OFFSHORE FINDS FROM THE BRONZE AGE IN NORTH-WESTERN EUROPE: THE SHIPWRECK SCENARIO REVISITED

Summary.   This article challenges received thinking relating to the interpretation of Bronze Age finds from the seabed in the waters of north-western Europe, especially the North Sea and Channel area. Metal objects recovered from the sea are traditionally presumed to be the result of shipwrecks. As such, their interpretation as casual, if unfortunate loss is unquestioned. However, abandoning the shipwreck scenario as a remnant of the 'sacred vs profane' heuristic, it is suggested that offshore finds could provide insight into deliberate Bronze Age maritime practice, rather than misadventure. Certain patterning in the data of offshore finds, including affinities with hoards on terra firma , urges another interpretive framework – that of considering the sea as a place for deposition. This appeared to be the case particularly in regions which experienced an intensity of maritime interaction, such as the Channel area during the later Bronze Age. From this it is hypothesized that rather than being considered outside the Bronze Age social realm, the sea, especially in the MBA to earlier LBA in the Channel area, was incorporated into Bronze Age cosmology in similar ways to other zones in the landscape.     

Micro-XRF analysis of silver decorations on Archaic helmets from Olympia

Quantitative micro-X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analyses were performed on 19 silver decorations of six Archaic bronze helmets from the archaeological site of Olympia, Greece. The principal aim of the study was to investigate technological aspects of the smelting process that influence the composition of Ag, reveal possible elemental correlations and shed light on its source, assigning a likely provenance. The XRF results revealed that all decorations contain high amounts of Ag > 95%. The quantitative determination of several fingerprint minor elements, such as Au, Pb and Bi, provided interesting insights related to the efficiency of the cupellation process, the ore type used for the silver extraction and the geological origin of the ores.     

ESR Dating of Tooth Enamel: Comparison with AMSC at El Castillo Cave, Spain

At El Castillo, in Cantabrian Spain, uncalibrated AMS¹⁴C dating has shown the transition from Mousterian to Aurignacian to occur at 39·3±1·6 kaBP. We found ESR tooth enamel ages from the basal Aurignacian level at El Castillo to be 36·2±4·1 ka (early and linear uptake). The enamel and dentine had very low U contents, but ESR ages are strongly dependent upon knowledge of the moisture content history of the sediments. Although the Aurignacian ESR age is 8% younger than the weighted average uncalibrated AMS¹⁴C age of 39·6±1·3 ka obtained from charcoal samples, we have shown that the methods agree within experimental uncertainty. However, since no precise¹⁴C calibration yet exists for this period of time, we are unable to specify which of the ages is more accurate, nor are we able ascribe the apparent age discrepancy to a particular deficiency in the ESR method.     

COLOUR ATTRIBUTES OF MEDIEVAL WINDOW PANES: ELECTRON PARAMAGNETIC RESONANCE AND PROBE MICROANALYSES ON STAINED GLASS WINDOWS FROM PAVIA CARTHUSIAN MONASTERY*

Stained glass windows from the Carthusian Monastery of Pavia, dating back to the 15th century, were studied by combining two analytical techniques: electron probe micro‐analysis (EPMA) and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR). Chemical compositions and oxidation states of the transition ions, present as minor elements, were investigated by EPMA and EPR, respectively, in order to ascertain the role played by chromophorous ions in the glass coloration. The investigated glass can be defined as K–Ca glass, and the panes with red, green and blue colours were produced using flashing techniques.