Early Copper Age Settlements in the Körös Region of the Great Hungarian Plain

Abstract

This article discusses research carried out by the Körös Regional Archaeological Project from 2000 to 2006 at Early Copper Age Tiszapolgár Culture sites on the Great Hungarian Plain. To build a model of social organization for the period, we incorporated information from regional geomorphological studies, soil chemistry analysis, archaeological surface surveys, remote sensing, and systematic excavations at Early Copper Age sites in the Körös Valley of southeastern Hungary. Previous models characterized the transition from the Neolithic period to the Copper Age as an abrupt shift from a tell-based, sedentary, agricultural lifeway to one based on mobile cattle herding. By studying the transition between these periods on multiple geographic and temporal scales, we have identified a more gradual process with widespread regional variation in cultural patterns. Similar social processes characterize the transition between chronological periods and cultural phases in other parts of the world, and we suggest that a multiscalar approach is effective for building comparative archaeological models of long-term social change.     

The early roman imperial AES coinage II: Tracing the copper sources by analysis of lead and copper isotopes—copper coins of Augustus and Tiberius*

Lead and copper isotopes of Roman Imperial copper coins (denominations as and quadrans) were analysed by MC–ICP–MS. We concentrated on well‐dated coins minted at the official mint of Rome under the Emperors Augustus and Tiberius (between 16 bc and ad 37). The lead isotope results were compared with published lead isotope data of ore bodies from the Aegaean, Cyprus, Italy and Spain, in order to fingerprint the sources of Roman copper. During the Augustan period the main copper supply, as judged from the copper coins, is from Sardinia and south‐east Spain, with minor contributions from Tuscany. Except for Tuscany, this continued into the Tiberian period, when Cypriot copper also appears. Augustan quadrantes and late Tiberian asses came solely from the Rio Tinto area in south‐west Spain. Copper isotopes were applied here for the first time to systematic archaeometric studies. They are supplementary to lead isotopes and allow further grouping and classification of the copper coins.     

THE TECHNOLOGY OF GLAZED ISLAMIC CERAMICS USING DATA COLLECTED BY THE LATE ALEXANDER KACZMARCZYK

During the 1980s, the late Alexander Kaczmarczyk undertook the analysis of some 1200 glazed Islamic ceramics from Egypt, Iran, Iraq and Syria spanning the period from the eighth to the 14th centuries ad , using a combination of XRF for the glazes, and AAS or PIXE for the bodies. The aim of the present paper is, first, to bring to the attention of researchers into Islamic ceramics the fact that these analytical data are available on the Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art website, and also that some 400 of the analysed sherds are held in the Research Laboratory. Second, the paper provides a preliminary interpretation of the analytical data in terms of the choice of glaze type (i.e., alkali–lime, lead–alkali and high‐lead), tin‐opacification, body type (i.e., quartz or stonepaste, calcareous clay, and non‐calcareous clay), and colorants.     

SHAFT‐HOLE AXES FROM CAPUT ADRIAE: MINERALOGICAL AND CHEMICAL CONSTRAINTS ABOUT THE PROVENANCE OF SERPENTINITIC ARTEFACTS*

The change of raw materials used to produce stone axes during the Neolithic to Copper Age transition in northeastern Italy, central and western Slovenia and northwestern Croatia (Caput Adriae) has been recently linked to the development of early European metallurgy. Serpentinite shaft‐hole axes occur commonly in the archaeological context of this region and their rounded irregular shape suggests that the raw material was mainly sourced from secondary deposits. The aim of the present study is to characterize with multiple analytical methods, including synchrotron radiation, the axes and locate the primary outcrop(s) of raw materials and related secondary exploitation areas. All the analysed artefacts are manufactured from peridotites and probably pyroxenites completely metamorphosed in greenschist facies and characterized by antigorite, diopside and magnetite, sometimes rimmed by penninite. Mineralogical and petrographic data exclude most Eastern Alps outcrops as possible raw material sources, thus limiting the research to the Hohe Tauern. Chemical data reveal a close homogeneity for the peridotite‐derived axes and therefore demonstrate a selection of the most suitable raw material for axe production. Provenance from Hohe Tauern and related secondary deposits of the Drava River hydrographical system agrees with previous studies, as this region is rich in copper ore deposits, which have been exploited since prehistory.     

