LEAD ISOTOPE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CYPRUS COPPER ORE DEPOSITS APPLIED TO PROVENANCE STUDIES OF COPPER OXHIDE INGOTS

Nearly 200 new lead isotope analyses of sulphidic and oxidized ores from 26 copper mines on Cyprus show that the mines from different geological regions group in five distinctive isotopic groups, each with a substructure, related to the geological history of the ore formation. Comparison of lead isotope compositions of Bronze Age artefacts with these data can in many cases reveal the actual mines from which the copper for particular artefacts was obtained. The particular case of the provenance of the copper for 78 Late Bronze Age copper ‘oxhide ingots’found in Cyprus, Crete, Greece, Sardinia, Turkey and Bulgaria is discussed. The data show that all oxhide ingots so far analysed, dating to the fourteenth century BC and later, were made of copper consistent isotopically with only one mining region in the geographical north of Cyprus, and especially the Apliki mine. The study provides further evidence which supports the validity of the conventional approach to the use of lead isotope analysis for provenancing metals; this evidence is antithetical to recent suggestions of a model for the production of copper oxhide ingots which involved widespread mixing of copper from a number of ore sources throughout the Mediterranean.     

A Late Bronze Age Shipwreck with a Metal Cargo from Hishuley Carmel,Israel

A 13th‐century‐BC shipwreck site, Hishuley Carmel, is described and discussed. It provides direct evidence for marine transport of copper and tin along the Israeli coast and may indicate inland and maritime trade‐routes of metals in the Mediterranean. The shipwreck represents a supply‐system providing the demand for bronze in the Levant. Trace‐elements and lead‐isotope analysis suggest that the copper came from Cyprus, similarly to bun and oxhide ingots from Uluburun. The source of the tin cannot yet be ascertained. The medium‐size ship was probably grounded and wrecked during a storm. Some of the cargo may have been salvaged in Antiquity. © 2012 The Authors     

The potential of stable Cu isotopes for the identification of Bronze Age ore mineral sources from Cyprus and Faynan: results from Uluburun and Khirbat Hamra Ifdan

Copper isotope ratios differ between hypogene sulfidic, supergene sulfidic and oxidized ore sources. Traditional lead isotope signatures of ancient metals are specific to deposits, while Cu isotope signatures are specific to the types of ore minerals used for metal production in ancient times. Two methodological case studies are presented: First, the mining district of Faynan (Jordan) was investigated. Here, mainly oxidized copper ores occur in the deposits. The production of copper from Fayan’s ore sources is confirmed by the measurement of the Cu isotope signature of ingots from the Early Bronze Age metal workshop from Khirbat Hamra Ifdan. Based on our results illustrating differences in the Cu isotope composition between the ore mineralizations from Timna (Israel) and Faynan, it is now possible to determine these prehistoric mining districts from which copper artifacts originated by combining trace elements and Pb isotopes with Cu isotopes. The second case study presents data on Late Bronze Age copper production in Cyprus. Oxhide ingots from the shipwreck of Uluburun (Turkey) were tested for their lead isotope signatures and assigned to Cypriot deposits in the recent decades. The oxhide ingots from Uluburun show a Cu isotope signature which we also found for oxidized copper ores from Cyprus, while younger oxhide ingots as well as metallurgical slag from the Cypriot settlements Kition and Enkomi show a different signature which might be due to the use of sulfidic ore sources from a greater depth of deposits. We assert that there could be a chronological shift from oxidized to sulfidic ore sources for the copper production in Cyprus, requiring different technologies. Therefore, Cu isotopes can be used as a proxy to reconstruct mining and induced smelting activities in ancient times.     

THE LEAD INGOTS OF CAPO PASSERO: ROMAN GLOBAL MEDITERRANEAN TRADE

Summary.   Epigraphic and isotopic analysis of the lead ingots recovered from a shipwreck off Capo Passero (in Sicily) in mid-2006 suggests that the ingots were produced in Spain, in the Cartagena region. The shipwreck is estimated to have occurred around 38 BC, at the beginning of the Hispanic era. This provides further evidence that the Romans were trading lead throughout the Mediterranean Sea.     

Southern Iberia and the Mediterranean Trade-routes

The early Iron Age sites of southern Iberia (8th century to c. 600 BC) have produced large numbers of imports from the eastern Mediterranean, while only a very small number of southern Iberian objects found their way to other parts of the Mediterranean. Despite their scarcity these items can provide valuable information about the shift of trade routes in the Mediterranean at around 600 BC.     

