The key role of zinc,tin and lead in copper-base objects from medieval Talgar in Kazakhstan

Metallurgical examination of brass and bronze objects from the medieval (AD 9th–13th century) site at Talgar in Kazakhstan shows that they were mostly cast from the quaternary copper–zinc–tin–lead system with some exceptions that were forged from binary copper–zinc alloys. Evidence is found that brass was produced in the cementation process and that the addition of tin and lead to the parent brass was considered beneficial in casting but was strictly avoided in forging. The mutual effect of zinc, tin and lead for better casting and the advantages of the binary copper–zinc alloys in forging seem to have been the major factors driving the establishment of this unique brass tradition in a society with probably limited access to tin.     

Bronze technology of the ancient megalithic communities in the Vidarbha region of India

Metallographic examination was carried out on forty-nine copper and bronze objects from five megalithic sites located in Vidarbha, India. The artifact assembly consists of horse ornaments, kitchenware, bangles, rings, small bells and the hilt of an iron dagger. Results show that the technology involved is characterized by the use of bronze alloys containing approximately 10% tin based on weight and the application of forging as a key method of fabrication. No deliberate addition of lead was observed. Arsenic was detected, but very rarely and only as an insignificant minor element. The consistent selection of such specific alloys indicates that the megalithic communities in this particular region had established a fully developed and standardized bronze tradition optimized for the production of forged items. Their advanced technological status was also noted in a special technique applied to two forged high-tin bronze bowls. Such a unique bronze tradition, dedicated to sheet metal technology, was most likely a practical choice made by these people to take advantage of the changing role of bronze. Specifically, with the introduction of iron, bronze seems to have become a more prestigious material that could serve as an indicator of the appearance of a more rigid socio-economic stratification within the megalithic communities of the Vidarbha region.     

X-RAY FLUORESCENCE ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH 13th-16th CENTURY PEWTER FLATWARE

Most of the thirty-six pewter items were found to have been made from high quality tin-rich alloys with low lead content, hardened with a small amount (0.5–3.0%) of copper; these were thought to be from the later part of the period. Three items, one with the highest copper content of all the alloys, were thought to be from the earlier part of the period. Five items with up to 2% of copper hardener but with lead levels up to 26.5% were thought to be of provincial origin. A possible correlation of alloy composition and date and place of manufacture with rim-form is discussed. A wavelength-dispersive technique was used for the analyses.     

TECHNOLOGY AND PROVENANCE OF A COLLECTION OF ISLAMIC COPPER‐BASED OBJECTS AS FOUND BY CHEMICAL AND LEAD ISOTOPE ANALYSIS*

Chemical and lead isotope analyses were utilized to determine the composition, technology and origin of a collection of Islamic copper‐based objects found in Jordan. The atomic absorption spectrometry results show that the objects were made of different types of copper‐base alloys that contain various amounts of zinc, tin and lead. The use of brass, highly leaded brass and quaternary alloys of Cu‐Zn‐Sn‐Pb in the manufacture of everyday, household objects strongly points to Islamic traditions. The lead isotope compositions of the objects match very well that of the copper ore mined from the Dolomite‐Limestone‐Shale unit of the Arabah copper mines.     

Beyond the Visual: Considering the Archaeology of Colonial Sounds

Many historians and archaeologists have focused on trade goods in the French colonies, yet few have examined how these items were animated in colonial contexts. Here, the issue of colonial performance as it related to trade goods (such as hawk bells, brass tinklers, glass beads) is examined and it is argued that the power of these objects was more than purely visual. Case studies from French Louisiana are presented to discuss the intersection of bodies and objects, of the exotic and the erotic towards understanding the sounds that emanated from colonial communities and households.     