A CHALCOLITHIC MACE HEAD FROM THE NEGEV,ISRAEL: TECHNOLOGICAL ASPECTS AND CULTURAL IMPLICATIONS

An interdisciplinary case study of the role of technology in ancient society is presented here based on a single copper object from the beginning of metallurgy in Israel during the late fifth to fourth millennium BC. This research is based on a combination of typological, chronological and technological analyses. The mace head is made of copper alloyed with arsenic and antitmony, cast in a ‘lost wax’ technique over a stone core. The metallurgical, metallographic and petrographic analyses not only help reconstruct the production technology but also shed light on fundamental questions concerning the origin, ore selection and function of this sophisticated type of metal production in prehistoric society.     

A PRELIMINARY PETROGRAPHIC ANALYSIS OF CYPRIOT WHITE SLIP II WARE*

Samples of Late Bronze Age White Slip II ware from Cyprus were analysed using optical and scanning electron microscopy in conjunction with energy and wavelength dispersive analyse The slip has a novel granular nature and the coarser aggregates are impressed into the outer surface of the body, indicating that it was applied to a moist surface before the vessels were fired. It has a consistent mineral assemblage (Mg‐chlorite + illite‐smectite + sphene + anatase/rutile ± albite) which is very similar to that of hydrothermally altered zones associated with copper orebodies in the Troodos Massif which were mined in antiquity Our analysis suggests that the raw material for the slip was not found at the ground surface, because the alteration assemblage is unaffected by oxidation and copper carbonate or iron staining. It may, therefore, be a by‐product of sub‐surface ore extraction     

THE ELEMENTAL COMPOSITION OF BENIN MEMORIAL HEADS*

Among the Nigerian cast copper‐alloy artefacts, the chronology of the Benin memorial heads has been the most fully worked out. Therefore, a study focused upon their elemental compositions is particularly likely to be interpretable in terms of development of the alloys used in their making. The elemental analyses, both published and unpublished, of 66 Benin heads, supplemented with seven analyses of some artefacts excavated from a well‐dated, very early Benin site, have been collected, analysed statistically and computed to the elemental analyses of 11 heads and figures from Udo. All but a very few of the Benin heads and artefacts separate into five compositional groups, indicating a chronological sequence of different alloying traditions. All but one of the Udo objects fall into a distinctly separate compositional group, together with two Medicine heads. The compositional groups correlate remarkably well with the stylistic types proposed by Dark.     

PALAEOCLIMATIC IDENTIFICATION BASED ON AN ISOTOPE STUDY OF TRAVERTINE FROM THE COPPER AGE SITE AT LOS MILLARES,SOUTH-EASTERN SPAIN*

Remains of an aqueduct from the Copper Age settlement of Los Millares have been studied. The isotope results (—7‰ < δ¹⁸O — 5.3‰) show that the aqueduct was used to transport fresh water at room temperature. The results are inconsistent with the aqueduct being used for hot water transport or as a container for water exposed to evaporation processes. Both isotopic and mineralogical results were useful in identifying the origin and use of building materials and also in determining climatic conditions during the time of the settlement occupation.     

PRE-COLUMBIAN METALLURGY: TECHNOLOGY,MANUFACTURE, AND MICROPROBE ANALYSES OF COPPER BELLS FROM THE GREATER SOUTHWEST*

Twenty-four cast copper crotals (commonly called bells), one 'spilled bell’, one tinkler bell and a number of minerals from locations throughout the Greater Southwest were analysed for their elemental composition by a PIXE nuclear microprobe at Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico, USA. Sixteen bells contained minor and trace amounts of silver, antimony, arsenic, lead, and in some cases tin, strontium, and selenium. Nine bells contained little or no detectable amounts of these elements. This suggests that several workshops throughout the Greater Southwest and Mexico might have manufactured these bells.