Metals and Society: Papers from a session held at the European Association of Archaeologists Sixth Annual Meeting in Lisbon 2000 9781841714417, 9781407324517

Table of contents :
Front Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Table of Contents
Contributor Contact Details
Introduction
Metallurgy and Society in Prehistoric Spain
From Farms to Factories: The Development of Copper Production at Faynan, Southern Jordan, During the Early Bronze Age
The Cultural and Chronological Context of the Development of Early Bronze Age Metallurgy in Central Europe
Mining as Social Process: A Case Study from the Great Orne, North Wales, UK
The Provenance of Early Bronze Age Copper from Northern Bohemia and Central Germany: First Results from Physico-chemical Investigations
The Panasquiera Mines, Portugal: A Case Study on the Social and Labour Organisation of an Extractive Industry During the Twentieth Century
Iron Technology and Magic in Iron Age Norway
The Archaeology of Islamic Metals and the Anthropology of Traditional Metal Casting in Cairo Today
Jewellers from Different Regions in the Castle of St Mikhail of Chernigov, Russia
The Bronze Palstave from the Quarta Feira Copper Mine, Central Portugal
Becoming Cultural: Society and the Incorporation of Bronze
Bronze and the First Arms Race -- Cause, Effect or Coincidence?
Changes of Use: Transformations of Comprehension

Citation preview

BAR S1061 2002

Metals and Society Papers from a session held at the European Association of Archaeologists Sixth Annual Meeting in Lisbon 2000

OTTAWAY & WAGER (Eds): METALS AND SOCIETY

Edited by

Barbara S. Ottaway Emma C. Wager

BAR International Series 1061 2002 B A R

Metals and Society Papers from a session held at the European Association of Archaeologists Sixth Annual Meeting in Lisbon 2000

Edited by

Barbara S. Ottaway Emma C. Wager

BAR International Series 1061 2002

Published in 2016 by BAR Publishing, Oxford

BAR International Series 1061 Metals and Society

© The editors and contributors severally and the Publisher 2002 The authors' moral rights under the 1988 UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act are hereby expressly asserted. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be copied, reproduced, stored, sold, distributed, scanned, saved in any form of digital format or transmitted in any form digitally, without the written permission of the Publisher.

ISBN 9781841714417 paperback ISBN 9781407324517 e-format DOI https://doi.org/10.30861/9781841714417 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library BAR Publishing is the trading name of British Archaeological Reports (Oxford) Ltd. British Archaeological Reports was first incorporated in 197 4 to publish the BAR Series, International and British. In 1992 Hadrian Books Ltd became part of the BAR group. This volume was originally published by Archaeopress in conjunction with British Archaeological Reports (Oxford) Ltd/ Hadrian Books Ltd, the Series principal publisher, in 2002. This present volume is published by BAR Publishing, 2016.

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Contents 1. Introduction Barbara S. Ottaway Introduction

2. Adoption and Development of Metallurgy Salvador Rovira Metallurgy and Society in Prehistoric Spain

5

Russell B. Adams From Farms to Factories: The Development of Copper Production at Faynan, Southern Jordan, During the Early Bronze Age

21

Rudiger Krause The Cultural and Chronological Context of the Development of Early Bronze Age Metallurgy in Europe

33

3. Metal-Making Emma C. Wager Mining as Social Process: A Case Study from the Great Orme, North Wales, UK

45

Elke Niederschlag and Ernst Pernicka The Provenance of Early Bronze Age Copper from Northern Bohemia and Central Germany: First Results from Physico-chemical Investigations

51

Helena Alves The Panasqueira Mines, Portugal: A Case Study on the Social and Labour Organisation of an Extractive Industry During the Twentieth Century

61

4. Metal-Working Jostein Bergstol Iron Technology and Magic in Iron Age Norway

77

Sariel Shalev and Mira Freund The Archaeology of Islamic Metals and the Anthropology of Traditional Metal Casting in Cairo Today

83

Irina Zaitseva Jewellers from Different Regions in the Castle of St Mikhail ofChernigov, Russia

99

Ana Avila de Melo, Helena Alves and Maria de Fatima Araujo The Bronze Palstave from the Quarta Feira Copper Mine, Central Portugal

109

5. Consumption of Metal Objects Joanna Sofaer Derevenski and Marie Louise Stig Sorensen Becoming Cultural: Society and the Incorporation of Bronze

117

Sue D. Bridgford Bronze and the First Arms Race - Cause, Effect or Coincidence?

123

Bjorn Magnusson Staaf Changes of Use: Transformations of Comprehension

133

Contributor Contact Details Russell B. Adams

92 Carrick Avenue South, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L8M 2W6. Email: [email protected] Helena Alves Faculdade de Ciencias Sociais e Humanas, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Av. de Berna, 26-C P-1069-061 Lisbon, Portugal. Email: [email protected] Ana Avila de Melo Museu Nacional de Arqueologia, Prac;a do Imperio, 1400-206, Lisbon, Portugal. Email: [email protected] Jostein Bergstol University Museum of Cultural Heritage, PO Box 6762 St.Olavs plass, N-0130 Oslo, Norway. Email: [email protected] Sue D. Bridgford 24 Vicarage Lane, Oxford OXl 4RQ, UK. Email: [email protected] Maria de Fatima Araujo Departamento de Quimica, Instituto Tecnol6gico e Nuclear, Ministerio da Ciencia e Tecnologia, Estrada Nacional 10, 2686-953 Sacavem, Portugal. Mira Freund Department of Sociology, Open University, Tel Aviv, Beth Berl College, Kfar-Saba, Israel. Rudiger Krause Landesdenkmalamt Baden-Wtirttemberg, Archaologische Denkmalpflege, Silberburgstrasse 193, D-70178 Stuttgart and Institut fur Prahistorische Archaologie, der Freien Universitat Berlin, Altensteinstr. 15, 14195 Berlin, Germany. Email: R_ [email protected] Bjorn Magnusson Staaf Malmo Heritage, Box 406, SE-201 24 Malmo, Sweden. Email: [email protected] Elke Niederschlag TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Lehrstuhl Archaometallurgie, Gustav-Zeuner-Str. 5, D-09596 Freiberg, Germany. Email: [email protected] Barbara Ottaway Department of Archaeology and Prehistory, University of Sheffield, Northgate House, West St, Sheffield Sl 4ET, UK. Email: [email protected] Ernst Pernicka TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Lehrstuhl Archaometallurgie, Gustav-Zeuner-Str. 5, D-09596 Freiberg, Germany. Salvador Rovira Museo Arqueol6gico Nacional, Calle Serrano 13, E-28001 Madrid, Spain. Email: [email protected] Sariel Shalev Institute of Maritime Studies and Department of Archaeology, University of Haifa, Center for Archaeological Science, ESER, Weizmann Institute of Science, 76100 Rehovot, Israel. Email: [email protected] Joanna Sofaer Derevenski Department of Archaeology, University of Southampton, Highfield, Southampton SOl 7 lBJ, UK. Email: [email protected]. uk Marie Louise Stig Sorensen Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Downing St, Cambridge CB2 3DZ, UK. Email: [email protected]

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Emma C. Wager Research School of Archaeology and Prehistory, University of Sheffield, West Court, 2 Mappin St, Sheffield S 1 4DT, UK. Email: [email protected] Irina Zaitseva Institute of Archaeology, Russian Academy of Sciences, 19 ul. Ul 'ianova, Rus-117036, Moscow, Russia. Email: [email protected]

lll

lV

Introduction

Barbara S. Ottaway

The use of metal has, in the past, frequently been cited as one of the main prerequisites for the emergence of hierarchical societies. Yet when it comes to finding an explanation of the role which metal was supposed to have played in this important development, researchers are less clear and use arguments such as 'control of sources', 'display of status' and similar terms, without trying to analyse the underlying societal contexts. In recent years there has been an interesting new approach to technology exemplified, for instance, in volumes edited by Lemonnier (1993), Knapp et al. (1998), Stark (1998), Sillar and Boyd (1999) and Dobres and Hoffman (1999). In the latter, Childs (1999: 38) convincingly argues that "ironworking was as much about reinforcing and reaffirming fundamental social relationships as it was about making iron". Alas, this is one of the handful of papers whose goal is to study the social dynamics of the technology of metal- making and metal-working. By comparison with the many articles dealing with social aspects of ceramics in prehistoric societies (e.g. Cumberpatch and Blinkhom 1997; Papousek 1989; van der Leeuw and Pritchart 1984), it 1s clear that archaeometallurgy has a long way to go. Against this background, and with an increasing number of databases on metal analysis - be they compositional, metallographic or technological - now available, it is becoming urgent to interpret these scientific results in social terms, as "analytical science is only one way of gaining an understanding of the world. It represents at once a refined and impoverished form of attunement" (Thomas 1999: 234). The brief for the session 'Metals and Society', held at the 6th Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists (EAA) in Lisbon in September 2000, was thus to try to integrate analytical data with current theoretical, contextual and ethno-archaeological studies, focusing on the social organisation of technology. We hoped to stimulate papers which would help to move the study of archaeometallurgy one step closer to illuminating the societies which exercised choice in the methods of production of metal, had used and ultimately deposited metal objects. No constraints on the type of metal, chronological period or geographical area were imposed. Consequently, the papers include case studies from Portugal to Norway, from Russia to the Levant, from the Chalcolithic period in the fifth and fourth millennium cal BC to the twentieth century AD. They have been grouped under four major headings: adoption and development, metal-making, metal-working

and, finally, consumption of metal objects.

In the first section, Salvador Rovira seriously calls into question the social importance of metal in the early prehistory of Spain. Instead he suggests that metal throughout the Copper and Bronze Age, right up to the Late Bronze Age, maintained a low profile. Based on a vast corpus of analytical and geological data, he presents a model in which he argues that the relatively ubiquitous geological presence and exploitation of small copper outcrops throughout Spain prevented the establishment of large mining works and production centres in early prehistory. This, in tum, made it difficult to establish any kind of territorial control over resources. The lack of production centres, he suggests, also led to a certain typological monotony of copper objects and, importantly, to little advance and development in the technique of smelting over a considerable period of time. In the next paper in this section Russell Adams gives a detailed account of the development of copper production at Faynan in Jordan during the Early Bronze Age, based on his excavations, his collaboration in the German Mining Museum project at Faynan and his extensive research on the topic. He takes full account of the accompanying social structure, organisation, production of other materials, consumption and trade networks throughout the Levant. In this way a fascinating picture emerges which enables him to focus on the transition from Early Bronze Age I to Early Bronze Age II as the period where the most dramatic changes took place. This period saw the change from dispersed, low-intensity community specialisation, utilising local ores which were smelted within the settlement, to a large-scale, high-intensity, nucleated fonn of production which took place outside the settlements and which suggests 'attached specialisation'. He interprets the changes as reaction to external factors, most probably emanating from Egypt, and taking place within a relatively short span of time, perhaps no more than a few hundred years. The final paper in the first section, by Rudiger Krause, offers a broad outline of the development of Early Bronze Age copper and bronze technology in the whole of Central Europe, against an evolutionary background of the beginning of metallurgy per se. It is based on a vast corpus of metal analyses and a detailed knowledge of the prehistoric archaeology of the area. Four horizons of the development are outlined, each characterised by the type of ore and metal-working techniques used.

The second section, on the mining of metalliferous ores, is introduced by a paper by Emma Wager. She provides a

Metals and Society much-needed account of the social contexts in which mining activities are embedded, to create a balance in the study of ore procurement, which has hitherto mostly concentrated on the more technological aspects of extraction techniques and ore characterisation.

An interesting approach to the world of metal-workers of past societies has been taken by Sariel Shalev and Mira Freund. They started off by analysing, in the conventional way, metal objects found in a hoard in the wall of a well at Caesarea in Israel belonging to the Islamic Fatimid period of the tenth - eleventh century AD. The analyses revealed that forging, lost-wax casting and sand casting were methods that had been utilised. They have found that these techniques are still practised today and have studied the distribution of labour, space of activities and production sequence in a sand-casting foundry in the old centre of Cairo.

A different, more conventional, approach has been taken by Elke Niederschlag and Ernst Pernicka in their paper on central German and Bohemian copper and tin deposits. They set out to evaluate the role of these ore deposits, particularly those in the Erzgebirge (ore mountains), which have often been suggested as the source of the flourishing Unetice metallurgy. They begin by analysing and comparing lead isotopes and the chemical composition of prehistoric artefacts of the Unetice period and copper ores of the Erzgebirge. This is an interim report, indicating that several of the studied ore regions could be potential prehistoric mining districts. The final results should lead to a re-evaluation of the social contexts of the Unetice material.

Another study, by Irena Zaitseva, discusses thirteenthcentury AD workshops excavated within the fortifications of Prince Chernigov's castle at Serensk in southern Russia. The archaeological results give colour, detail and verification to medieval Russian chronicles that mention "princes assembling craftsmen from different regions". Two of the three workshops excavated were multi-purpose, combining blacksmithing (armaments, armour, knives and padlocks) and stone-working with jewellery production. The third excavated workshop produced only ornaments. High-quality moulds were imported from Kiev, stressing links with the artisans employed at Serensk. Furthermore, it is suggested that figurative themes borrowed from fine jewellery art were copied and used by the craftsmen of Serensk for mass consumption. It is clear that the princes of Chernigov played a defining role in creating and ensuring the long-term prosperity of large-scale jewellery production in their small castle far from major coeval centres of production. They invited craftsmen, provided good working conditions, raw materials and demand for the products. However tempting, archaeologists have to be wary of transferring this model unquestioningly to prehistoric periods.

Helena Alves discusses the Panasqueira mine in Portugal. Exploited since the last years of the nineteenth century AD for wolfram and tin, the mine became one of the most important European sources for wolfram during the Second World War. It is one of the few Portuguese mines still in operation. According to market prices, veins richer in either cassiterite or wolframite were worked or abandoned and now that their prices are low, copper is mined as well. Massive tailings, close to the mine entrances, are a visible marker of the longevity of mining operations, of extraction methods used and of the type of ore extracted. The paper includes a wealth of information on the mining community. It discusses, for instance, how the mining company exerted strict control over it, from determining the type, size, building materials and contents of houses suitable for the hierarchical structure of its employees to preventing the sale of liquors within its territory. Women were not permitted to enter the mine, except during severe labour shortages, thus continuing a gendered tradition well known in earlier mining communities and ethnographic reports.

The final paper of the third section, by Ana Avila de Melo, Helena Alves and Maria de Fatima Araujo, is an example of what can be achieved by a thorough contextual study of one artefact, a bronze palstave found in the Quarta Feira copper mine in the province of Estremadura, Portugal. The authors have collected important information that could point towards prehistoric exploitation of the mine. They have linked this with recent results from the neighbouring province of Beira Interior, where excavations of Late Bronze Age sites have provided evidence for refining, casting and metal-working conducted within the settlements, whereas ore extraction and smelting seems to have taken place near the mines. The Quarta Feira mine is a copper outcrop in the middle of so-called 'tin fields' and as such of great interest to Bronze Age research, promising to provide further insight into the social structuring of such mining and metal-working groups.

The third section on metal-working is introduced by a paper by Jostein Bergst0l. In it he tries to gain an understanding of the worldview that characterised Iron Age technology and bases this on a study of smithies containing slag, vitrified clay and possible tuyeres, which had been placed in some cooking pits within a whole field of cooking pits excavated near the medieval church of Hurdal in southern Norway. Slag from the smithies has also been found in burial mounds a few hundred metres from the forges. Similar fields of cooking pits, which contain remains of an estimated two meals per year, over a period of use of 600- 700 years, have been found in southern Norway. It is convincingly argued that the iron technology was part of a large complex of rituals and magic in the Early Iron Age in Norway and that technology cannot be seen or studied in isolation from its social aspects.