Metals,microanalysis and meaning: a study of metal objects excavated from the indigenous cemetery of El Chorro de Maíta,Cuba

This is the first publication reporting systematic analytical research conducted on archaeological metals from Cuba. The main focus of the study consists of beads and small metal objects excavated at the cemetery of El Chorro de Maíta, which comprises some of the richest funerary deposits so far recovered on the island. Some comparative samples from the nearby site of Alcalá were also investigated, with an emphasis made on the manufacture, composition and origins of the different alloys. The resulting picture is that members of the social elite of the indigenous Taíno peoples were buried with beads made of placer gold exploited locally, gold–copper–silver pendants brought from continental South America and, above all, brass lacetags from European clothing that were perceived as sacred metals. The archaeometallurgical approach offers fresh insight into the relationships between Europeans and Taínos, and the impact of colonization on the indigenous customs, values and social structures.     

A long-distance copper alloy trade to the North Eastern Baltic during the late pre-Roman and Roman Iron Age (250 BCE–450 CE) explored with lead isotope MC-ICP-MS

The North Eastern Baltic has no copper resources of its own, meaning that Cu alloy was imported either as raw material or as finished objects. The north-eastern coastline of Estonia during the late pre-Roman and Roman Iron Age was connected to the south by sea to the long-distance ‘amber’ trade route and to the east by Russian river systems. This study quantitatively assesses the direction of the Cu alloy supply in the region before and after brass enters circulation at the beginning of the Roman Iron Age. After an initial portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) survey, 18 objects were chosen for Pb isotope analysis. This isotope analysis resolved a group of nine brass artefacts from the Roman Iron Age amongst a ‘melting pot’ of other Cu alloys. The similarity between the isotope ratios found in the Roman world suggests the presence of the same ‘melting pot’ in the North Eastern Baltic, possibly created by a large amount of Roman Cu alloy being traded north. No evidence for Cu alloy from Scandinavia or the Ural Mountains could be found. The hypothesis from this small study is that the Cu alloy entering Estonia was dominated by metal from Southern Europe from the late pre-Roman Iron Age and the Roman period.     

An analysis of Late Pre-Islamic copper-base artefacts from Ed Dur, U.A.E.

The article presents the analytical results of a study of copper-base artifacts from ed-Dur, a large site in the United Arab Emirates which was occupied principally during the 1^st century A.D. In addition to identifying a number of pieces with high lead content, the analyses have contributed to an understanding of brass and brass distribtion in the Roman Near East.     

Southern Pennine Brass Bands and the Creation of Northern Identity,c. 1840–1914: Musical Constructions of Space,Place And Region

In spite of being a national form of music-making, the brass band movement is accepted — almost without question in the popular imagination — as working class and northern. Hence, in 1974, Peter Hennessy described a band contest at the Albert Hall: ‘A roll call of the bands is like an evocation of industrial history. From Wingates Temperance and Black Dyke Mills to more modern conglomerates .... Grown men, old bandsmen say, have been known to cry at the beauty of it all …. Of all the manifestations of working-class culture, nothing is more certain than a brass band to bring on an attack of the George Orwells. Even the most hardened bourgeois cannot resist romanticising the proletariat a little when faced with one.(The Times, 11 Oct. 1974) This stereotype, which emerged in the nineteenth century, generated the following questions about northern identity: what elements in the brass band movement created this reportage of northern bandsmen and how did bands, which thrived in large numbers in the Southern Pennines, emerge as a musical and cultural metonym of the industrial landscape? This article explores notions of music-making and the creation of a musical space, place and region through the reporting of brass bands c. 1840–1914.     

Late Pleistocene Crocuta crocuta spelaea (Goldfuss, 1823) clans as prezewalski horse hunters and woolly rhinoceros scavengers at the open air commuting den and contemporary Neanderthal camp site Westeregeln (central Germany)