A New Method For Combining Lead Isotope and Lead Abundance Data to Characterize Archaeological Copper Alloys*

We present a new methodology for interpreting lead isotope data from archaeological copper alloy objects. It is not based on the conventional isotope ratio biplots, which were originally devised to allow the calculation of the geological age of the lead mineralization, but is derived from isotope mixing models, more often used for presenting strontium isotope data. We illustrate the method by reworking published data on Sardinian Nuragic oxhide ingots and copper alloy artefacts. While we confirm the consensus assumption that the oxhide ingot fragments found on Sardinia are isotopically consistent with Cypriot copper ores (although we see no isotopic reason to favour only Apliki, as originally suggested), we also show that there is evidence for mixing between local and ingot copper in some objects, which was previously not detected. More broadly, we suspect that the apparent mismatch between some source allocations for copper drawn from isotope geochemistry and the rest of the archaeological data in some cases might be due to mixed isotopic signals being incorrectly assigned to a specific source, and suggest that the method presented here will reduce the chances of this happening.     

Where Do the Lead Ingots of the Saintes‐maries‐de‐la‐mer Wreck Come From? Archaeology Compared With Physics

The lead isotope compositions of many different samples from lead ingots of Roman age from two relicts (from Cabrera, and from Saintes‐Maries‐de‐la‐Mer) of the Western Mediterranean have been measured. Other lead isotope analyses of ores, metals or lead ingots from mines of Sierra Morena and from Cartagena and Sardinia have been accomplished. All the lead isotope measurements have been performed at the Joint Research Centre of the European Union, Ispra (Va), Italy. The samples have been prepared in a class 100 clean room, using only ultrapure reagents and FEP materials. In view of the archaeological arguments, it was possible to believe that the Roman lead ingots of the Saintes‐Maries‐de‐la‐Mer 1 wreck came from Spanish lodes, as well as those of the Cabrera 5 wreck. In fact, while the comparison between the first group of ingots (Cabrera 5) and the lead from Sierra Morena is consistent, the correspondence between the second group of ingots (Saintes‐Maries‐de‐la‐Mer 1) and the Cevennes ores (southern France) gives rise to several problems concerning the archaeological and physical origins. These problems are discussed.     

Moving metals or indigenous mining? Provenancing Scandinavian Bronze Age artefacts by lead isotopes and trace elements

The aim of this study is to further the discussion as to whether copper was extracted locally or imported to Sweden during the Bronze Age or if both of these practices could have coexisted. For this purpose, we have carried out lead isotope and chemical analyses of 33 bronze items, dated between 1600BC and 700BC. Among these are the famous Fröslunda shields and the large scrap hoard from Bräckan and other items from three regions in southern Sweden which are also renowned for their richness in copper ores. It is obvious from a comparison that the element and lead isotope compositions of the studied bronze items diverge greatly from those of spatially associated copper ores. Nor is there any good resemblance with other ores from Scandinavia, and it is concluded that the copper in these items must have been imported from elsewhere. The results furthermore indicate that there are variations in metal supply that are related to chronology, in agreement with other artefacts from Scandinavia as well as from other parts of Europe. Altogether these circumstances open up for a discussion regarding Scandinavia’s role in the maritime networks during the Bronze Age.     

A Bronze Ingot-bearer from Cyprus

Cypriot bronze four-sided stands represent some of the most impressive metal artefacts produced in the Eastern Mediterranean. As such they offer insight into the high level of the Cypriot bronzework of the Late Bronze Age and witness the advanced skills of the Cypriot metalsmiths. A bronze fragment depicting a man bearing an oxhide ingot, detached from a four-sided stand and housed in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada, is now added to the corpus of these works. Although unprovenanced, its Cypriot origin is proven by its close typological, technological and stylistic affinities when compared to other Cypriot stands. The discussion of technology, style and chronology of this fragment serves as an opportunity for the evaluation of the stands as a whole and their establishment as products of great technical and artistic virtuosity.     

EARLY BRONZE AGE METAL TRADE IN THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN. NEW COMPOSITIONAL AND LEAD ISOTOPE EVIDENCE FROM CYPRUS

Summary.   This paper presents the results of chemical and lead isotope analyses of 17 Early and Middle Bronze Age artefacts from Cyprus. These suggest that a number of objects are of non-Cypriot copper and lead to the identification of several as imports, a new explanation for some artefact types as ingots and a discussion of the nature of deposits at the key Cypriot site of Vasilia. This in turn allows a reconsideration of the role of Cyprus in an Aegean/eastern Mediterranean metals trade in the early years of the second half of the third millennium BC and of the development of metalworking on the island.     