The fourth section is introduced by the keynote paper of Joanna Sofaer Derevenski and Marie Louise Stig Sorensen. This is indeed a stimulating paper, as it outlines the theoretical argument for the social analysis of technology. The authors argue persuasively that the processes involved 2

Barbara S. Ottaway: Introduction in the adoption of a new technology, i.e. metal, are not unified but are a range of fractured responses. They suggest that the incorporation of an innovation should be seen as part of the bargaining and negotiation processes within society. Agreement may be more easily achieved if the objects conform to a standardised pattern. This reflects Arnold's suggestion (1985: 220) of an inventor's wish to play safe and not violate community norms. The theoretical framework forms the basis of an investigation of the incorporation of Central European early metalwork within society. Some fascinating suggestions are put forward, e.g. during the Beaker period, metal was incorporated in a manner that prevented disruption to existing social categories, whereas later, as familiarity with metal increased during the Unetice phase, and bargaining over the role of metal became easier, new categories evolved and led to changes in the meaning and function of objects. Fresh approaches to the interaction between metal technology and society are indeed opening up.

metal-making and metal-working. There is, however, still some way to go before we can say that the many dimensions of (metal) technology, as defined by Pfaffenberger (1993), namely, the material, social and symbolic, have been satisfactorily explored. Acknowledgements

I would like to thank all participants at our session of the Lisbon EAA conference for a stimulating and lively meeting. Emma Wager deserves our thanks for her unstinting and hard work in editing the manuscripts in this volume. A small grant towards preparation of illustrative material for publication by the Mark Fitch Fund is gratefully acknowledged. References

Arnold, D.E. 1985 Ceramic Theory and Cultural Process. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Childs, T.S. 1999 'After all, a hoe bought a wife': The social dimensions of ironworking among the Toro of East Africa. In: M.-A. Dobres and C.R. Hoffman (eds) The Social Dynamics of Technology. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp.23-45. Cumberpatch, C.G. and Blinkhorn, P.W. (eds) 1997 Not So Much a Pot, More a Way of Life. Oxford: Oxbow. Dobres, M.-A. and Hoffman, R.C. (eds) 1999 The Social Dynamics of Technology. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press. Knapp, B., Pigott, V. and Herbert, E. (eds) 1998 Social Approaches to an Industrial Past. London: Routledge. Lemonnier, P. (ed.) 1993 Technological Choices: Transformation in Material Cultures Since the Neolithic. London: Routledge. Papousek, D.A. 1989 Technological change as social rebellion. In: S.E. van der Leeuw and R. Torrence (eds) What's New: A Closer Look at the Process of Innovation. London: Unwin and Hyman, pp.140-166. Sillar, B. and Boyd, B. (eds) 1999 Embedded Technologies: Reworking Technological Studies in Archaeology. Lampeter: Lampeter Workshops in Archaeology. Stark, M. (ed.) 1998 The Archaeology of Social Boundaries. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press. Thomas, J. 1999 Time, culture and identity. London: Routledge. van der Leeuw, S.E. and Pritchard, A.C. (eds) 1984 The Many Dimensions of Pottery: Ceramics in Archaeology and Anthropology. Amsterdam: University of Amsterdam Press.

Sue Bridgford discusses the term 'arms race' in the Bronze Age dagger-rapier-sword sequence and finds it is only applicable if group combat is seen as practice superior to single combat. Her experimental and analytical work on over 350 bronze swords from Britain demonstrate that at least half of the deposited weapons show damage compatible with use in combat and most had been used at some time or other. She concludes that bronze weapons were clearly intended to be functional and, since they were difficult to cast and work-harden to produce sharp edges, specialist skill and knowledge were needed to produce them. A final paper, by Bjorn Magnusson Staaf, explores changes in the use of metal by employing a combination of metal analyses, frequency of metal finds and settlement patterns. The time of the study ranges from the early TRB and Corded Ware period to the final Neolithic and Early Bronze Age in Sweden. It provides a tentative outline of the social and cultural framework for the development of early metal use in Sweden and concludes that the role of metal in Late Neolithic Scandinavian society was different from that in the TRB period. This is based on four main observations: first, the typology of metal artefacts from Sweden indicates contacts with Western as well as Central Europe during the Late Neolithic in contrast to the purely Central European contact of the earlier TRB period. Secondly, artefacts of the TRB period had a more uniform metal composition than those in later periods, which is taken to indicate that a single source supplying the TRB was replaced by new and varied sources in later periods. Thirdly, whereas a strictly limited number of types of metal objects appear in the TRB, there is a greater variety of artefact types and manufacturing methods in the later periods under discussion. Fourthly, recycling of metal seems to have increased during the Late Neolithic period in Scandinavia, which is taken to imply a changing comprehension of metals. The papers presented here illustrate a great variety of approaches in different countries and reflect some of the currently explored cultural dimensions of the technology of 3

Metals and Society

4

Metallurgy and Society in Prehistoric Spain Salvador Rovira

Abstract In Spain, as in other countries, metallurgy has been granted an important role in the economic and political organisation of the social groups identified in the archaeological record. However, the understanding of the exploitation of metallurgical resources (gold, copper, silver and other) gained over the last twenty years has seriously called into question the social importance of metal. There is now a debate between researchers who continue to maintain traditional interpretations, and those who suggest that social changes occmTed throughout late Prehistory not just due to the role played by metal in economic contexts but through the use of metal objects as symbols of power and status. The second conceptualisation requires alternative readings of the archaeological evidence (with the aid oflandscape archaeology and the analysis of potential resources) in order to find indicators pointing to changes in both economy (cattle raising, agriculture, metal production, etc.) and the structure of social groups (habitat development, burial rites, offerings in tombs). In Spain, the production and use of copper appears to have occurred on a small scale from the Chalcolithic until almost the Late Bronze Age, despite the fact that copper was the most impotiant metal in use throughout the whole of this period. There are no large mining or metal production centres in Spain in contrast with other areas of Europe. This must be due to the abundance of small copper outcrops scattered all over the Iberian Peninsula which would have made it very difficult to establish any kind of territorial control based upon the amount of wealth generated by ore extraction. The hypothesis that metallurgy in prehistoric Spain was undeveloped is also supported by the long typological conservatism of copper objects and, more importantly, by the lack of developed smelting techniques, simple reduction pots only being used.

the Eastern Mediterranean (Siret and Siret 1890: 321 ). This hypothesis was decisively reinforced by the ideas of V. Gordon Childe, who considered the prehistoric metal smith to be a full-time, itinerant specialist (Childe 1973: 74, 1978: 119, 169). These ideas served for many years as the more or less explicit cardinal axis for any approach to understanding the Los Millares and El Argar cultures of south-east Spain. The exploitation and control of metal resources in this area were considered the economic foundations from which the growing social and territorial complexity of these cultures throughout the Chalcolithic and into the Bronze Age should be explained.

Theories Old and New

Metallurgy has been granted an important role in explanations of the processes of change in prehistoric societies. Metal, wealth and power are concepts that can be easily combined to explain the evolution from simple egalitarian social structures to other increasingly complex ones. This evolutionary sequence is thought to culminate in the dawn of the state, which is considered to be the most complex system of social relations a society can reach. Even though the steps in this sequence can be accepted without the need for too much critique, the rhythm with which they unfold and the factors affecting this process are obviously not always the same.

Over time, the colonist hypothesis lost strength under the weight of new archaeological evidence. However, the notion that metallurgy was the motivation for changes in social structure did not lose any force, particularly in the case of the El Argar culture which developed throughout the greater part of the second millennium cal BC. As Lull (1983: 437) states, the mineral richness of south-east Spain was thought to be responsible to a great extent for an important qualitative change in the conditions of metal production in Argaric times compared to those in the earlier Copper Age phases. The idea that miners and metallurgists in the later period were specialists forms part of his argument (Lull 1983: 456). Similarly, Arteaga and Schubart (1986: 293) also insist on the importance of metal and mineral control in the Argaric world. Argaric society was therefore conceived to be a metallurgy-based one in which communities of miners and metallurgists developed intense commercial or exchange relations with the neighbouring communities of farmers and cattle-raising peasants. This is thought to have induced the formation of

At present, we have available a sound theoretical corpus systematlsmg an approach to understanding the phenomenon of cultural change (e.g. Brumfiel and Earle 1987a; Wailes 1996). Little can be added, I think, to the excellent synthesis by Brumfiel and Earle ( 1987b). Problems arise when we attempt to locate and determine, through interpretation of the archaeological record, material indicators that can be used to confirm the existence of social characteristics as seemingly evident as specialisation and exchange, or as elusive as the nature of the economic and political control exercised by an elite. This is especially true when we study the social groups of the Iberian Peninsula during the third and second millennia cal BC (Fig. 1). At the end of the nineteenth century, Luis Siret proposed that the origin of the metallurgical cultures of south-east Spain should be imputed to the arrival of prospectors from

5

Metals and Society an increasingly complex system of relations that led, firstly, to the organisation of chiefdoms and, secondly, to the creation of a kingdom.

Spanish metallurgy during this period; and the coeval social changes that can be observed. Finally, I will present my own conclusions about the nature of the relationship between metallurgy and society in prehistoric Spain during the third and second millennia cal BC.

Late in the 1980s, another very different approach started to appear, based on the archaeological and archaeometallurgical research being carried out during that decade and on new readings of the accumulated archaeological evidence. New studies of a site of immense importance at Almizaraque, in Almeria (Fig. 2), indicated that metallurgical activity in the Copper Age did not require the existence of full-time specialists, given the extremely simple technological traits that were discovered, nor was it the exclusive economic activity of the settlement (Delibes et al. 1989: 90; Delibes et al. 1991: 303-304). The reinterpretation of material and archaeological contexts in the south-east as a whole carried out by Gilman (1987: 26) a few years earlier produced similar conclusions: the available evidence suggested that Copper Age metalworking was a commonplace activity requiring no special facilities.

Potential Ore Sources

Due to its geological characteristics, the Iberian Peninsula offers huge mineral reserves (Fig. 3). Practically all the mountain ranges in Spain had abundant and easily accessible metal ores that Man worked when he had attained the necessary knowledge. Nowadays, these outcrops are almost exhausted and the landscape has been dramatically altered by modem mining. Sources of Copper Copper minerals, in the form of the copper carbonates (malachite and azurite) and cuprite, were without doubt the most abundant type of ore in the past, as shown by the present day remains (Fig. 3A). In northern Spain, early smelters could have found copper ores in the Galicia Mountains, the Cantabrian Range and the Pyrenees. Moving down the map, the Central Range in the provinces of Madrid, Segovia, Avila and Salamanca, the Toledo Mountains and the Betic Range, located mainly in the province of Cordoba, today all have many registered mines. There are also two important mining areas in the south of Spain. One is the Pyritic Belt in the south-west, running from Seville to Huelva and then into Portugal; there, the Rio Tinto area is probably the best known at an international level. The other, in south-east Spain, is within the Penibetic Range, which runs from Cartagena to Malaga. Its most important mining districts spread across the Almeria 'sierras', or long jagged mountain chains, of Almagrera, Cabrera, Filabres and Gador.

No technological improvements were introduced in the Argaric period, but different ratios in applying workshop recipes in relation to Chacolithic time have been detected (Montero 1993: 50, 55; 1994: 236,267; Rovira and Gomez Ramos forthcoming). The quantitative increase in metal production that can be observed was due, in my opinion, more to population growth than to intensification in the exploitation of mineral resources or to changes in economic strategies. I agree perfectly with the assertion by Gilman (1996: 69) and Montero (1999: 334) that metalworking in earlier Bronze Age Iberia was a smallscale, part-time activity, although I would expand their chronological framework to extend well into the Late Bronze Age, to the end of the second millennium cal BC. In order to understand the changes that took place in the Chalcolithic communities of south-east Spain in their transition from the Los Millares to the El Argar culture, we must emphasise land exploitation for farming and cattle raising, not mining and metallurgy (Gilman 1987: 28).

A detailed and systematic survey of ore sources was carried out in a particular area of south-eastern Spain, the Vera Basin (Montero 1994: 69-107), where many significant Chalcolithic settlements, such as Almizaraque, Gatas and others, have been known for many years. It was also in this area that the most active focus of the El Argar culture developed, at sites such as El Argar, Fuente Alamo and El Oficio. The results of the survey demonstrated the vast extent of copper outcrops in this part of Spain. Some of these are of no industrial interest because of their small size but they would have appeared perfectly profitable to prehistoric miners. Some have small workings that are not easy to date with precision. A similar situation has been recorded in Toledo province (Montero et al. 1990) and in the Central Range (Fernandez Manzano et al. 1997: 527542; Rovira and Montero 1994: 154-159).

The nature of sociocultural change is much less sharply perceived in other parts of the Iberian Peninsula than in the south-east because a Middle Bronze Age as vigorous as that of the Argaric culture did not develop in these other regions, as far as we know (Delibes et al. 1999: 76; Martin Colliga et al. 1999: 170). My impression that metallurgy was a secondary activity is in any case reinforced when studying those areas. My work in the laboratory from 1982 to 1996, coordinating and carrying out part of the analytical research for the 'Arqueometalurgia de la Peninsula Iberica' project, has, to a great extent, served as the basis for what has been written about Spanish prehistoric metallurgy over the last few years. I believe that this is therefore a good opportunity to write a short synthesis of metallurgy and society in prehistoric Spain from my own personal perspective. I will discuss the ore sources potentially exploited in prehistory; the characteristic features of

The widespread distribution of available copper sources makes their control and monopoly impossible not only in the Chalcolithic period but also in the Argaric Bronze Age, an epoch with a supposedly more developed social structure. Neither the excavations carried out by Luis Siret (Siret and Siret 1890: 3-266) nor more recent ones indicate the existence of specialised sites devoted to mining and 6

Salvador Rovira: Metallurgy and Society in Prehistoric Spain metallurgy in south-eastern Spain. I deduce from this that the full-time specialist did not exist and that the knowledge of copper metallurgy was common to all and applied at a domestic level. I will reiterate these ideas below.

although it is quite probable that the Late Bronze Age settlers of Cerro de Logrosan, Caceres, did work this resource (Meredith 1998: 161). However, there are few remains of mining-metallurgical activities at this site, and the overall results of the survey for ancient tin mines in Iberia undertaken by Craig Merideth are disappointing.

It seems amazing that ancient copper mines are almost unknown in Spain, although this makes perfect sense in the context of the small-scale metallurgical practice I propose. Some of the few mines that are known are located in the province of Asturias and are dated to the end of the Copper Age or the beginning of the Early Bronze Age. They include El Aramo, dated to 4090±70 BP (OxA-1833), and El Milagro, with a date of 3990±90 BP (OxA-3005), which fall in the intervals 2784-2537 and 2628-2414 cal BC (1 sigma) respectively (Blas 1996: 219) The trench mine of Chinflon in Huelva province, attributed by Rothenberg and Blanco Freijeiro (1980: 51) to Chalcolithic miners on the basis of unreliable arguments such as the discovery of grooved stone hammers, must be definitively dated to the Late Bronze Age following the excavation of the settlement close to the mine (Pellicer and Hurtado 1980: 18-19). It is worth reiterating that such hammers do not have a secure chronological attribution in Spain, since they appear to have been used from the Chalcolithic up to the Roman period.

