A BRONZE AGE BEACH-CAPSTAN?

Summary. The interpretation of a timber found by the writer and his brother in 1939 at the North Ferriby boat-site as part of an apparatus for hauling boats has stood for nearly forty years. Recent study of ethnographic parallels has suggested a significant modification of the reconstruction proposed in 1947. The revised hypothesis is examined and compared with recent beach-capstans from Northern Europe. While the attribution to the Bronze Age cannot now be proved, the assumption is made that the object is part of a single assemblage of discarded debris around the three major fragments of plankbuilt boats reliably dated to c 1500 BC.     

THE BLACK INLAY DECORATION ON A MYCENAEAN BRONZE DAGGER*

The black inlay decoration with superb marine, hunting and other scenes on Mycenaean bronze daggers and silver cups has often been referred to in the literature as niello—a mixture of sulphides of copper, silver or lead—despite the absence of any systematic analysis of these precious metal artefacts. This paper presents semi-quantitative surface analyses of an example of black inlay on a Mycenaean dagger, now in the Archaeological Museum at Patras in Greece. Using non-destructive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, it has been established that, contrary to the traditionally-held view, the black inlay is a copper-gold alloy with some silver and possibly small amounts of tin.     

COPPER AND BRONZE DURING THE ENEOLITHIC AND EARLY BRONZE AGE: A METALLOGRAPHIC EXAMINATION OF AXES FROM THE NORTHALPINE REGION*

This paper presents the results of a metallographic examination of Eneolithic and Early Bronze Age axes from the Northalpine region of central Europe. During this period, different types of copper were in use: arsenical copper, Fahlerz copper and tin bronze. We examine if and to what extent the different properties of the metals used were known to prehistoric metalworkers and actively manipulated in the production of the axes. The development of methods of casting and smithing is discussed. Both aspects contribute to our understanding of the nature of prehistoric technological change. During the Early Bronze Age of the Northalpine region, different traditions of early metallurgy can be identified, which differ in their use of Fahlerz copper, their attitude towards tin alloying and the use made of tin bronze in the production of the axes. These traditions can only be adequately described by reference to both composition—that is, access to different types of copper as well as tin—and knowledge of the production techniques provided by metallographic data.     

COMPLEX SOCIETIES IN COPPER AND BRONZE AGE IBERIA: A REAPPRAISAL

This paper starts from the conviction that it is not only important to study long-term processes of change in a particular area, but to analyse the extent to which other areas have been implicated and affected by the processes occurring in it. The study of the emergence, maintenance and even disappearance of social complexity in the Iberian Peninsula during the Copper and Bronze Age has lacked such an approach. As a result, on the one hand it seemed that South-east Spain and Portuguese Estremadura, the two areas where it was argued complexity first appeared, were isolated from each other and from the rest of the Peninsula during the Chalcolithic, and on the other, changes in the geographical distribution of complex societies in the Bronze Age had not been explained. This article reassesses these arguments and aims to show that it was not only intrinsical factors which provoked the social changes which took place in the various areas during the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. Extrinsic factors were on occasion as if not more important. In addition, new data published in recent years has been used to give a broader picture of the expansion of complex societies in the Iberian Peninsula.     

A BRONZE SCULPTURE ATTRIBUTED TO LOUIS-SIMON BOIZOT AND PLATINUM COATING METHODS

During the examination of the sculpture of Medea Rejuvenating Aeson attributed to Louis-Simon Boizot (1743–1809), X-ray fluorescence analysis revealed, surprisingly, that the outer surface of the brass cast was patinated with platinum. Research into the history of platinum coating methods revealed that chemical techniques for the deposition of platinum from solution were in use before the advent of electroplating. Some experimental work to replicate the patination technique of electrochemical replacement plating of platinum based on recipes from the nineteenth century is described. The technical evidence suggests that a late eighteenth-century date for the sculpture is reasonable.     

DATING THE BRONZE AGE IN SPAIN

Summary. How can archaeologists combine and use C14 determinations when they have irregular recalibrated dates? This question is solved by an example with six determinations from the Bronze Age settlement of El Castillo in the mountains of eastern Spain. For the first time we can date precisely the end of the Eneolithic to 2150–2110 BC, and the start of a Bronze Age expansion stage by 1960 BC. Each has a distinctive material culture; that of the Bronze Age stage is linked closely to the climax of the Motillas in La Mancha, and more distantly to El Argar in SE Spain.     

AMALGAM TINNING OF CHINESE BRONZE ANTIQUITIES*

This paper investigates the question whether or not amalgam tinning was used for the plating of bronze objects in pre‐Han and Han dynasty China. The relevant literary sources are reviewed and amalgam tinning is characterized experimentally with regard to its micro‐structure and residual mercury content using metallography and electron microprobe analysis. Examination of a tinning sample from a Warring States dagger previously assumed to be amalgam tinned demonstrates that this was probably not the case, but that a trace of mercury found in the plating is likely to be the result of contamination.     

KARMA WANGDU AND HIS BRONZE STATUE COMPANY

正Tracing back along the Tsachu River from the city of Chamdo,a branch of the Lancangjiang River,you will find the well-known village of Onda Gang 70 kilometers away,where the villagers make a living forging all kinds of Buddhist statues with metal.The artisans in Onda Gang produce most of the Buddhist statues in the monasteries of Chamdo and Garze and