M. C. Scattolin)

The so-called libation arms found in Anatolia and the Eastern Mediterranean during the Late Bronze Age, belong to the ceramic class Red Lustrous Wheel-made Ware, characterized by a very fine fabric, a careful cooking and a red slipped and polished surface. Even if they were thoroughly analyzed, it was generally assumed that these objects were linked to religious or cultic activities and destined to libatory action. However, no systematic investigation was carried out in relation to their finding contexts. This paper presents the results of a morphological and contextual analysis of this specific artifact. It offers suggestions for production areas, function and distribution on the base of a catalog that collects all the pieces found so far and on the analysis of each finding context. The data seem to indicate an Anatolian type of production unrelated to that of the Red Lustrous Wheel-made Ware, which is solely linked to religious activity.

In this paper, an analysis is presented of some bronze vessels from recent excavations at the first millennium BC site of Sangtarashan in eastern Luristan, Iran, according to metallography (OM), ICP-OES and SEM-EDS methods to identify alloying as well as manufacturing processes. This study provides new evidence for a better understanding of the bronze archaeometallurgy during the Iron Age in Iran. It concludes that the artifacts contain homogenous and single phase tin bronze (Cu-Sn) alloy. The Sn content in the artifacts also allowed to apply mechanical operations on the vessels without causing brittleness. Apart from tin, other elements that are classified as trace elements were present, such as zinc, iron, lead, phosphorus and arsenic. Metallographic observations indicated that the microstructures of samples are typical worked grains, composed by the mechanical process for shaping vessels throughout a cycle of cold working and annealing.