This paucity of evidence notwithstanding, it can be supposed that a low rate of extraction would have furnished the needs of the small-scale production of a restricted artefact range practised by the proto-Cogotas I groups inhabiting the Duero basin and the present-day regions of Madrid and Guadalajara in the Middle Bronze Age. Sites in these regions seem to have been seasonally occupied by small groups of herdsmen and farmers who also knew the art of metallurgy. In the case of Madrid, they picked up copper and tin ores from outcrops about 60 km away, and smelted them at sites in the vicinity of the Manzanares River. Evidence of in situ bronze production dating to about 1800 cal BC has been uncovered in this river valley (Blasco and Rovira 1992-93: 406--407). Interestingly, despite the fact that tin minerals were wellplaced in the central region of Spain (see Fig. 3B), surveys undertaken by myself in the environs of the modern towns of Bustarviejo, Miraflores and Lozoyuela near Madrid did not reveal the existence of prehistoric settlements that could have exercised any kind of control over mineral exploitation and its profits, either in the Chalcolithic or the full Bronze Age. Many new prehistoric sites and megalithic tombs have been discovered in recent systematic surveys in the highlands of Madrid, but their siting can be explained in relation to the control of natural routes crossing the mountains in the direction of the Duero basin and vice versa. They do not appear to have been positioned in order to control access to the mineral sources that are in some cases located in close proximity. It is evident, in my opinion, that such resources played a secondary role in the economic system of these mobile groups inhabiting central Spain during the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. These groups focused on cattle raising and seasonal agriculture but knew how to smelt ore to obtain tin bronze, and how to work metal to make objects.

The notion that people in the Chalcolithic were ignorant of the techniques needed for mining cannot be cited as an explanation for the scarcity of mines dating to this period. There is a tradition of working large and complex surface mines and quarries going back to even earlier periods. Good examples include the flint quarries in Andalusia and the spectacular variscite mine of Can Tintorer in Catalonia. In both cases, but especially in the latter, it seems evident that the Neolithic communities that exploited these resources must have been well organised. The observed scarcity of early mines could instead be due to the fact that they are relatively small, and hence are easily destroyed and erased by modem mining when located on deposits attracting industrial interest. This hypothesis is confirmed by the presence of small Chalcolithic surface workings close to a small outcrop of copper minerals in the settlement of El Malagon, Granada. These have been preserved up to the present day because of the lack of economic interest in such a minor deposit in subsequent periods (Arribas et al. 1989: 74).

Sources of Gold and Silver In the past, Spain had abundant gold resources (Fig. 3C). This is confirmed by Pliny the Elder, who wrote in his Natura/is historia (Book XXXIII) that more than 6.5 tons of gold per year were obtained from the Roman provinces of Lusitania, Gallaecia and Asturica. Today, placer gold is found in the sands of river beds and river banks in Galicia, Asturias, Salamanca, Extremadura, Soria, Madrid and Granada. The greatest concentration occurs in the northwest, with the extensive deposits of Las Medulas (Leon) being the most important. Gold-bearing quartz veins and complex minerals occur in Asturias, Huelva, Seville and Almeria.

Sources of Tin Tin does not gain significance in prehistoric Spanish metallurgy until the full Late Bronze Age, despite the existence of easily viable cassiterite deposits in central and western Iberia (Fig. 38). This is due, no doubt, to the low consumer preference for copper-tin alloys, to the point that the substitution of copper objects by bronze ones was not completed until the dawn of the first millennium BC. From the earliest known appearance of tin bronze, dated to about 2500 cal BC, the slow progress of this new alloy from northern to southern Spain can be detected. Tin bronze finally reaches the area of El Argar about 1800 cal BC. We do not have any early evidence for the mining of tin,

In contrast to the relative past abundance of natural gold, objects made with this precious metal are very scarce in

7

Metals and Society early periods. Only a few decorative objects belonging to the Copper and Early Bronze Age have been documented. These include some simple sheets of gold, beads formed from rolled gold sheet, wire bracelets, rings and torques. Gold finds increase in Middle Bronze Age contexts, particularly in the Argaric area. An exceptional find belonging to this period is the sword from Guadalajara, the hilt of which is embellished with gold sheet. However, the real treasures do not appear until the Late Bronze Age, when spectacular hoards such as those from Villena, Belmez, Sagrajas, Bodonal de la Sierra and elsewhere were deposited.

1994: 160-162). Their use was very simple. After a period of preheating, by burning charcoal placed in their interior, the pots were stoked up using a natural draft or perhaps blow pipes, although no tuyeres belonging to this early period have yet been found (Gomez Ramos 1996: 35). Crushed copper ore and charcoal were then added in successive charges until the reducing process was complete, after three to four hours. Experimental reconstructions have demonstrated that copper can be easily obtained by this method, using carbonate ores similar to those worked in prehistory (Rovira 1999: 104109).

Quantitative and qualitative differences between the gold finds belonging to the Middle and Late Bronze Ages can be detected. Firstly, the weight of the objects increases from one period to the other: rings, bracelets and torques are usually heavier in the Late Bronze Age. Secondly, and more importantly, most of the objects from the former period have been found in burial contexts, while in the latter hoarding was a significant phenomenon. In other words, as well as having social meaning as a symbol of status, gold was clearly identified with wealth in the Late Bronze Age and so was accumulated.

The results of analytical studies of the slagged walls of reduction basins indicate that direct reduction of minerals without the addition of a flux was practiced. At high temperatures (l 100°-1200°C), reactions took place between the pottery components of the vessels and the ore and gangue, resulting in the formation of complex silica compounds such as pyroxene, monticellite and akermanite. The compound formed depended on the amount of iron and calcium oxides present in either the gangue or the ceramic. Needles and plates of delafossite were also frequently formed (Fig. 5).

Finally, significant sources of natural silver are concentrated in the south-east, in the provinces of Almeria and Murcia (Fig. 3D). It is, therefore, not surprising that the earliest silver objects belong to the initial phase of the south-eastern El Argar culture, about 2000 cal BC.

Direct reduction of high-grade ores produces a slag-like material containing copper drops of different sizes, partially reduced mineral (mainly cuprite) and waste glasses. Only small amounts of slag are produced and consequently little such material is found at prehistoric Spanish sites with evidence for metal production. Analysis of the available material demonstrates that it is heterogeneous both in phase structure and composition, being comprised predominately of high melting point silica compounds such as pyroxene, akermanite and monticellite. Magnetite crystals are quite frequently seen (Fig. 6), which indicates limited control of the reducing conditions in the smelting pot. Copper oxide and little balls of metal are commonly identified. Numerous copper prills are also found entrapped in the slaggy material adhering to the walls of the reduction vessels.

Prehistoric Spanish Metallurgy Smelting Technology There is a considerable amount of evidence in support of the argument that the Iberian Peninsula was a focus for the inception of metallurgy in Western Europe, and that this occurred earlier than previously thought (Montero 1994: 271-292). The scarce but conclusive evidence for copper smelting at the Neolithic site of Cerro Virtud, Almeria, extends the date for the inception of metallurgy in this region back to the first half of the fifth millennium cal BC (Ruiz Taboada and Montero 1999: 898-902). We know a sufficient number of Chalcolithic sites with evidence for the practice of copper metallurgy to claim that the basics of this technology had spread over the greater part of Spain by the third millennium cal BC ( see regional studies in Delibes and Montero 1999). The characteristic features of this Copper Age metallurgy were maintained throughout most of the Bronze Age in Spain.

After smelting, the slag-like product was crushed using stone hammers, enabling the copper prills to be separated by hand sorting. This procedure further explains why little slag is usually found during the excavation of Spanish sites with evidence for prehistoric metallurgy. Metal Production and Exchange When I first proposed this simple system for reducing copper minerals (Rovira 1989: 361), there were few other systematic studies of prehistoric crucible copper smelting, with perhaps the only exception being the work by Zwicker et al. (1985), expanded in Zwicker (1990). Today, I have almost complete certainty that this technology, with small variations, was applied in the earliest phases of metallurgical invention. It has now been documented in the fourth millennium cal BC in the Levant at Feinan, Jordan, pre-dating the use of smelting furnaces and the slagging process in that region (Hauptmann et al. 1996: 4), and in

The main guides to the nature of prehistoric Spanish extractive metallurgy are neither conventional smelting furnaces nor slag heaps but simple ceramic fragments of open-mouthed vessels with slag formations on their inner surfaces (Fig. 4). They are the surviving pieces of bowls used for smelting copper ores. These bowls, which we have named 'reduction basins' or 'reduction pots', are morphologically different to and much bigger than the normal crucibles used to melt metal (Rovira and Montero 8

Salvador Rovira: Metallurgy and Society in Prehistoric Spain Cyprus at about 3400 cal BC, at Lemba-Lakkous and Kissonerga-Mosphilia (Zwicker 2000: 141).

The Transition from Copper to Bronze The first tin bronzes appeared in Spain about 2500 cal BC but this alloy continued to be a rare commodity until circ~ 1800 cal BC onwards, when finds become more and more frequent. Copper objects, however, predominated until the end of the second millennium cal BC.

In the Iberian Peninsula, the simple reduction process was in use for a surprisingly long time, from the Copper Age to the pre-Roman period at some sites. However there is indirect evidence for the introduction of co~ventional furnaces in those regions better connected with the technological traditions of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea in the Early Iron Age (Gomez Ramos 1999: 184), i.e. the Spanish Mediterranean seaboard, Andalusia and Extremadura. The longevity in Iberia of the direct reduction smelting technique can be attributed, on the one hand, to the fact that it was very well adapted to the kind of minerals being worked (copper carbonates), achieving acceptably efficient rates of copper recovery. On the other h~nd, the social need for metal was small, and did not stimulate the invention or acceptance of other more sophisticated and productive reduction methods, such as the use of conventional smelting furnaces and the slagging process. From this perspective, the use of reduction basins for smelting can be seen as an adaptative, rather than a backward, step. The only observable change in reduction bowls throughout their period of use is an increase in size although this is not a general rule. During the Copper and ~arly Bronze Age, reduction vessels most commonly fell m the 15-30cm diameter range (Montero 1993: 51). However, one bowl, measuring more than 40cm in diameter, has been found belonging to the Late Chalcolithic (Fig. 7).

Early Spanish copper is very frequently natural arsenical copper (Rovira 1998: 110-112). When the amounts of arsenic in all the copper objects from different periods are compared statistically using a Komogorov-Smirnov test, we can observe few variations in the mean contents (Figs SA, B, C). The small differences that can be seen are however, statistically significant. As they do not seem t~ be connected to technological changes, we must consider them to be due to the exploitation of new copper sources with different arsenic contents to those in use before as the population grew and occupied new territory. E;idence supporting this hypothesis comes from observation of what occurred in the south-east, an area with distinct mineralogical features and a large volume of available analytical data. In this region, no appreciable difference in arsenic content can be observed between the Chalcolithic copper objects of the Millarian culture and those of the subsequent El Argar culture (Fig. SD). This similarity is d~e, on the one hand, to the fact that, no matter how many mmes were worked in each period, the copper sources explo_itedshow similar compositional ranges with regard to arsemc content (Rovira et al. 1997: 41-86). On the other hand, it is also due to the absence of any intentional development in copper-arsenic alloy technology in the Middle Bronze Age.

Overall, the use of reduction basins does not imply the existence of highly productive, specialised installations capable of generating metal stock for trading on a major scale. Rather, the simplicity of the method itself; the fact it could be undertaken without any special preparation on any hearth, using only easily available vessels; and its low production capacity all point to domestic production. This is likely to have served the metal requirements of the immediate local community. Furthermore, metallurgical a~tivity has been recorded at almost all the Copper Age sites that have been excavated or surveyed in Spain in recent years. This is a reliable indication of the geographical extent of metallurgical knowledge and, accordmgly, of the absence of any monopoly controlling production.

Tin bronze was obviously a technological novelty. It arrived from outside Spain, probably from the south of France (Fernandez-Miranda et al. 1995: 67), and seems to have progressed from north to south as the earliest sites with tin-bronze implements are located in Galicia and Catalonia. At the best-studied site, Bauma del Serrat del Pont in Catalonia, there is evidence of in situ production of both copper and tin-bronze objects from the earliest phase of occupation, about 2500 cal BC (Alcalde et al. 1997: 80). This practice continued into the full Bronze Age. The same situation is recorded, some centuries later, at Bardenas Reales in Navarra. In other words, the introduction of tin bronze into northern Spain did not lead to the rapid replacement of copper objects. Rather, both production systems were in use simultaneously at the same sites and making the same range of objects, for hundreds ofyea;s.

Turning to the question of trade and exchange, there is no doubt that commercial networks trading exotic materials s~ch as A~ican ivory existed in Spanish prehistory. The difficulty is how to establish their importance from the archaeological record. For example, we have evidence for copper smelting at sites more than 100km from the nearest mineral outcrop (Delibes et al. 1999: 90). This means that ore, rat~er than finished objects, was a circulating commodity. However, it is difficult to decide whether such circulation was created by trade, or was a consequence of the movements of herding communities, who were able to extract copper ore from mineral sources reached during their seasonal round.

!he fi~st bronze objects known in Spain are simple awls. It is cur10us that no other implements such as arrowheads axes or daggers, more appropriate candidates fo; manufacture using the new alloy, are found. The new metal does not seem to have acquired the special status of a prestige commodity in the social value system of the communities of northern Spain. This situation seems to change with the introduction of tin bronzes into south-east Spain. In contrast to the north, the

9

Metals and Society Ob_ject Rings Earrings Bracelets Pendants Beads

Cu 5

2

Cu-As 2 1 4

Cu-As-Sn 3

1

Cu-Sn 14 1 5 1 2

Table 1: Copper alloys used in Argaric times for making decorative objects. Source: Compositional analysis in Rovira et al. ( 1997: 41-86).

south-east was not receptive to early tin bronze, despite being a region with a supposedly more developed social structure. Tin bronze only arrived in the El Argar culture about the eighteenth century cal BC, at a moment of cultural maturity. It was used in the production of ornamental objects such as bracelets, rings and pendants, in addition to tools and weapons (Table 1). Given an ornamental function, what distinguishes a copper object from a bronze one is its colour, which is reddish in the former and increasingly yellowish in the latter as the percentage of tin increases (within certain limits). The feature of tin bronze most appreciated by early Argaric consumers was probably its colour rather than its improved mechanical properties. Unfortunately, there is no appropriate chronological framework for these items. Most were excavated by Luis Siret before the end of the nineteenth century, and the attempts by B. Blance and H. Schubart to establish a sequence for the El Argar culture failed (see a critical review in Lull 1983: 220-223). Despite this, the alloys shown in Table 1 have no particular meaning in chronological terms, except for tin bronze. As we have seen, arsenical copper in Spain cannot be understood as an advance in alloying technology, but as the result of smelting the copper-arsenic ores that are very common in many regions, particularly in the south-east (Rovira et al. 1998: 154). Therefore, Argaric Cu-As-Sn objects do not represent an intermediate step between arsenical copper and copper-tin technology. They appear to have been produced at the same time as Cu-Sn alloys, using arsenical copper ores and cassiterite.