Late Pleistocene Ice Age Crocuta crocuta spelaea ( Goldfuss, 1823) hyenas from the open-air gypsum karst site Westeregeln (Saxony-Anhalt, central Germany) is dated into the early to middle Late Pleistocene. Hyena clans apparently used the karst for food storage and as “commuting den”, where typical high amounts (15% of the NISP) of hyena remains appear, also faecal pellets in concentrations for den marking purposes. Additionally small carnivores Meles, Vulpes and Mustela appear to have used some cavities as dens. Several hundreds of lowland “mammoth steppe fauna” bones (NISP = 572) must have been accumulated primarily by hyenas, and not by Neanderthals at the contemporary hyena/human camp site. Abundant caballoid horse remains of “E. germanicus Nehring, (1884)” are revised by the holotype and original material to the small E. c. przewalskii horse. Woolly rhinoceros Coelodonta antiquitatis remains are also abundant, and were left in several cases with typical hyena scavenging damages. Rangifer tarandus (11%) is mainly represented by numerous fragments of shed female antlers that were apparently gathered by humans, and antler bases from male animals that were collected and chewed in few cases (only large male antlers) by hyenas. The large quantities of small reindeer antlers must have been the result of collection by humans; their stratigraphic context is unclear but such large quantities most probably resulted from schamanic activities. The hyena site overlaps with a Middle Palaeolithic Neanderthal camp, as well as possibly with a later human Magdalénian site.     

Late horizon silver,copper, and tin from Machu Picchu,Peru

Analyses of silver–copper alloy artifacts from Machu Picchu show silver contents ranging from 24 to 81%. The tin present, ranging up to 3%, originated with the copper, perhaps from admixture of recycled bronze. The presence of 0.4–0.9% lead in the silver-rich phase indicates use of silver prepared by cupellation. All the objects had been forged after casting, some extensively. All have surface enhancement of the silver arising from depletion of the copper-rich phase. Some of the tin found at the site contains inclusions of hardhead (FeSn₂) and of a nickel–arsenic–copper compound. Forming trials with duplicate silver–copper alloys show that intermediate anneals at temperatures between 500 and 600 °C facilitate making thin sheet artifacts. Mechanical tests show that the most commonly used alloys, containing 25–30% silver, are particularly well adapted to forging because of their uniform work hardening during plastic deformation. Annealing of the laboratory-made alloys in air followed by boiling in salty weak acid creates a silver-rich surface layer comparable to that found in the artifacts. Depletion forms a dense silver surface on the alloy containing more silver than the eutectic composition, but a porous surface layer on the 25% silver alloys.     

Book reviews

Abstract

Pieces of aluminium, supposedly parts of a set of belt ornaments, were found in a Jin dynasty (AD 265–420) tomb during excavations in the 1950s. The authenticity of these finds was questioned at the time in view of the technology required to isolate aluminium from its ore. In this review the archaeological and analytical evidence is reconsidered, but the matter remains unsettled, as it is known, from experimental evidence, that aluminium alloys can be prepared by the carbon reduction of alumina. Examination of the thermodynamic data for this process in terms of Ellingham diagrams demonstrates unequivocally that the temperature required for this process is greatly in excess of that possible with Jin dynasty technology, and so the finds cannot be authentic. However, it is quite possible that metallic objects containing small quantities of aluminium could have been produced in China at that time. The review ends with some speculation on how the pieces of aluminium came to be in the tomb.     

西周至南北自制玻璃概述

我国玻璃起步较晚,大体始于西周初或先周(殷末),主要是蓝色、浅蓝色或绿色玻璃珠管,与玉、玛瑙配合制成“杂佩”。其时玻璃的主要成分为二氧化硅,并含有少量铅、钡,故称为铅钡玻璃,与西方钠钙玻璃不同而独树一帜。春秋战国时期,西方蜻蜓眼玻璃珠输入我国,从此,以仿羊脂白玉美若明月的“隋侯珠”为代表的自制玻璃与外来玻璃并存。西方(大月氏)吹制玻璃术于汉魏传入我国之后,也出现了自制的空心玻璃器皿。     

La Giraglia, a dolia wreck of the 1st century BC from Corsica, France: study of its hull remains