Modelling Soil Erosion by Grazing: Recent Developments and New Approaches

Grazing is still widely held responsible for land degradation. The interaction between grazing and erosion is still rather poorly understood. As a consequence, counter‐measures and associated management techniques have been slow to develop in southern Europe compared with Australia. Developments in ecological and economic‐ecological modelling have improved our understanding of the processes and enhanced management capacity. Some of these developments are reviewed and two applications are described. One is a model for semi‐extensive grazing in dry Mediterranean mountain conditions in which the shepherds, on random paths, seek to optimise resources use for economic benefit. The other is a spatial optimisation of vegetation canopy to minimise erosion rates.     

DID THE GREEKS GO TO COLCHIS FOR METALS?

A too simple understanding of the process of Greek colonisation, especially the reasons for it, sometimes leads modern scholars to unrealistic conclusions. This paper examines the view commonly found in the literature that the main reason for the arrival of the lonians in Colchis in the middle of the 6th century BC was the area's richness in metals. Archaeological material discussed here shows that Eastern Pontus was far from being so well endowed, and that the local tribes were less advanced in metallurgy than is often believed. The Scythian 'incursion'into Colchis at the end of the 7th century BC both introduced Colchians to iron metallurgy and gave rise to a lacuna in the material culture of the area. New tribes in the Eastern Black Sea in the middle of the 6th century BC revived the iron industry, but it never again reached the scale of production achieved in the 7th century BC. The involvement of the Greeks in iron metallurgy is a matter of which, so far, we know nothing. Nevertheless, the Greeks, trying to adapt their art to the tastes of the local rulers, established in Colchis in the 5th century BC schools of gold- and silver-smiths, as well as the production of metal seals and engraved gems.     

Production Networks and Consumer Choice in the Earliest Metal of Western Europe

The earliest metal objects and metal production practices appeared in Western Europe during the fourth and third millennia BC. The presence of earlier dates for copper, gold, silver, and lead, as well as arsenical copper and tin-bronze alloys in Central and Eastern Europe implies that there is no evidence for the independent invention of metallurgy in Western Europe. Instead, the acquisition of metal objects as exotica by communities appears to have led eventually to the movement of people possessing metallurgical expertise. However, the metals, production techniques and object forms used in each region reflect local standards seen in other materials. This implies a process of incorporation and innovation by the communities involved rather than a straightforward or inevitable adoption. The presence of metal may have created new networks of communication and exchange but, due to its small scale, there is no evidence for any metallurgical revolution.     

Athenian Black Gloss Pottery: A View from the West

Excavation of archaic Morgantina (c.700–450 BC), Sicily, has brought to light a significant pattern in the distribution of imported Greek pottery. This pattern, which shows a preference for imports with features that referred to metal vessels, is echoed at sites around the western Mediterranean. We argue that the preference for certain types was communicated back to Greek producers, and that it also reflects the particular local interests of non‐Greeks, who associated metallic features not only with wealth, but also with their own ancestral traditions.     

Establishing the Middle Sea: The Late Bronze Age of Mediterranean Europe (1700–900 BC)

Journal of Archaeological Research - The Late Bronze Age (1700–900 BC) represents an extremely dynamic period for Mediterranean Europe. Here, we provide a comparative survey of the...     

Mediterranean Struggles for Movement and the European Government of Bodies: An Interview with Étienne Balibar and Nicholas De Genova

The conversation between Étienne Balibar and Nicholas De Genova engages with the Mediterranean of migration as a multifaceted, productive, and contested space, which can represent a counterpoint to a deep‐rooted Eurocentric imaginary. Looking at the Mediterranean as a space produced by the mobility of the bodies crossing it and by the combination of different struggles, Balibar and De Genova comment on some of the political movements that have taken center stage in the Mediterranean region in the past few years and suggest that the most important challenge today is to mobilize a “Mediterranean point of view” whereby the political borders of Europe and its self‐centered referentiality can be challenged.     