Copper Age and Middle Bronze Age implements exist. This is not surprising, as practically all the workshop techniques used in early metallurgy were developed in the Copper Age. What changes through time is the length of the chaine, which is usually longer in the Middle Bronze Age than in earlier periods, involving more stages of cold working and annealing (Rovira and Gomez Ramos, forthcoming). This technological continuity can perhaps be explained by reference to object typology. This did not vary substantially from the Copper to the Bronze Age, hence it was unnecessary to innovate or attempt new steps in the chaine operatoire. This typological monotony was maintained throughout almost two millennia, and can be understood in relation to the lack of social interest in innovative metallurgy. The low morphological and stylistic diversity in the third and first half of the second millennia cal BC lead Chapman (1990: 142) to discard the causative role of copper metallurgy in the emergence of social ranking. I agree, and here add technological arguments linked to object form. The main changes in object form were limited to the introduction of a new weapon, the sword, in the Middle Bronze Age; the substitution of a tang for rivets at the hilt of daggers, saws, knives and swords; and the enlargement of the cutting edge in flat axes. The range of objects produced continued practically unaltered during most of the Bronze Age except in the Argaric area, where some qualitative changes, such as the variety of decorative objects and the use of silver, can be related to social transformations. Social Changes in Late Prehistory

Copper and Bronze Production and Working In technological terms, the introduction of bronze involved no changes in metal production methods. Several fragments of reduction pots have been analysed, and the results demonstrate that bronze was obtained using the traditional direct reduction process applied to a mixture of copper ore and cassiterite (co-smelting). The efficiency of this method has been experimentally proven by Rostoker and Dvorak (1991: 16-17). Similarly, there were no changes in the workshop techniques used to shape objects. The Chalcolithic chaine operatoire consisted of cold hammering the cast products, frequently combined with the thermal treatment of annealing. This was also applied to tin-bronze objects (Fig. 9), to the point that few technological differences between

It is not my intention here to discuss in detail the study of social changes in Spanish prehistory. A lot of work has been done on this topic (Chapman 1990; Lull 1983, 1984; Nocete 1994; Ramos 1981), but my personal feeling is that many approaches suffer from overly-ambitious readings of the archaeological record in order to validate predetermined models. I will just make a few comments about the nature of settlement and burial in the third and second millennia cal BC, in relation to the production and consumption of metals.

Settlement The existence in the third millennium cal BC of structurally complex settlements, such as that at Los Millares, has promoted the idea that the Copper Age was characterised by a united society capable of undertaking

Salvador Rovira: Metallurgy and Society in Prehistoric Spain public works of some magnitude with success. Some researchers claim that very well-established social complexity (Chapman 1990: 141-149), perhaps even the early phases of a kingdom (Nocete 1994: 375-382), was responsible for producing such a cohesive system.

The Bell Beaker complex reached the interior of Spain about 2800 cal BC, in the early Chalcolithic (Rovira 199798: 20) The apparent social change that accompanied the appearance of this style of decorated pottery affected the form of the burial rite. Single inhumations began to appear, some of which contained spectacular offerings of beautiful pottery vases and well-finished metal objects, as in the tombs at Fuente Olmedo, Valladolid (Martin Valls and Delibes 1989: 15-24) and Ciempozuelos, Madrid (Blasco et al. 1998: 125-127). Such moments of great splendour started in the Duero basin and near Madrid about 2500 cal BC. The occurrence of such richly-endowed single graves reveals that some individuals attained a special rank or significance in life that was retained after death by internment in a personal tomb, rather than a collective burial mound. Single grave burial is an obvious symptom of incipient social stratification, or at least the birth of an elite. An assemblage comprising tanged daggers and 'Palmela' points seems to have been the normative burial offering assemblage in those regions of Spain more receptive to the Beaker phenomenon. The technological features of these weapons were studied a few years ago (Rovira 1998: 110-111, 114).

The complex of Los Millares has an 'acropolis', strongly defended by two lines of walls. Several small 'forts' are situated on the top of neighbouring hills. However, the initial impression of grandeur conveyed by these structures requires immediate reassessment. Our knowledge of this complex is still very incomplete, and even embryonic, due to the lack of research published in recent years (Montero 1996: 181-182). The acropolis site has not been extensively excavated, so we do not know how occupation there was structured. The small forts are also only very partially understood. Taking into account the likelihood of progressive enlargement in response to population growth and other requirements, it is possible that the whole complex was not all in use at the same time. Moreover, it seems to me that the small so-called 'forts' have little strategic utility as a defence for the nucleus of Los Millares. They may even be later, less important settlements built after a system breakdown had affected the nucleus and forced the remaining population to relocate to several smaller sites (Carrilero 1992: 974-975).

In the south-east, where there is much less material evidence for the Beaker phenomenon, individual internment was the pre-eminent burial rite after the Los Millares period. The prevalence of this custom in the El Argar culture is one of the more significant cultural differences between the Argaric and preceding Millarian cultures. The apparent egalitarianism of Chalcolithic communities in the presence of death was gradually transformed as the social role of the individual became more marked. However - and this is an important point the offerings found in these single tombs are of little use for understanding the social status of the buried individual. We can evaluate the richness of each offering in quantitative and qualitative terms, and thereby identify some differences between them. However, in my opinion, the contrasts in the grave goods found in Argaric tombs are not sufficiently notable for us to be able to talk about clear differences in the social status of the buried individuals. While I do not doubt that such burials are symptoms of the existence of an elite, it is not possible at present to identify the complex stratification of a 'kingdom' form of social organisation using the evidence for metal production, distribution and consumption. As far as I know, no 'princely' graves containing spectacular accumulations of metal objects have been unearthed in the Argaric region, or in any other part of Spain. How, then, can we identify the metal-consuming elite suggested by Lull and Risch (1995: 106)? The archaeological record shows a poor presence of metal goods in burials: about 20% of the more than 1,100 tombs studied by Montero ( 1994: 299) contained metal offerings, but only a very small number held more than three objects. Given the fact that other metal stocks are unknown, my conclusion is that metal production m Argaric times was not such an important activity as to provide the economical basis for social change.

The radiocarbon dates published so far permit such an interpretation. The dates obtained from the two lines of walls at the acropolis site lie between 2932 and 2667 cal BC. The available dates from Fort 1 are later and range between 2461 and 2296 cal BC (1 sigma) (Castro et al. 1996: 314). If my interpretation is correct, the 'metallurgical workshop' found in this fort cannot be understood as a coeval component of a large metallurgical production system centred at Los Millares, as has been proposed by Molina et al. (1986: 198) and Moreno et al. (1994: 37, 39). Rather, it would appear to represent typical secondary, domestic production for local consumption at a small Late Chalcolithic site. Furthermore, no firm evidence of specialised copper production at this site can be identified. Neither the technological traits of Millarian metallurgy, as evidenced by finished objects and smelting and metalworking waste (Keesmann et al. 1991-92: 290293), nor the few 'workshops' and the total amount of archaeometallurgical debris excavated point to large-scale production at the Los Millares complex. Burial The complexity of Millarian society, and the extent to which it incorporated the population of the surrounding area, are far from clearly delineated at present. On this basis, it seems appropriate to accept that the Millarian custom of collective inhumation in large tombs built outside settlements indicates a communal, more or less egalitarian, burial practice (Fig. 10). This collective burial rite spread all over the Iberian Peninsula, including the south-east, in the Late Neolithic.

11

Metals and Society interest in the possession of prestige metal goods was not wholly absent. These objects include the set of long-tailed copper arrowheads from the dolmen (chambered tomb) of La Pastora, Seville (Montero and Teneishvili 1996); the Middle Bronze Age copper sword from Guadalajara, with a hilt embellished with embossed gold sheet (Fig. 11); and the sword from Puertollano, Ciudad Real, which has a wide blade made of tin bronze with silver rivets (Rovira et al. 1997: 215-216, 156). Although these objects display few signs of technological innovation, their size a_ndfo~, and the combination of materials used m their manufacture, all differentiate them from the metalwork assemblages of the regions in which they were found. In my opinion, the most interesting reading we can make of these singular finds is that, during the full Bronze Age, metalworking specialists who were able to design and manufacture extraordinary objects gradually began to appear. The metallurgical skill of these craftsmen was much higher than that of contemporary metalworkers. The objects they made may have been regarded as presti_ge goods, which were then exchanged in orde~ to_f'.ormah~e alliances or other ties between pre-eminent mdividuals m an emerging elite.

Conclusions

Spanish copper metallurgy throughout the third and second millennia cal BC can be described as a domestic system of production requiring simple facilities and a low degree of specialisation. As the issue of mineral supply_ ge~~rally presented few problems in terms of either availability or distance, it was difficult for a monopoly control over ore to be established. Given the lack of large centres specialising in either metal production or distribution, it can be supposed that the practice of metallurgy was orientated towards satisfying the needs of the family or clan. Some commercial activity could have existed alongside this domestic production, to supply either finished objects or ore to the peasant communities inhabiting places far away from mineral sources. This may have been the case in the villages settled on the plains of the Guadalquivir Valley, La Mancha, and other large river basins. However there is little archaeological evidence for the trade th~t would have accompanied such commercial activity. Complex routes for the circulation of metal are usually hypothesised simply on the basis that the knowledge necessary for obtaining and working copper was spread throughout most of Spain. Hence, most communities would have required ore. Furthermore, copper ingots belonging to this period of Spa~ish prehistory are practically unknown. The o~ly po~sib~e exception is the hoard from Gamonedo, Astunas, which is insecurely dated on the basis of typology to about 1500 BC. This comprised nine approximately plano-convex copper cakes (Blas 1980), all weighing less than ~00g. ~s is well known, the ingot is the most suitable form m which to accumulate metal for both commercial and manufacturing purposes. It is unthinkable that a major prehistoric trade in metal could have occurred "'.ith?ut its use. My conclusions are that there was no sigmficant circulation of metal in this early period and that, consequently, metal never played an essential role as a driving force for social change in prehistoric Spain. It is, therefore, misguided to propose complex trade routes for the movement of metal and ore in this context.

Acknowledgments

I am very grateful to Emma Wager for her patient and meticulous reading of the original text, and her many precise pointers as to how to improve the final work. The assistance of my friend Ignacio Montero, in suggesting upto-date and highly specialised references, has been of inestimable value. References

Alcalde, G., Molist, M., Safia, M. and Toledo, A. 1997 Proces d'ocupaci6 de la Bauma de! Serrat de! Pont (La Garrotxa) entre el 2900 i el 1450 cal AC. Girona: Museu Comarcal de la Garrotxa. Arribas, A., Craddock, P.T., Molina, F., Rothenberg, B. and Hook, D.R. 1989 Investigaci6n arqueometalurgica en yacimientos de las Edades del Cobre y del Bronce en el Sudeste de Iberia. In: C. Domergue (ed.) Mineria y Metalurgia de las Antiguas Civilizaciones Mediterraneas y Europeas (I). Madrid: Ministerio de Cultura, pp.71-79. Arteaga, 0. and Schubart, H. 1986 Fundamentos arqueol6gicos para el estudio socio-econ6mico y cultural del area de El Argar. Homenaje a Luis Siret. Sevilla: Consejeria de Cultura de la Junta de Andalucia, pp.289-307. Blas, M.A. de 1980 El dep6sito de materiales de la Edad del Bronce de Gamonedo (Asturias). Zephyrus XXX-XXXI: 268-276. Blas, M.A. de 1996 La primera mineria metalica del Norte Peninsular: las indicaciones del C-14 y la cronologia prehist6rica de las explotaciones cupriferas del Aramo y El Milagro (Asturias). In: Homenaje al Prof M Fernandez-Miranda. Complutum Extra, 6 (I): 217-226. Blasco, C. and Rovira, S. 1992-93 La metalurgia del cobre y del bronce en la region de Madrid. Tabona VII (II):

The lassitude apparently observed in metallurgical innovation runs in parallel with the slow social evolution of the groups making and using metal in prehistoric Spain. They did not perceive the accumulation of metal_a~d the intensive exploitation of ore resources as a top pnonty. In their value system, the possession of metal objects for use as tools, ornaments and grave offerings was important, and this led to the dissemination of metallurgical knowledge all over the Iberian Peninsula. However, they appear to have regarded the storage of metal as wealth and symbols of power as less important. Metallurgy does not seem to h~ve acted as a stimulus for social competition and emulation among the emerging elite. Significant hoards only start to appear in the Late Bronze Age, but even these cannot ~e compared in number and magnitude with hoard finds m Central and Atlantic Europe. However, a few items have been found to indicate that

12

Salvador Rovira: Metallurgy and Society in Prehistoric Spain

397--415. Blasco, C., Baena, J. and Liesau, C. 1998 La Prehistoria Madrilena en el Gabinete de Antiguedades de la Real Academia de la Historia. Los Yacimientos Cuesta de la Reina (Ciempozuelos) y Valdocarros (Arganda de! Rey). Madrid: Universidad Autonoma de Madrid. Brumfiel, E.H. and Earle, T.K. (eds) 1987a Specialization, Exchange and Complex Societies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Brumfiel, E.H. and Earle, T.K. 1987b Specialization, exchange and complex societies: an introduction. In E.H Brumfiel and T.K Earle (eds) Specialization, Exchange and Complex Societies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp.1-9. Carrilero, M. 1992 El Fen6meno Campaniforme en el Sureste de la Peninsula Iberica. Granada: Tesis microfilmada, Universidad de Granada. Castro, P.V., Lull, V. and Mico, R. 1996 Cronologia de la Prehistoria Reciente de la Peninsula Iberica y Baleares (c. 2800-900 cal ANE). British Archaeological Reports (Int. Series) 652. Oxford: Archaeopress. Chapman, R. 1990 Emerging Complexity. The Later Prehistory of South-East Spain, Iberia and the West Mediterranean. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Childe, V.G. 1973 La Evoluci6n Social. Madrid: Alianza. Childe, V.G. 1978 La Prehistoria de la Sociedad Europea. Barcelona: Icaria. Delibes, G. and Montero, I. (eds) 1999 Las Primeras Etapas Metalurgicas en la Peninsula Jberica. JI. £studios Regionales. Madrid: Instituto Universitario Ortega y Gasset y Ministerio de Educacion y Cultura. Delibes, G., Fernandez Manzano, J. and Herran, J.I. 1999 Submeseta Norte. In: G. Delibes and I. Montero (eds) Las Primeras Etapas Metalurgicas en la Peninsula Jberica. JI. £studios Regionales. Madrid: Instituto Universitario Ortega y Gasset y Ministerio de Educacion y Cultura, pp.63-94. Delibes, G., Fernandez-Miranda, M., Fernandez-Posse, M.D., Martin, C., Montero, I. and Rovira, S. 1991 Almizaraque (Almeria, Spain). Archaeometallurgy during the Chalcolithic in the south-east of the Iberian Peninsula. In: C. Eluere and J.P. Mohen (eds) Decouverte du Metal. Paris: Picard, pp.303315. Delibes, G., Fernandez-Miranda, M., Fernandez-Posse, M.D., Martin, C., Rovira, S. and Sanz, M. 1989 Almizaraque (Almeria): Mineria y metalurgia calcoliticas en el Sureste de la Peninsula lberica. In: C. Domergue (ed.) Mineria y Metalurgia de las Antiguas Civilizaciones Mediterraneas y Europeas (I). Madrid: Ministerio de Cultura, pp.81-96. Fernandez Manzano, J., Herran, J.I., Orejas, A., Hernansanz, A. and Paradinas, S. 1997 Mineria y poblamiento calcolitico en Avila de los Caballeros. In: R. de Balbin and P. Bueno (eds) II Congreso de Arqueologia Peninsular (Zamora, 24-27 septiembre 1996). Vol II Neolitico, Calcolitico y Bronce. Zamora: Fundacion Rei