During the early the Roman Empire, large quantities of olive oil and wine were exchanged between Rome and its provinces of Spain and Gaul. The majority was transported aboard ships in amphoras. There was also a short-lived type of vessel, known as a cistern-boat, that held large, globular jars, referred to as dolia . The jars were presumably placed in the hold as the ship was being built and were intended for bulk transport. About 10 dolia shipwrecks have been found in the western Mediterranean, including the La Giraglia wreck, located at the northernmost point of Corsica near the small island of La Giraglia, which lends its name to the wreck. The ship was carrying at least eight dolia and possibly four smaller doliola probably manufactured near Rome, several Spanish amphoras, and a lead anchor stock. This type of vessel was an innovation in ship construction, intended to respond to changes in the production and transportation of wine brought about by Roman expansion. The relatively short period of production for this ship-type suggests that there were problems with its design which caused it to be abandoned. The excavation of the La Giraglia wreck provided answers to some questions about their build and how they contributed to new patterns of trade in the western Mediterranean.     

GOLD AND SILVER ALLOY COATINGS OVER COPPER: AN EXAMINATION OF SOME ARTEFACTS FROM ECUADOR AND COLOMBIA

An examination, by metallography, atomic absorption spectrophotometry, and electron probe microanalysis of some decorative metalwork and small items such as needles and fish-hooks from Ecuador and Colombia revealed that ‘fusion-gilding’ or ‘wash-gilding’ was employed in the manufacture of many artefacts. The coatings found included silver alloy coatings over copper and gold alloys over copper. The coatings are often themselves superficially enriched at the surface; they are thick, and completely different from the surfaces found on depletion gilded objects which are far more common in ancient Colombia. The evidence from Ecuador is piecemeal and a considerable number of additional analyses must be carried out to clarify the extent of use of this surface treatment technology.     

EARLY ANGLO-SAXON POTTERY OF THE ‘ILLINGTON-LACKFORD’ TYPE1

Summary. Early Anglo-Saxon pottery of sixth-century date of a distinctive type has been described as the Illington-Lackford type, named after two cemeteries in which large quantities have been recovered in Norfolk and Suffolk respectively. As well as their use as cremation urns, large, but fragmentary, quantities have also also been recovered from the excavated settlement at West Stow. Analytical techniques are applied, especially to the stamped decoration, in an attempt to define more closely the mode and pattern of production.     

Pottery production and distribution in prehistoric Bronze Age Cyprus. An application of pXRF analysis

Portable X-ray Fluorescence (pXRF) analysis of over 400 samples of Early and Middle Bronze Age Cypriot pottery from four widely separated sites identifies both local and non-local products at each. A series of analyses of sub-sets of the data highlights differences in the clays used at each site and for some distinctive types and wares. When assessed in the context of general typological, technological and stylistic factors these variations provide the basis for considering patterns of local production and inter-regional relationships across the island. Although the great majority of pots were locally made, particular wares and shapes were brought in from elsewhere. For some sites finer, more highly decorated vessels are mostly imports, but at others both simpler and more complex vessels were made of the same local clays. While small juglets or flasks may have been containers for transporting small quantities of rare substances, larger vessels are likely to have held less precious material. Open vessels, especially small bowls – some of which are plain, utilitarian items – represent another aspect of social behaviour and inter-regional relationships.     

Theory,Disciplinary Perspectives and the Archaeology of Later Medieval England

Abstract

In the year 2000, a lead canister and a penny of Henry III were recovered during a watching brief on a site in Colchester which is within 13 m of the find spots of two 13th-century coin hoards buried in similar canisters. While the container found in 2000 may have held a third such hoard (later recovered), it may also have been used as a floor safe. The site has connections with the Colchester Jewry, who were probably the principal agents in the handling of money and deposition of hoards on this site. The single penny may be simply a coin lost on a site where money changed hands in large quantities, or (speculatively) the only survival from a recovered hoard.     

Jewellery Production

Abstract

Today's hand made gold jewellery includes the most costly and most beautiful items available. Master craftsmen are found in many countries and their jewellery follows a centuries old tradition. In more recent times, to supply increasing demand, gold jewellery has also been machine made, for example gold chains, particularly in Italy. Here these two basic aspects of jewellery production are reviewed: gold craftsmanship, casting, alloys for jewellery, electroforming, chain production and findings are all 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.