CONTRASTING SUBSISTENCE STRATEGIES IN THE EARLY IRON AGE? – NEW RESULTS FROM THE ALFÖLD PLAIN,HUNGARY, AND THE THRACIAN PLAIN,BULGARIA

Summary. What can students of the past do to establish the predominant land‐use and settlement practices of populations who leave little or no artefactual discard as a testament to their lifeways? The traditional answer, especially in Eastern Europe, is to invoke often exogenous nomadic pastoralists whose dwelling in perpetuo mobile was based on yurts, minimal local ceramic production and high curation levels of wooden and metal containers. Such a lacuna of understanding settlement structure and environmental impacts typifies Early Iron Age (henceforth ‘EIA’) settlements in both Bulgaria and eastern Hungary – a period when the inception of the use of iron in Central and South‐East Europe has a profound effect on the flourishing regional bronze industries of the Late Bronze Age (henceforth ‘LBA’). The methodological proposal in this paper is the high value of palynological research for subsistence strategies and human impacts in any area with a poor settlement record. This proposal is illustrated by two new lowland pollen diagrams – Ezero, south‐east Bulgaria, and Sarló‐hát, north‐east Hungary – which provide new insights into this research question. In the Thracian valley, there is a disjunction between an area of high arable potential, the small size and short‐lived nature of most LBA and EIA settlements and the strong human impact from the LBA and EIA periods in the Ezero diagram. In the Hungarian Plain, the pollen record suggests that, during the LBA–EIA, extensive grazing meadows were established in the alluvial plain, with the inception of woodland clearance on a massive scale from c.800 cal BC, that contradicts the apparent decline in human population in this area. An attempted explanation of these results comprises the exploration of three general positions – the indigenist thesis, the exogenous thesis and the interactionist thesis. Neither of these results fits well with the traditional view of EIA populations as incoming steppe nomadic pastoralists. Instead, this study seeks to explore the tensions between local productivity and the wider exchange networks in which they are entangled.     

The Cape Gelidonya Shipwreck and the Bronze Age Metals Trade in the Eastern Mediterranean

Abstract

Controversy has surrounded the identification of the home port of the ship wrecked off Cape Gelidonya, Turkey. In an attempt to contribute further information pertinent to the solution of this problem, samples for metallurgical study were taken from eight of the copper ingots that were carried on the ship: four oxhide-shaped, two plano-convex, and two slab-shaped. Analysis of these samples shows that, with a single exception, the structure and composition of the ingots are little different from ingots found in Cyprus, Crete, Greece, and Sardinia. The inferences to be drawn from the metallurgical research are 1) that the ingots represented typical items of international trade and 2) that the home port of the ship and lading port of the ingots cannot be determined since the ship and crew were operating in the international sphere. It may also be surmised that at least a part of the Bronze Age trade was in the hands of private entrepreneurs.     

Transport Amphorae in the West Hallstatt Zone: Reassessing Socio‐Economic Dynamics and Long‐Distance Mediterranean Exchange in Western Central Europe in the Early Iron Age

Trade and cultural relations between western Central Europe and the Mediterranean world in the Early Iron Age remain a major topic of discussion. The products exchanged were mainly connected with the ritual preparation and social consumption of Mediterranean wine. This article examines the question through a comparative study of transport amphorae from the entire West Hallstatt zone. The systematic analysis is based on a specialized study carried out on the material itself. Typological analyses allow us to identify where amphorae originated; previously this was thought to have been just Massalia but this now needs to be expanded to the whole Mediterranean Basin. An analysis of the distribution of amphorae enables us to identify the trajectory these products followed. A comparison with amphora types attested in potential ports in southern France and northern Italy suggests possible trade routes for specific types. Finally, a new chronological scheme for amphorae provides insights into the economic reasons behind these imports and the social impact these products had, enabling us to identify broader socio‐economic trends and long‐distance exchange patterns in western Central Europe.     

Grave‐goods from the long chamber tomb “Dibba 76/1” (Fujairah,UAE): a first inventory

The aim of this paper is to present the rich set of finds collected inside the grave Dibba 76/1, in the Emirate of Fujairah, during a season of rescue excavation conducted under the direction of S. Ali Hassan in 1994. The recovered grave‐goods include pottery, soft‐stone vessels, metal finds, personal ornaments, coins, and other items. Although comparable with other corpuses of material excavated in south‐eastern Arabia, the material of Dibba 76/1 stands out for the inner variety of the different artefacts’ classes and their remarkable chronological heterogeneity. The study of the grave‐goods suggests that Dibba 76/1 was reused over several centuries, showing a strong continuity in the funerary destination of this specific place from the end of the Wadi Suq period (2000–1600 BC) to the first phases of the late pre‐Islamic period (250 BC–AD 400), and the full integration of the area of Dibba in the succession of the various cultural facies known during this long time span.