Alfonso Enriques, pp.527-542. Fernandez-Miranda, M., Montero, I. and Rovira, S. 1995 Los primeros objetos de bronce en el occidente de Europa. Trabajos de Prehistoria 52 (1): 57-69. Gilman, A. 1987 Unequal development in Copper Age Iberia. In: E.H. Brumfiel and T.K. Earle (eds) Specialization, Exchange and Complex Societies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp.2229. Gilman, A. 1996 Craft specialization in late prehistoric Mediterranean Europe. In: B. Wailes (ed.) Craft Specialization and Cultural Evolution: In Memory of V Gordon Childe. University of Pennsylvania Museum Monograph 93. Philadelphia: The University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, pp.67-71. Gomez Ramos, P. 1996 6Donde estan las toberas de la Edad del Bronce de la Peninsula Iberica? Acontia 2: 209-215. Gomez Ramos, P. 1999 Obtenci6n de metales en la Prehistoria de la Peninsula Iberica. British Archaeological Reports (Int. Series) 753. Oxford: Archaeopress. Hauptmann, A., Bachmann, H.G. and Maddin, R. 1996 Chalcolithic copper smelting: new evidence from excavations at Feinan, Jordan. Archaeometry 1994, Ankara. The Proceedings of the 29 th International Symposium on Archaeometry. Ankara, 9-14 May 1994. Ankara: Tiibitak, pp.3-10. Keesmann, I., Moreno, A. and Kronz, A. 1991-92 Investigaciones cientificas de la metalurgia de El Malagon y Los Millares, en el Sureste de Espana. Cuadernos de Prehistoria de la Universidad de Granada 16-17: 247-302. Lull, V. 1983 La «Cultura» de El Argar. (Un Modelo para el £studio de las Formaciones Econ6micas Prehist6ricas). Madrid: Akal. Lull, V. 1984 A new assessment of Argaric society and economy. In: W.H. Waldren, R. Chapman, J. Lewthwaite and R.C. Kennard (eds) The Deya Conference of Prehistory. British Archaeological Reports (Int. Series) 229. Oxford: Archaeopress, pp.1197-1238. Lull, V. and Risch, R. 1995 El estado argarico. Verdolay 7: 97-109. Martin Colliga, A., Gallart, J., Rovira, C. and MataPerello, J.M. 1999 Nordeste. In: G. Delibes and I. Montero (eds) Las Primeras Etapas Metalurgicas en la Peninsula Iberica. 11. £studios Regionales. Madrid: Instituto Universitario Ortega y Gasset y Ministerio de Educacion y Cultura, pp.115-177. Martin Valls, R. and Delibes, G. 1989 La Cultura de! Vasa Campanifonne en las Campinas Meridionales de! Duero. El Enterramiento de Fuente-Olmedo (Valladolid) [2nd ed.]. Valladolid: Museo Arqueologico de Valladolid. Meredith, C. 1998 An Archaeometallurgical Survey for Ancient Tin Mines and Smelting Sites in Spain and Portugal: Mid-Central Western Iberian Geographical Region. British Archaeological Reports (Int. Series) 714. Oxford: Achaeopress. 13

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Molina, F., Contreras, F., Ramos, A., Merida, V., Ortiz, F. and Ruiz, V. 1986 Programa de recuperacion del registro arqueologico del Fortin I de Los Millares. Arnilisis preliminar de la organizacion del espacio. Arqueologia £spacial. Coloquio sabre el Microespacio 8: 175-202. Montero, I. 1993 Bronze Age metallurgy in southeast Spain. Antiquity 67: 46-57. Montero, 1.1994 El Origen de la Metalurgia en el Sureste Peninsular. Almeria: Instituto de Estudios Almerienses. Montero, I. 1996 6Novedades sobre el Calcolitico? Te mantendremos informado. Trabajos de Prehistoria 53(2): 178-182. Montero, I. 1999 Sureste. In: G. Delibes and I. Montero (eds) Las Primeras Etapas Metalurgicas en la Peninsula Iberica. 11.£studios Regionales. Madrid: Instituto Universitario Ortega y Gasset y Ministerio de Educacion y Cultura, pp.333-357. Montero, I. and Teneishvili, T.O. 1996 Estudio actualizado de las puntas de jabalina del dolmen de La Pastora (Valencina de la Concepcion, Sevilla). Trabajos de Prehistoria 53(1): 73-90. Moreno, A., Molina, F. and Contreras, F. 1994 La investigacion arqueometalurgica de la Prehistoria reciente en el sureste de la Peninsula Iberica. In: D. Vaquerizo (ed.) Mineriay Metalurgia en la Espana Prerromana y Romana. Cordoba: Diputacion Provincial, pp.13-52. Montero, I., Rodriguez, S. and Rojas, J.M. 1990 Arqueometalurgia de la Provincia de Toledo. Mineria y Recursos Minerales de Cobre. Toledo: Diputacion Provincial de Toledo. Nocete, F. 1994 La Fonnacion de! Estado en las Campinas de! Alto Guadalquivir (3000-1500 a.n.e.). Granada: Universidad de Granada. Pellicer, M. and Hurtado, V. 1980 El Poblado Metalurgica de Chinjlon (Zalamea la Real-Huelva). Sevilla: Universidad de Sevilla. Ramos, A. 1981 Interpretaciones secuenciales y culturales de la Edad del Cobre en la zona meridional de la Peninsula Iberica. La alternativa del materialismo cultural. Cuadernos de Prehistoria de la Universidad de Granada 6: 242-256. Rostoker, W. and Dvorak, J.R. 1991 Some experiments with co-smelting of copper alloys. Archaeomaterials 5: 5-20. Rothenberg, 8. and Blanco Freijeiro, A. 1980 Ancient copper mining and smelting at Chinflon (Huelva, SW Spain). In: P.T. Craddock (ed.) Scientific Studies in Early Mining and Extractive Metallurgy. British Museum Occasional Paper 20. London: The British Museum, pp.41-62. Rovira, S. 1989 Recientes aportaciones para el conocimiento de la metalurgia primitiva en la provincia de Madrid: un yacimiento Campaniforme en Perales del Rio (Getafe, Madrid). Actas de! XIX Congreso Nacional de Arqueologia. Castellon, 1987, Vol. I. Zaragoza: INO-Reproducciones, S.A., pp.355-366. Rovira, S. 1997-98 Le Campaniforme en Espagne. Archeologie, Hors-Serie 9: 20-21.

Rovira, S. 1998 Metalurgia campaniforme en Espana: resultados de quince afios de investigacion arqueometalurgica. In: M.-Ch. Frere-Sautot (ed.) Paleometallurgie des Cuivres. Actes du Colloque de Bourg-en-Bresse et Beaune, 17-18 Oct. 1997. Montagnac: Editions Monique Mergoil, pp. l 09127. Rovira, S. 1999 Una propuesta metodologica para el estudio de la metalurgia prehistorica: el caso de Gorny en la region de Kargaly (Orenburg, Rusia). Trabajos de Prehistoria 56 (2): 85-113. Rovira, S. and Gomez Ramos, P. (forthcoming) Las Primeras Etapas Metalurgicas en la Peninsula Iberica. 111. £studios Metalograjicos. Madrid: Instituto Universitario Ortega y Gasset y Ministerio de Educacion, Cultura y Deporte. Rovira, S. and Montero, I. 1994 Metalurgia Campaniforme y de la Edad del Bronce en la Comunidad de Madrid. In: C. Blasco (ed.) El Horizonte Campanifonne de la Region de Madrid en el Centenario de Ciempozuelos. Madrid: Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, pp.137-171. Rovira, S., Montero, I. and Consuegra, S. 1997 Las Primeras Etapas Metalurgicas en la Peninsula Jberica. I. Analisis de Materiales. Madrid: Instituto Universitario Ortega y Gasset y Ministerio de Educacion y Cultura. Rovira, S., Montero, I. and Gomez Ramos, P. 1998 The beginning of the use of metal in Spain. In: Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on the Beginning of the Use of Metals and Alloys (BUMA JV). Sendai: BUMA IV Organizing Committee and The Japan Institute of Metals, pp.153-158. Ruiz-Taboada, A. and Montero, I. 1999 The oldest metallurgy in Western Europe. Antiquity 73: 897903. Siret, E. and Siret, L. 1890 Las Primeras Edades de! Metal en el Sudeste de Espana, Barcelona: publisher unknown. Wailes, B. (ed.) 1996 Craft Specialization and Cultural Evolution: In Memory of V Gordon Childe. University of Pennsylvania Museum Monograph 93. Philadelphia: The University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Zwicker, U. 1990 Archaeometallurgical investigation on the copper and copper-alloy production in the area of the Mediterranean Sea (7000-1000 BC). Bulletin of the Metals Museum 15: 3-32. Zwicker, U. 2000 Frilhe Kupferverhilttung auf Zypern. Archaometrie und Denkmalpflege. Kurzberichte 2000. Dresden: Landesamt fur Archaologie Dresden, pp.141-143. Zwicker, U., Greiner, H., Hofmann, K.H. and Reithinger, M. 1985 Smelting, refining and alloying of copper and copper alloys in crucible-furnaces during prehistoric up to Roman time. In: P.T. Craddock and M.J. Hughes (eds) Furnaces and Smelting Technology in Antiquity. British Museum Occasional Paper 48. London: British Museum, pp.103-115. 14

Salvador Rovira: Metallurgy and Society in Prehistoric Spain

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15

Metals and Society

Tin oxide

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Fig. 3: Schematic maps showing the distribution of metal resources in Spain.

Fig. 4: Fragment of a reduction basin from Almizaraque, Almeria, showing the slagged surface.

16

Salvador Rovira: Metallurgy and Society in Prehistoric Spain

Fig. 5: Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) image of slag formed in the wall of a reduction basin from Almizaraque, Almeria. White needles of delafossite in a pyroxene matrix and black grains of non-reacted silica can be seen. Some white drops of copper are also visible.

Fig. 6: SEM image of a copper slag from the Chalcolithic site of El Picacho, Seville. A grey matrix of monticellite containing many black grains of non-reacted silica and abundant white crystals of magnetite can be seen.

Fig. 7: Large reduction basin from the Late Chalcolithic site of La Cefiuela, Murcia, being reconstructed in the laboratory.

17

Metals and Society

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18

Salvador Rovira: Metallurgy and Society in Prehistoric Spain

Fig. 9: Photomicrograph of the cutting edge of a Middle Bronze Age tin-bronze riveted dagger (18.9% Sn), showing a cold working after annealing microstructure. Delta-phase segregations are visible. Magnification: 500x.

Fig. 10: Megalithic tomb at Los Millares, Almeria.

19

Metals and Society

Fig. 11: Hilt of the Middle Bronze Age sword from Guadalajara, covered with embossed gold sheet.

20

From Farms to Factories: The Development of Copper Production at Faynan, Southern Jordan, During the Early Bronze Age Russell B. Adams

Abstract Excavations of several key sites relating to the production of copper ore in the Wadi Faynan region of southern Jordan during the years 1990-1993 have revealed a sequence of development for the period 3600-2000 BC, which suggests a change from small-scale nonintensive smelting of copper, to highly-developed large-scale intensive production on the scale of a manufactory. In patiicular, the primary change from this low-scale production to the more intensive 'industrialised' production takes place at the beginning of the Early Bronze Age II (c.2900 BC), at a time when other social changes include the development of specialised horticulture on a large scale and of the first fortified towns in the Levant. Previous scholarship has noted extensive changes in the appearance of copper products at this time throughout the eastern Mediterranean, from the Aegean to Egypt. Recent work at Faynan in Jordan, however, provides the first evidence of these processes from the perspective of the copper production sites. This paper will report on these changes in production occurring in the early third millennium BC, the evidence for this specialisation and intensification, and the likely social mechanisms that effect this rapid change.

attention shifted to the examination of the third as yet poorly-explored copper resource zone in the Levant at Faynan (also spelled Feinan or Ferran), in the eastern Wadi Arabah of Jordan (Fig. 1).

Introduction

The investigation of copper metallurgy in the southern Levant has for many years focused upon the 'origins' of metallurgy, rooted in the fifth millennium Chalcolithic cultures, c.5000-3600 BC (Joffe and Dessel 1995). Since the pioneering work of Mallon (Mallon et al. 1934, 1940) and later Perrot ( 1955) in defining these cultures, this period and the development of copper metallurgy in the Levant have been investigated in great detail. In particular the discovery of the Nahal Mishmar hoard (Bar Adon 1962, 1980) led many scholars to assume that the introduction and use of copper in this period was both widespread and highly sophisticated. More recently, Levy ( 1995) has demonstrated quite convincingly, through his work in the Beersheva Basin and especially at Shiqmim in the northern Negev Desert, that in fact quite the opposite was true. Levy has suggested that the production and use of copper metal during the Chalcolithic was most likely highly-specialised and restricted knowledge, and may have amounted to a near monopoly on this activity in the southern Levant by the Beersheva Valley cultures. Nevertheless, investigation of this 'earliest' phase of the use of copper metal in the Levant has for many years overshadowed research into the expansion of the use of metals and their widespread adoption in society.

Metallurgical Investigations at Faynan

From 1985, the German Mining Museum (Deutsches Bergbau Museum, hereafter DBM) project in early metallurgy carried out detailed investigation of the mines, smelting and processing sites related to prehistoric copper production at Faynan. Numerous publications resulted from this research, which documented the full range of copper metallurgy in the region and has recently been summarised by Hauptmann (2000). The DBM project was chiefly successful in defining the technological changes in copper production and putting these within a temporal framework through an extensive series of radiocarbon dates. Being concerned as they were with the technical aspects of metallurgy, the DBM team was somewhat less successful in the analysis of its social impact, and in documenting the social changes that accompanied these advances. In cooperation with the DBM project, the writer undertook four field seasons of survey and excavation work at the western end of the Faynan drainage in the Wadi Fidan from 1989-1992, as part of doctoral research at the University of Sheffield, UK (Adams 1999). The main emphasis of this research was to examine the evidence for early copper production through the study of related habitation sites in this area. These sites dated to the Early Bronze Age and excavations produced extensive amounts of data relating to metallurgy in this period, which in conjunction with the work on the mines and smelting sites by the DBM team allowed for the first time a detailed analysis of the important developmental phases of metallurgy during the Early Bronze Age, and the ensuing cultural and social changes which accompanied these technological advances. This period, as will be shown

Copper Sources in the Levant

As late as the early 1980s only two of the three primary copper sources in the Levant, in Sinai and at Timna, had been investigated to any extent. Disappointingly, investigations at Timna provided little in the way of material culture or occupation sites, and the primary evidence in the region has come from the remains of extensive mining activities. These mines have been difficult to date accurately, since most were reused repeatedly in later periods, often obscuring to a large degree the earliest evidence of use (Conrad and Rothenberg 1980). It was not until the mid- l 980s that

21

Metals and Society below, marks the transition from small-scale low intensity production to large-scale intensive production on a near 'industrial' scale by the end of the period.

There was significant evidence for bead production throughout the village structures and from the off-site midden where a number of broken beads were found. The vast majority of the beads were made from the variety of copper minerals from the Faynan region, in a range of shapes: cylindrical, barrel shaped and diskoid. Evidence of a stone grinding slab for bead shaping was also recovered from the village, indicating that bead production may have been a specialised activity at the site, enough at least for the investment of time in the production of a specific tool for bead shaping.

The Early Bronze Age at Faynan The Early Bronze Age in the Levant spans a period of over 1500 years, from the mid fourth millennium to the beginning of the second millennium BC (c.3600-2000 BC). Traditional chronology divides the EBA into four main phases: EBA I-III, and a fourth terminal phase known as EBA IV (often referred to as EB/MB or MB I by various regional schools of archaeology). In practical terms, however, despite the increase in use of radiocarbon dating, chronological distinctions are most marked between EBA I, EBA II-III, and EBA IV when clear and demonstrable differences in material culture (especially ceramics) provide visible markers of change. In the Faynan region these distinctions are particularly obvious with clear and significant changes between the EBA I and EBA II/III periods noted in a complete change in ceramic tradition from a regionally distinctive style to one in the EBA II/III which is broadly homogenous across the southern Levant. In the Faynan region this transition can also be clearly seen in the significant changes that take place in the technology and social process related to metallurgy.

Initial evidence for copper production at Wadi Fidan 4 came from the earliest surveys, since the site was covered in several areas by small copper prills and pieces of slag. Hauptmann's (1989) early analysis of slags and metals from the survey suggested that it was most likely a crucible-based metallurgy. From the excavations, the primary evidence for metallurgy came from one large building and a related courtyard in Area D at the eastern end of the site, where 26 clay crucible fragments with adhering slag and melted copper were found. These probably indicate a minimum of 4-6 crucibles. The volume of these crucibles was quite small, with each crucible averaging about 10 cm in diameter and 8-10 cm in depth. These are considerably smaller than known examples from several of the Beersheva Valley Chalcolithic sites. In area D the crucible fragments were found in association with a courtyard that had the remains of eight small clay ovens, all of which contained grey ash. Analysis of the botanical remains from the ovens suggested that they were fired by animal dung, and although no direct evidence exists for their use in metallurgical activities, this cannot be discounted (Adams 1999: 117; Meadows 1996).

Throughout the Levant during the Chalcolithic period society is dominated by chiefdom-based societies living in small nucleated villages, situated in a two-tier settlement hierarchy of numerous villages and larger regional village centres. With the decline of Chalcolithic society in the early fourth millennium, this pattern of nucleated villages continues into the EBA T period. It is in such a small village community that the earliest evidence for metallurgy at Faynan comes, from the site of Wadi Fidan 4.

Copper prills or droplets of copper as well as small but significant volumes of slag were found throughout the site, but their concentration was more dense in and around the building and courtyard in Area D. There were also quantities of copper ore and waste ore/host rock pieces suggesting on-site dressing of the ores prior to smelting or bead production. Only one finished copper object was found in the preliminary excavations, and this was the point of a small copper awl.

Metallurgy at Faynan During the Early Bronze Age I Period The site at Wadi Fidan 4 is a small village complex of rectilinear and apsidal houses that occupy a terrace located some 25 metres above the wadi. On this terrace the arrangement of houses, courtyards and open spaces is much as one would find in any village complex in fourthmillennium BC Levant (Adams and Genz 1995). The site has been known since the initial survey work of Raikes ( 1980), and was the subject of some controversy about its dating based largely upon the ceramic data from surface survey, until radiocarbon dates from the excavations established that the site dates to the last half of the fourth millennium BC (Adams 1999: 112).

It has been suggested that the form of crucible smelting undertaken at the site was carried out in a crucible set in an oven or charcoal bed but heated primarily from above by blowpipes (Hauptmann 2000; Rehder 1994). Hauptmann also suggests that the volumes of slag produced were extremely low and that it was virtually slagless copper production, with the producers selecting nearly pure pieces of copper ore with a high copper content for smelting. Evidence from the excavations indicates that some volume of slag was produced, and that rather than a one-step process as suggested by Hauptmann, smelting was probably a multi-stage process, with preliminary smelting followed by crushing of the smelted charge to select pieces for secondary smelting. This may have been inevitable given the method of smelting, since the reduction process is likely to have been extremely difficult due to the

Preliminary excavations in 1993 in three areas of the site and a nearby midden deposit produced a substantial amount of material, including ceramics, flint and worked stone objects, all of which suggested that the site was a domestic habitation. Alongside the evidence for this domestic occupation was also a significant body of data which indicated that the occupants of the village used the local copper ores from the Faynan district for the production of beads and copper metal. 22

Russell B. Adams: From Farms to Factories: The Development of Copper Production at Faynan infusion of oxygen from the blowpipes in the heating operation. Significant amounts of the ore were probably first reduced to cuprite and then reheated in the final smelt to form a relatively pure copper ingot.

The Early Bronze Age II Period in the Levant At the beginning of the Early Bronze Age II period, c.2900 BC, there is evidence for social changes affecting populations at Faynan. Throughout the Levant at this time, changing demographic conditions and a continued trend towards an 'urban' way of life are well underway. This trend, which began in the later EBA I, possibly as a result of contact with Egypt, reaches a peak during EBA II, with major town centres springing up throughout the region. The overall increase in population and a reduction in the actual numbers of sites suggest that larger sites began to play an increasingly important role in EBA II society. In addition to the trend towards walled towns during this period, other major societal changes are taking place, with increased centralisation and control, and the development of large-scale building projects (Amiran and Gophna 1989). Joffe (1993: 73) has suggested that the trend towards what he calls "population agglomeration" and the "functional differentiation and specialisation of sites" at this time lead to new relationships between these town centres and their surrounding hinterlands that foster the concept of 'urban' and 'rural' space.

The combination of the evidence for ore dressing, smelting, crushing and grinding installations and associated smelting and waste products suggests that there was significant production of copper on site, albeit perhaps concentrated in specific areas of the village. The evidence indicates a specialised technology, most likely limited to a specific portion of the Wadi Fidan 4 community. The concentration of metallurgical activity at Wadi Fidan 4 seems to support the suggestion that early metallurgy may have been a restricted form of knowledge (Budd and Taylor 1995). Although the actual technology of production was of a specialised nature, there is not enough evidence to suggest that the primary function of the site of Wadi Fidan 4 was to exploit ores for either bead production or metallurgy. The overall evidence suggests a largely domestic setting, which may have had a sort of 'community specialisation', perhaps by virtue of proximity to the copper ore resources. The occupants may have also been involved in mining (as evidenced by stone mining hammers and hammer 'blanks' found at the site), as well as the trading of ores and copper production activities as a supplement to general subsistence activities.

During this period there is evidence of increased specialisation of production in a variety of technologies, including ceramic and flint tool production, and especially in terms of horticultural developments. The combined evidence from this movement towards specialisation suggests changing patterns of consumption and the production of 'commodities' for trade. The term commodity is used here for convenience, to refer to an object or material that, simply stated, has a value which is determined within a specific social context. This value can be a result of a number of factors whether an item be used as a marker of prestige or simply as a useful and utilitarian material.

The evidence from the DBM work at Faynan suggests that a significant amount of mining took place there during the fourth millennium BC, with open gallery mines cut into the Umm Ishrin Sandstone formation (Rabb'a 1994) (also known as the Massive Brown Sandstone or MBS formation (Bender 1974)). The copper deposits from the lower Burj Dolomite Shale formation (Rabb'a 1994) (also known as the DLS (Bender 1974)), seem to have only been exploited where this was exposed by faulting and erosion. The mining of copper during this period was done with the use of crude stone hammers, and the resulting open gallery mines are similar to those at Timna, with irregular and rounded galleries cut only a short distance into the rock formation, following veins of ore (Conrad and Rothenberg 1980, Hauptmann 2000, fig. 52). The available evidence supports the trade of these ores further afield and Faynan ores are known from Chalcolithic sites in the Beersheva Basin and Egypt (Hauptmann and Pernicka 1989). It is likely that this trade in ore continued well into Early Bronze Age I, perhaps supplemented by trade in beads and to some extent copper metal, either in a finished or semifinished state.

Changes in Metallurgy at Faynan During the Early Bronze Age II Period At Faynan the beginning of the EBA II period is when the first evidence for major changes in copper production was noted by the DBM project. Unlike the preceding period when metallurgy was undertaken within the confines of the village, there is now significant evidence for the smelting of ores at close proximity to the mines. This is no doubt as a result of developments in the smelting process, since there is a move away from small volume crucible smelting to larger smelting furnaces that no doubt produced significant amounts of atmospheric pollutants. These furnaces, well documented by Hauptmann and his team, appear to be large-scale operations with multiple installations being operated in close proximity to one another, possibly by natural draft as they are constructed on the windward side of high hills in the region. The bestpreserved example of these furnaces is at the site of Faynan 9, where multiple furnaces were excavated indicating continued rebuilding on the same locality with furnaces superimposed one on another (Hauptmann 2000: 74-77, fig. 49).

The overall impression, then, of mmmg and copper production during Early Bronze Age I is that it is very similar to that known from the Chalcolithic period (Levy 1995). Due to the available technology, mining was confined to exposed or easily mined ore bodies in the sandstone cliffs of Faynan. The mined ore was used for both bead and copper production undertaken on a limited basis within the village, perhaps by specialist members of the community.

23

Metals and Society In addition to these changes in smelting technology, there is also associated evidence for significant new developments in mining, with the introduction of shaft and gallery mines. Vertical shafts, which were dug down several metres to the DLS ore horizon, were then expanded into galleries following the narrow ore bodies often 1-1.5 metres in height. The excavation along the ore bodies, constructing a chamber and pillar system to ensure roof support, allowed the miners to dig very extensive galleries. It is clear from the available evidence that primary beneficiation took place within the mines themselves, and that the surplus mining waste was used to backfill the workings to ensure roof support (Hauptmann 2000, figs 54 and 55). The size and number of these mines documented by the DBM (in the Wadi Khaled, a total of 56 mines were found) suggest a dramatic increase in the scale of mining activities during Early Bronze Age II. The increasing sophistication of the mine construction suggests that mining activity may have been carried out by specialists. The primary reason for the shift away from open gallery mining in the MBS formation towards the much more difficult to mine ore deposits in the DLS is probably due to the fact that the copper ore was of a higher quality and more plentiful in the DLS deposits.

Social Change at Faynan During the Early Bronze Age II Period

The changes that occurred in the copper production processes at Faynan take place at a point when we can identify significant changes in cultural markers in this region. Excavations at the site of Barqa el-Hetiye only a few kilometeres south of the Wadi Faynan have revealed a large rectilinear structure destroyed by fire and dated to the beginning of the Early Bronze Age II period on the basis of both radiocarbon and ceramic evidence. This structure, an isolated building on a prominent ridge near to one of the major smelting sites in the region, was partially constructed of dressed stone and surrounded by a stone wall which formed a courtyard for the building. The excavator has suggested it was a domestic structure of a 'unique' kind (Fritz 1994), but it has been proposed elsewhere that specific aspects of its construction and its similarities to other known cult structures of the EBA II period may identify it as a cultic building (Adams 1999, Chapter 6). The peculiarities of the building aside, its primary importance lies in the ceramic evidence from the site which shows that the EBA I indigenous ceramic style has now been replaced by what can be described as a normative EBA II style, broadly similar to the western Levantine styles, with no trace of the indigenous EBA I forms known from Wadi Fidan 4. Petrological study indicates that the ceramics found on site were both imported from the western Levant and produced locally. There is little difference in styles or wares, suggesting external influence on developments in Faynan at this time (Adams in prep).

These changes in the mining and smelting of copper are only the visible remains of the developing complexity of copper production at Faynan during Early Bronze Age II. In order to support this level of activity, the transport of the ores to the smelting sites, and the production and transport of the large amounts of fuel now required for the expanded smelting activity would have required a significant amount of organisation and manpower. Analysis of the wood species used in the smelting operation suggests that much of the fuel used in these early periods most likely came from the Mediterranean forest, still in existence at this time on the Jordanian plateau (Engle and Frey 1996). Lastly, Hauptmann's (2000: 153) smelting experiments in replica furnaces suggest that the furnace contents once smelted would have to be crushed and processed to extract the copper metal from the slag. This is supported by evidence from the smelting site at Ras en-Naqb, a site very similar to Faynan 9, which is in close proximity to an extensive series of rock-cut mortars for the crushing of furnace slag (Hauptmann 2000, 85-86, figs 59 and 60).

Specialised Copper Production at Faynan During the Early Bronze Age III Period

The evidence for the changes in mining and smelting activities that were documented by the DBM team can also be supplemented by material from the excavations at the site of Khirbat Hamra Ifdan (hereafter KHI). Excavations at this site in 1990 and 1992 (and subsequently in 1999 and 2000) revealed a portion of a well-built structure containing significant amounts of copper production debris, including numerous casting moulds and other evidence for the production of copper ingots and objects. The site is dated to EBA III on the basis of the ceramics and two radiocarbon dates that place it in the period 26002300 cal BC. The evidence from the site for extensive copper manufacturing suggests that the trend toward specialisation and an increased scale of production continued to the end of the main phase of the Early Bronze Age and into Early Bronze Age IV, a period often referred to as the end of the urban phase and one of societal collapse. The very extensive evidence for the final production of ingots and copper objects from this site suggests that this was a highly specialised operation for the final treatment of copper, prior to distribution. The evidence is of such an industrialised scale of production that it has been suggested that this site be termed a manufactory installation (Adams 1999; Levy et al. 2002).

The picture that we can see developing from all of the above is one of increasing sophistication and innovation in the technical processes, and a dramatic shift in the scale and intensity of copper production. The development of these operations required a significant amount of organisation of both labour and resources in order to support the production activities. In order to organise both the labour and resources needed, a degree of centralisation of control as well as manipulation of the labour base would have been required. The shift from small-scale 'community specialisation' in EBA I to this highly-sophisticated and extensive production process in early EBA II seems to have occurred in a relatively short span of time, perhaps no more than a few hundred years.

The evidence 24

from KHI is an important

link for

Russell B. Adams: From Farms to Factories: The Development of Copper Production at Faynan understanding the nature of copper production and trade in the later Early Bronze Age. While Hauptmann (2000) was successful in identifying various copper objects from Levantine Early Bronze Age contexts as having come from the Faynan copper sources, the evidence from KHI provided the first significant linkage in this distribution chain. During the excavations at KHI, significant numbers of clay casting moulds for the production of a copper objects (axes, pins, chisels) as well as a special type of bar ingot were found along with pieces of copper ingots (Levy et al. 2002). These ingots were already known from hoards at several excavations in the western Levant (Dever and Tadmor 1976; Maddin and Stech Wheeler 1976), principally from sites in the Negev. The discovery of casting moulds at KHI confirmed that these ingots had originated from Faynan. Although the Negev sites were dated to the Early Bronze Age IV period, the shallow stratigraphy and the fact that most of the finds from these sites were of 'ingot hoards' may suggest that the exact dating of these ingots is in dispute, and that they may in fact be EBA III in date. Despite the problems over the exact date, the correspondence of the ingots from the Negev sites with the casting moulds from KHI suggests that, by the end of the Early Bronze Age, copper was being produced in large quantities and exported as a commodity to the western Levant and perhaps beyond.

In terms of the parallel developments in agriculture, Miller Rosen (1997) suggests that the agricultural intensification which takes place in western Palestine at this time developed on two levels, with production of 'cash crops' (both primary and secondary products, such as olives and olive oil, grapes and wine) for intra- and inter-regional trade, as well as 'subsistence crops' (wheat and other cereals). Miller Rosen also proposes that cash crops may have been regulated by elite segments of society, while cereal production was conducted on an exploitative basis by family units. Elites may have maintained control over agriculture through the extraction of cereals in the form of taxes or through religious motivation of the farmers, with storage of cereals for redistribution in times of drought or famine (see also Stein 1994). Another possible motivation may have been provided by allowing access to walled towns for defence against marauders (Miller Rosen 1997: 96). By means of these controls, the elites may also have gained control of the labour of the population for the production of cash crops, as well as for the building of fortifications, temples and other public construction projects. These elite 'managerial classes' may therefore have consolidated their control through the revenues from cash crops, control over staples and the trade of prestige items such as copper, as well as through controlling access to religious and defensive mechanisms.

Scales of Copper Production at Faynan

This model for agriculture can also be used to support the development of metallurgy, with copper - like horticultural surpluses - being viewed as a specialised product requiring control and the manipulation of labour resources for the advancement of elites through trade.

At Faynan, the changes in technology and organisation during the Early Bronze Age II-III periods greatly increased the scale of copper production. Hauptmann estimated that in Early Bronze Age I copper production was probably in the range of a few hundred kilograms, although it was of such limited extent that it is difficult to quantify (Hauptmann and Weisgerber 1992; Weisgerber and Hauptmann 1988). Despite the difficulties in establishing estimates for Early Bronze Age II-III, Hauptmann estimated that between 300 and 500 tonnes of copper metal were produced (Hauptmann and Weisgerber 1992). This figure was based on his quantification of visible slags of the period although the true tonnage may in fact be much higher. The increase in scales of production is of such an order of magnitude that it requires a serious appraisal of the conditions under which such an increase might take place, and the factors that may have contributed to the increased demand for copper at this time.

Resources and Organisation

The significant changes referred to here that were taking place throughout the southern Levant at the beginning of the Early Bronze Age II period should be seen against the changing situation in the region with respect to population demographics and increased international contact, which had begun at the beginning of the Early Bronze Age with the first contact with Egypt (Braun in press). It is important to place the transformation of copper production in the Faynan area against the background of these developments, since the rapid transformation of the copper industry and the scale of the developments in this period both point in the direction of major social changes. These were most likely of external origin, since the scale of development is difficult to account for on the grounds of indigenous factors alone. To summarise, the increase in the scale of copper production at the beginning of EBA II required several key innovations and developments:

Specialisation and Control of Resources During the Early Bronze Age 11-111Period

The intensification of copper production which can be seen in the archaeological record at Faynan can also be seen in other developments elsewhere in the southern Levant, including the extensive evidence of expansion in horticulture and viticulture (Miller Rosen 1997), trade in standardised flint tools (Rosen 1997), and the development of specialised and standardised pottery industries (Esse 1989, 1991). All of these developments had at their heart one key feature, and this seems to have been the centralisation and control of labour and resources.

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25

mining on an increased scale and now exclusively in the DLS copper deposits, which required new mining technology to build shaft and gallery mines; new smelting furnace technology to deal with the massively increased scale of production, and to smelt the ores more efficiently; increased procurement of fuels for smelting;

Metals and Society ■

■

increased manpower to work the mines, supply fuel for the smelting ovens and process the ores before smelting, and the slags after smelting; the organisation, co-ordination and control of these various activities.

domestic habitations, in an area exclusively reserved for this activity. Intensity Assessment of the intensity of copper production during the Early Bronze Age II-III periods at Faynan relies to a large degree on circumstantial evidence related to both its scale and concentration. It is difficult to say with absolute confidence that the production activities were being conducted by 'full-time' specialists, but there is evidence which may indicate this to be the case. Perhaps the best evidence for a shift to 'full-time' specialists is the dramatic increase in the number of different operations that are being carried out, many of which by this time had become quite 'specialised' in technological terms. Included in the latter is a very specialised type of mining activity that required careful and expert knowledge to ensure the creation of a stable mine with sufficient roof support and suitable circulation of air. Other 'specialised' activities probably included ore dressing, fuel procurement (the felling of trees and possibly charcoal production), transportation (of both ores and fuel), the manufacture as well as the operation of smelting furnaces, the crushing of slags and, most likely, recasting operations to form the primary smelted metal into ingots and objects. All of these activities suggest a degree of specialisation, and many are best attributed to 'full-time' specialists.

When the evidence of extensive changes at Faynan is reviewed against the parameters put forward by Costin ( 1991) (Fig. 2), it is clear that these modifications in the scale, concentration, intensity and context of production indicate that there were major transformations between Early Bronze Age I metallurgy as seen at Wadi Fidan 4 and the later Early Bronze Age II-III form of production. Scale In terms of the scale of production, the evidence is unambiguous in indicating a large increase in the absolute volume of copper produced. This can be seen in the occurrence of the residual slags from smelting that have been radiocarbon dated to this period, as well as from the evidence of the mine waste or 'tailings' which cover large portions of the landscape around the new shaft and gallery mines. Although this mine waste is difficult to date precisely, large amounts of these tailings can be dated to the Early Bronze Age II-III period on the basis of associated ceramics. The increased scale of copper production is also clear from the evidence in the vicinity of the smelting installations, which includes extensive furnace production areas and proof of the continuous refurbishment of smelters, as well as the proximity of numerous crushing installations. On the basis of this evidence, we must also assume a large increase in the amount of fuel required for smelting. This implies an increase in manpower required for the movement of the fuel, as well as of the ores from the mines to the smelting sites.

Context All this evidence of large-scale, concentrated workshop activity by full-time specialists suggests that these activities were being carried out by attached specialists, rather than independent producers. This seems the most likely interpretation on the basis of both the archaeological data and an understanding of the rapid nature of the transition to large-scale production. It is unlikely that the scale of production and the rapidity of technological changes were driven by 'supply and demand' alone. It seems more likely that the high degree of organisation and co-ordination of the labour involved, as well as the large number of individuals required to carry out the copper production, were the result of some form of attached specialisation. Whether these attached specialists were working under the patronage of a major centre or, alternatively, some other interest group who provided the basic subsistence requirements of the production community remains an open question.

Concentration The concentration of this smelting activity is equally clear from the archaeological evidence. In contrast to the evidence for the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age when production was dispersed in domestic village contexts either outside the mining zones or, as in the case of Wadi Fidan 4, somewhat removed from the mines, Early Bronze Age II-III smelting activities were near the mines, in the closest areas suitable for natural draft furnace smelting.

Changing Patterns of Consumption in the Later Early Bronze Age

This concentration can also be seen in the occurrence of closely-arranged smelting installations at sites such as Faynan 9, where numerous furnaces are located in a small area, as well as from the evidence of spatially-concentrated crushing and processing installations near to the smelters, as at Ras en-Naqb. These sites were most likely used for the preparation of the smelting charge and the separation of copper metal from the slag after smelting. That this spatial distribution of activity is related to large-scale workshops rather than many nucleated individual producers is best evidenced by the tightly-packed nature of the smelting installations, which suggests workshop activity away from

All of these developments and the general intensification of copper production point to a rapidly increased demand for copper as a specialised product. To understand fully the changing patterns of production at Faynan during Early Bronze Age II-III, it is necessary to understand the changing nature of consumption during this period that leads to this increased production. Any discussion of consumption should be firmly rooted in

26

Russell B. Adams: From Farms to Factories: The Development of Copper Production at Faynan an understanding of it as a social process, and in an acknowledgment of the role that materials (such as copper in this case) play in societies as reflections of prestige, social markers or wealth. The close association of metal objects as markers of prestige in burials has often been seen as a hallmark of the early periods of metal use throughout the Old World. That metal objects played a role in early society primarily as a display of personal social ranking, as a form of elite display, and also in creating and maintaining social networks of bonding and obligation, is now commonly accepted. Renfrew (1986), however, in his study of the Varna cemetery on the Black Sea, has stressed that it is important to note the circularity of these arguments regarding the association between rich burials with numerous metal objects and supposed ranking. He suggests, and then demonstrates with reference to Varna, that it is both necessary and possible to show a 'conjunction' between the perceived 'value' of metal and social ranking in early metal-using societies.

notably in the Levant, where it is similarly visible in the context of changing patterns of burial that move from the collective to the individual (Joffe in prep). Likewise in Egypt, the development of an elite can be seen in the changing style and scale of the burial monuments themselves, as well as in the deposition of imported goods perceived to be 'elite' in nature, many of which are the products of 'specialised' production (Dreyer 1992). This notion of the value and prestige of metal objects as documenting personal ranking, through individual ownership and the deposition of objects in burials, may in fact be viewed from a slightly different perspective. Following Hodder (1982), Renfrew (1986: 156) suggests that, rather than merely reflecting an expression of social ranking, the ownership and display of such valuable objects may have contributed to the establishment of prestige and rank and " ... constituted an essential part of the prominence of the owner". This of course lends an active role to material culture, rather than simply seeing artefacts as a material reflection of embedded social structures.

Indeed, a number of scholars analysing patterns of early copper metal utilisation in the Old World have suggested that the earliest use probably had little to do with the utilitarian aspects of the material, and that copper items were primarily seen as objects of high prestige and value for display, rather than as useful commodities (Renfrew 1986: 144, emphasis in original). Budd and Taylor (1995: 139) remark that the processes of copper production may have played a significant role in this prestige, in as much as " ... the ability to put on a show of colourful, transmogrifying pyrotechnics may have commanded considerable respect". Both Renfrew, and Budd and Taylor argue (contra Childe 1944) that the introduction of metalproducing technologies, rather than being significant technological 'stages', were in fact not immediately significant events in their own right. Renfrew (1986: 146) also suggests that the 'innovation' of metallurgy was not in its discovery, but in the eventual 'adoption' of metals as useful commodities in considerably later times, when the technology had progressed to a stage where production promoted " ... efficiency in a way that is adaptively advantageous".

The shift from curation in the earlier stages of metallurgy to a tendency for conspicuous consumption through deposition (and hence loss from circulation) is an obvious example of the changing patterns of metal consumption during the Bronze Age. It can be argued, however, that there is a further step to the consumption trend, in that during the developed Bronze Age there was a tendency away from high quality objects that showed considerable input of labour in production to more mass-produced items (this trend is clearly visible in the numerous casting moulds for multiple copper objects found at KHI (Levy et al. 2002)). There is evidence of a change in pattern or a transition, when metal objects were no longer regarded as important in their own right as specific objects of production, rather as much for the value of the 'material' (in this case copper). This shift marks the move toward metal being perceived as a true commodity, and as having a value on the basis of the 'material' rather than as an individual crafted object. This tendency can be suggested to parallel the continued intensification of metal production, and at the same time marks a decline in the prestige aspect of objects and a shift towards the utilitarian characteristics of the material. In addition, this transformation most likely reflects a developing trend toward the accumulation of 'wealth' in the form of copper as a tradable 'commodity' for exchange in a semi-finished form, often in the shape of ingots.

Nakou (1995) hints at just this scenario in the context of the development of the use of copper in the Aegean Bronze Age. There, the archaeological evidence for the use of metal in the Neolithic period is in such a stark contrast to the Early Bronze Age 2 period as to produce a 'Metallschock', with the 'sudden' appearance of increased amounts of copper and other metal objects as conspicuous consumption in the burials of elite males. Nakou attributes this largely to the changing social strategies and behavioural patterns in which metal objects, and especially weapons, are used as a means of identifying emergent (male) groups, and as markers of " ... membership in a successful group ... defined by participation in esoteric knowledge, of which metal was the material embodiment" (1995: 23).

Copper Consumption During the Later Early Bronze Age It remains to explore the nature of this increased demand, and suggest the reasons for and probable end-users of this large supply of copper. It is unlikely on the basis of the current evidence from excavations that the majority of the copper produced at Faynan was for the direct use of the communities in the Levant. The sheer volume of copper produced during this period of expansion is not reflected in

This evident change in the patterns of deposition of metal objects is also seen in other parts of the Mediterranean and 27

Metals and Society finds from the known excavated sites. It is more likely that intra-regional trade was simply one avenue of distribution, and that the largest demand for copper came from outside the Levant.

potential for binding allegiances in later times ... the early centralisation of the state structure may have been in part achieved by the deployment of capital through proscribed yet 'legitimate' channels that restricted the range of alternate modes of acquisition."

If we are to look for an alternative end-user of the copper being produced during the later Early Bronze Age, the most likely consumer is Egypt. The possible role of Egypt in providing an external stimulus to urban processes in the Levant is generally accepted (Brandl 1992; Braun in press; Levy et al. 1995, 1997), and the importation of specialised products such as wine, oil and bitumen into Egypt from at least the Pre-Dynastic period is well documented (Dreyer 1992, Oren 1973, 1989). Given that Egypt was a resourcepoor society it is logical to assume that it was also eager to attain copper. Numerous scholars have over the years pointed to Egypt as an importer of Levantine copper (Ben Tor 1986; Gophna 1976; Kempinski 1989, 1992; Stager 1992), but little direct evidence has ever been presented in support of this theory. Marfoe (1987: 26) has suggested that this factor may have been a primary one in developing centralisation in Early Dynastic Egypt:

The evidence for the importation of copper into Egypt seems clear. There is evidence from at least the Nagada I (Late Chalcolithic) period at Maadi, which continued during Nagada II (Early Bronze Age Ia) when finds of over 50 copper objects, including fish hooks, chisels, axes and adzes, sheet metal and three ingots, point to the centre as a major importer of copper objects. The ingots (two of which are the same shape) are all within a very close weight range, which may be indicative of a degree of standardisation in ingots (Rizkana and Seeher 1989: 17). Hauptmann and Pernicka (1989: 137-141), analysing seven ore samples and five objects from Maadi, suggested, on the basis of texture, mineralogy and chemistry, that the majority of copper ores and objects are probably derived from the same source. This is most likely the DLS levels at Faynan, although Timna cannot be totally excluded as a possibility (Hauptmann 1989: 129).

"In Egypt a monopoly of this lucrative link particularly in copper may have contributed to the further centralisation of the state between Dynasties I and III, if not earlier. Impressionistically, at least, there seems to be a significant rise in copper found in Egyptian contexts from Nagada III onwards. In a tomb dating to the reign of Djer (Dynasty I: Emery 1949), 700 copper objects (including 75 'ingots') were found. By Dynasty II, a smaller but similar cache was deposited in the tomb of Kha'sekhemwi, suggesting perhaps that a control over this strategic resource was a royal and/or elite prerogative. By Dynasty V, copper was sufficiently common to be used for a long drainpipe in Sahure's funerary complex, indicating that the deployment of wealth that surely preceded the Old Kingdom was laid mainly in the late Pre-dynastic and Early Dynastic times."

The end-users of the copper produced at Faynan during the later Early Bronze Age cannot at present be proven conclusively, but the available evidence suggests that, in addition to the increasing level of demand for copper amongst the developing 'urban' polities of western Palestine, the emerging Egyptian state perhaps provided the necessary large-scale end-users of copper. The changing patterns of consumption in Egypt, often in the form of conspicuous consumption by elites for burial and deposition, may have resulted in dramatic changes in demand for copper at this time and caused the increase in copper production at the beginning of the Early Bronze Age II period at Faynan. Conclusion

To summarise, the evidence for copper production at Faynan outlined here suggests that the most significant changes in its organisation occurred in Early Bronze Age 11-111.These changes can be seen as a transition in the 'type' of production occurring in these periods. There is a clear change from a dispersed, low-scale, low-intensity and independent form of production at Wadi Fidan 4, where there is possible evidence of a 'community specialisation' that exploited the nearby copper resources during Early Bronze Age I, to a large-scale, high-intensity, nucleated form of production that suggests attached specialisation during Early Bronze Age 11-111.The evidence at Faynan suggests that these changes were probably in reaction to external factors, such as the increasing consumption of copper by other regions, including the emerging urban towns in the western Levant and Egypt. The social changes occurring at Faynan during the EBA also suggest that this region experienced change as a result of contact with the western Levantine, as evidenced through changes in regional ceramic styles. The effect of these contacts was

This demand for copper, which provided a new and useful resource to the expanding elites in Egypt, may perhaps be the ultimate answer to the question of who were the primary end-users of this increasing copper production at Faynan. Marfoe (1987: 28) has suggested that copper may well have played a significant role in the creation and maintenance of Egyptian elites: "A state monopoly of an inflow of goods especially metals - can be a factor in a state's capabilities to mobilise human energy, a phenomenon that was spectacularly successful in the Egyptian case. As durable, reputable, quality controllable resources with a degree of scarcity, metals have possessed a substantial 28

Russell B. Adams: From Farms to Factories: The Development of Copper Production at Faynan most likely far reaching and long lasting, and resulted in significant reorganisation of both the copper industry and local cultural traditions. These developments should been seen in the context of similar changes in other aspects of social organisation and production throughout the Levant at this time, and must also be viewed against an overall changing pattern of consumption and trade networks both within the Levant and between the Levant and Egypt during the early third millennium BC.

College: London, Dec. 15-18, 2000). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Budd, P. and Taylor, T. 1995 The faerie smith meets the bronze industry: magic versus science in the interpretation of prehistoric metal-making. World Archaeology 27: 133--43. Childe, V.G. 1944 Archaeological ages as technological stages: Huxley Memorial Lecture 1944. Journal of the Royal Anthropological institute 7: 7-24. Conrad, H.G. and Rothenberg, B. (eds) 1980 Antikes Kupfer im Timna-Tal: 4000 Jahre Bergbau und Verhittung in der Arabah (Israel). Der Anschnitt, Beiheft 1. Bochum: Deutsches Bergbau Museum. Costin, C. 1991 Craft specialization: issues in defining, documenting, and explaining the organization of production. In: M.B. Schiffer (ed.) Archaeological Method and Theory 3. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, pp.1-56. Dever, W.G., and Tadmor, M. 1976 A copper hoard of the Middle Bronze Age I. Israel Exploration Journal 26: 163-69. Dreyer, G. 1992 Recent discoveries at Abydos cemetery U. In: E.C.M. van den Brink (ed.) The Nile Delta in Transition: 4th-3rd Millennium BC Tel Aviv: Privately Published, pp.293-99. Engel, T. and Frey, W. 1996 Fuel resources for copper smelting in antiquity in selected woodlands in the Edom Highlands of the Wadi Arabah/Jordan. Flora 191: 29-39. Esse, D. 1989 Secondary state formation and collapse in Early Bronze Age Palestine. In: E.C.M. van den Brink (ed.) The Nile Delta in Transition: 4th-3rd Millennium BC Tel Aviv: Privately Published, pp.81-96. Esse, D. 1991 Subsistence, Trade, and Social Organization in Early Bronze Age Palestine. Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization Number 50. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Fritz, V. 1994 Eine neue Bauform der Friihbronzezeit in Palastina. In: N. Choldis, M. Krafeld-Daugherty and E. Rehm (eds) Beschreiben und Deuten in der Archaologie des Alien Orients. Munster: UgaritVerlag, pp.85-9. Gophna, R. 1976 Egyptian immigration into southern Canaan during the First Dynasty? Tel Aviv 3: 3137. Hauptmann, A. 1989 The earliest periods of copper metallurgy in Feinan, Jordan. In: A. Hauptmann, E. Pemicka and G.A. Wagner (eds) Old World Archaeometallurgy. Der Anschnitt Beiheft 7. Bochum: Deutsches Bergbau Museum, pp.11935. Hauptmann, A. 2000 Zur fruhen Metallurgie des Kupfers in Fenan/Jordanien. Der Anschnitt Beiheft 11. Bochum: Deutsches Bergbau Museum. Hauptmann, A. and Pernicka, E. 1989 Chemische und mineralogische Analyse e1mger Erz- und Kupferfunde von Maadi. In: I. Rizkana and J. Seeher, Maadi 3: The Non-lithic Small Finds and the Structural Remains of the Predynastic Settlement. Mainz am Rhein: Philipp von Zabem,

Acknowledgments I thank Barbara Ottaway for the invitation to write this paper, and Emma Wager and Barbara Ottaway for their patience and helpful editorial remarks. I also thank Dr Eliot Braun for reviewing an earlier draft of this paper and providing numerous useful comments.

References Adams, R.B. (in prep.) Exogenous influences at Faynan during the Early Bronze Age: a re-analysis of Building 1 at Barqa el-Hetiye, Jordan. Adams, R.B. 1999 The Development of Copper Metallurgy During the Early Bronze Age of the southern Levant: Evidence from the Faynan Region, Southern Jordan. Unpublished PhD Thesis, University of Sheffield. Adams, R.B. and Genz, H. 1995 Excavations at Wadi Fidan 4: a Chalcolithic village complex in the copper ore district of Feinan, southern Jordan. Palestine Exploration Quarterly 127: 8-20. Amiran, R. and Gophna, R. 1989 Urban Canaan in the EB II and EB III periods. In: P. de Miroschedji (ed.) L 'Urbanisation de la Palestine a 1 'Age du Bronze Ancien: Bilan et Perspectives des Recherches Actuelles. BAR (Int. Series) 527. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports, pp. l 09-16. Bar Adon, P. 1962 The expedition to the Judaean Desert, 1961: expedition C - the Cave of the Treasure. Israel Exploration Journal 12: 215-26. Bar Adon, P.1980 The Cave of the Treasure. Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society. Ben- I or, A. 1986 The trade relations of Palestine in the Early Bronze Age. Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 29: 1-27. Bender, F. 1974 Explanatory notes on the geological map of the Wadi Arabah, Jordan. Geologisches Jahrbuch (Reihe 8) 10: 1-62. Brandl, B. 1992 Evidence for Egyptian colonization in the southern coastal plain and lowlands of Canaan during the EB I period. In: E.C.M. van den Brink (ed.) The Nile Delta in Transition: 4th-3rd Millennium BC Tel Aviv: Privately Published, pp.441-77. Braun, E. in press South Levantine Encounters with Ancient Egypt at the Beginning of the Third Millennium. In C. Rymer and R. Mathews (Eds.) Ancient Encounters with Ancient Egypt (Vol. 5 of the collected papers of the Conference: Encounters with Ancient Egypt, University 29

Metals and Society pp.137-40. Hauptmann, A. and Weisgerber, G. 1992 Periods of ore exploitation and metal production in the area of Feinan, Wadi Arabah, Jordan. In: K. 'Amr, F. Zayadine and M. Zaglouhl (eds) Studies in the History and Archaeology of Jordan 4. Amman: Department of Antiquities of Jordan, pp.61-66. Hodder, I. 1982 Theoretical archaeology: a reactionary view. In: I. Hodder (ed.) Symbolic and Structural Archaeology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp.1-15. Joffe, A.H. in prep. Slouching toward Beersheva: Chalcolithic Mortuary Practices in Local and Regional Context. Joffe, A.H. 1993 Settlement and Society in the Early Bronze I and 11 Southern Levant: Complementarity and Contradiction in a SmallScale Complex Society. Monographs in Mediterranean Archaeology 4. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press. Joffe, A.H. and Dessel, J.P. 1995 Redefining chronology and terminology for the Chalcolithic of the southern Levant. Current Anthropology 36: 50718. Kempinski, A. 1989 Urbanization and metallurgy in southern Canaan. In: P. de Miroschedji (ed.) L 'Urbanisation de la Palestine a 1 'Age du Bronze Ancien: Bilan et Perspectives des Recherches Actuelles. BAR (Int. Series) 527. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports, pp.163-68. Kempinski, A. 1992 Reflections on the role of the Egyptians in the Shefelah of Palestine in the light of recent soundings at Tel Erani. In: E.C.M. van den Brink (ed.) The Nile Delta in Transition: 4th3rd Millennium BC. Tel Aviv: Privately Published, pp.419-25. Levy, T.E. (ed.) 1987 Shiqmim I. Studies Concerning Cha/eolithic Societies in the Northern Negev Desert, Israel. British Archaeological Reports International Series S336. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports. Levy, T.E. 1995 Cult, metallurgy and rank societies Chalcolithic period (c.4500-3500 BC). In: T.E. Levy (ed.) The Archaeology of Society in the Holy Land. Leicester: Leicester University Press, pp.226-44. Levy, T.E., Adams, R.B., Hauptmann, A., Prange, M., Schmitt-Strecker, S. and Najjar, M. 2002 Early Bronze Age metallurgy: a newly discovered copper manufactory in southern Jordan. Antiquity 76: 425-437. Levy, T.E., Alon, D., van den Brink, E.C.M., Grigson, C., Holl, A., Smith, P., Goldberg, P., Witten, A.J., Dawson, L., Kansa, E., Yekuteli, Y., Rowan, Y., Porat, N., Kersel, M. and Golden, J. 1997 Egyptian-Canaanite interaction at Nahal Tillah, Israel (c.4500-3000 BCE): an interim report on the 1994-1995 excavations. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research. Levy, T.E., van den Brink, E.C.M., Goren, Y. and Alon, D. 1995 New light on King Narmer and the

Protodynastic Egyptian presence in Canaan. Biblical Archaeologist 58: 26-35. Maddin, R. and Stech Wheeler, T. 1976 Metallurgical study of seven bar ingots. Israel Exploration Journal 26: 170-73. Mallon, A.H., Koeppel, R. and Neuville, R. 1934 Teleilat Ghassul I. Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute. Mallon, A.H., J.W. Murphy and G.S. Maham 1940 Teleilat Ghassul II. Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute. Marfoe, L. 1987 Cedar forest to silver mountain: social change and the development of long distance trade in Early Near Eastern societies. In: M. Rowlands, M. Larsen and K. Kristiansen (eds) Centre and Periphery in the Ancient World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp.2535. Meadows, J. 1996 The Final Straw: An Archaeobotanical Investigation of the Economy of a Fourth Millennium BC Site in the Wadi Fidan, Southern Jordan. Unpublished MSc. Dissertation, University of Sheffield. Miller Rosen, A. 1997 The agricultural base of urbanism in the Early Bronze II-III Levant. In: W.E. Aufrecht, N.A. Mirau and S.W. Gauley (eds) Urbanism in Antiquity: From Mesopotamia to Crete. Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series 244. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, pp.92-8. Nakou, G. 1995 The cutting edge: a new look at early Aegean metallurgy. Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology 8: 1-32. Oren, E. 1973 The overland route between Egypt and Canaan in the Early Bronze Age. Israel Exploration Journal 23: 198-205. Oren, E. 1989 Early Bronze Age settlement in North Sinai: a model for Egypto-Canaanite interconnections. In: E.C.M. van den Brink (ed.) The Nile Delta in Transition: 4th-3rd Millennium BC. Tel Aviv: Privately Published, pp.389-406. Perrot, J. 1955 The excavations at Tell Abu Matar, near Beersheba. Israel Exploration Journal 5: 17-40, 73-84, 167-89. Rabb'a, I. 1994 The Geology of the Al Qurayqira (Jabbal Hamra Faddan). Map Sheet No. 3051 II. Geological mapping Division Bulletin 28. Amman: The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan Natural Resources Authority. Raikes, T.D. 1980 Notes on some Neolithic and later sites in the Wadi Araba and the Dead Sea valley. Levant 12: 40-60. Rehder, J.E. 1994 Blowpipes versus bellows in ancient metallurgy. Journal of Field Archaeology 21: 345-50. Renfrew, C. 1986 Varna and the emergence of wealth in prehistoric Europe. In: A. Appaduri (ed.) The Social Life of Things. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp.141-68. Rizkana, I. and Seeher, J. 1989 Maadi 3: The Non-Lithic Small Finds and the Structural Remains of the Predynastic Settlement. Mainz am Rhein: Philipp vonZabem. 30

Russell B. Adams: From Farms to Factories: The Development of Copper Production at Faynan Rosen, S.A. 1997 Lithics after the Stone Age: A Handbook of Stone Tools from the Levant. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira. Stager, L. 1992 The periodization of Palestine. In: R.W. Ehrich (ed.) Chronologies in Old World Archaeology, Vol. 1 [third edition]. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp.22-41. Stein, G. 1994 Economy, ritual, and power in Ubaid Mesopotamia. In: G. Stein and M.S. Rothman (eds) Cheifdoms and Early States in the Near East: The Organisational Dynamics of Complexity. Monographs in World Archaeology 18. Madison: Prehistory Press, pp.35--46. Weisgerber, G. and Hauptmann, A. 1988 Early copper mining and smelting in Palestine. In: R. Maddin (ed.) The Beginning of the Use of Metals and Alloys. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, pp.52-62.

31

Metals and Society

Wadi

Fidan

( 0

• Barqa

el-Hetiye

30"35'

-3 kms

35• 25'

35• 30'

35•35'

Fig. 1: Sites mentioned in the text.

Independent

Attached Context (Degree of Elite Sponsorship)

Dispersed

Nucleated Concentration

Small, Kin-based

Factory Scale

Part-time

Full-time Intensity

Fig. 2: Primary parameters which characterise the organisation of production (after Costin 1991: 9).

32

The Cultural and Chronological Context of the Development of Early Bronze Age Metallurgy in Central Europe Rudiger Krause

Abstract

A considerable change in metallurgy took place in Central Europe during the second half of the third and the beginning of the second millennia cal BC. New technologies were introduced, together with the first tin alloys and the use of new and different copper ores. One of the most important questions is whether these developments in metallurgy were caused by social changes or whether the introduction of new techniques and working practices led to changing social conditions. Alternatively, new techniques may only have been accepted into areas where the social structure had already changed. Our studies are based on a new series of radiocarbon dates and on the large Stuttgart database of metal analyses which contains around 41,000 analyses of prehistoric artefacts from Europe and the Near East. It includes 22,000 analyses from the fonner SAM project of Sangmeister, Junghans and Schroder that were carried out by optical spectronomy. Several thousand new analyses have been done by E. Pernicka using neutron activation and X-ray diffraction analysis. Comparative studies have shown that all the different analyses of the database are in general comparable. They fonn a good basis for the classification and discussion of prehistoric metal objects.

(Krause and Pernicka 1996). It comprises 22,000 analyses from the former SAM project (Junghans, Sangmeister and Schroder 1960, 1968, 1974), which were carried out by optical spectronomy (OES). Further thousands of new analyses were conducted by E. Pernicka using neutron activation (NAA) and X-ray diffraction (XRF) analysis (Lutz and Pernicka 1996). Comparative studies have shown that the different analyses in the database are in general comparable (Pernicka 1984, 1995). They form an appropriate basis for the classification and discussion of prehistoric metal objects.

The Research Questions

During the second half of the third and the beginning of the second millennia cal BC a significant change took place in metallurgy in Central Europe: in the exploitation, working and production of metal. Together with the first tin alloys and the use of new and different copper ores, new technologies were introduced. The Late Neolithic Bell Beaker culture acquired the use of 'fahlerz' copper soon after 2500 BC, as evidenced in a few, rare tin-alloyed artefacts. Around 2200 BC this copper was already widely utilised in an area extending from the Carpathian Basin to the Baltic Sea, marking the beginning of the Early Bronze Age. Fahlerz copper with characteristically varying contents of arsenic and antimony constitutes 'Singen copper' (Fig. 1), 'Osenring copper' (Fig. 2) and diverse fahlerz copper types.

Changes Over Time

The exploitation and working of copper to produce prestige objects such as jewellery, dress accessories, weapons and tools extend over a millennia-long history, whose beginnings are found in the Near East, in the Fertile Crescent, in the ninth and eighth millennia BC. There, small pieces of native copper were hammered and formed into simple beads, rings and awls, among other items. The long period of growth from these earliest attempts to the level of advanced metalworking of the Bronze Age in Central Europe - i.e. from the simple manipulation of native copper to the processing of copper ores, through the development of complicated methods of production and casting, and finally to bronze working by specialised craftsmen in the second millennium BC - progressed in stages in various geographical regions throughout several chronological periods.

The Unetice culture of eastern Germany was adept in complex casting techniques (such as bivalve moulds and the lost wax method), and metalworking with tin was already quite advanced around 2000 BC. One consequence of this was that Early Bronze Age communities along the Danube river and north of the Alps as far as western Switzerland were influenced by Unetice metallurgy. Here, the question to be posed is whether social conditions and changes could have been the instigators of an advancement in metallurgy or, conversely, whether new techniques and work procedures connected with different handicrafts or occupations brought about a change in societies. Alternatively, were new techniques only accepted in areas where the social structure had already changed?

The cultural groups represented in geographical regions extending from the Carpathian Basin to the Baltic Sea are important factors for our knowledge of the development of Early Bronze Age communities in Central Europe. Copper metallurgy began to flourish in the Carpathian Basin in the early fifth millennium BC, spreading northwards in several stages (Figs 3-6) to take hold in the north Alpine region and central Germany in the fourth millennium, as evidenced at principal sites. The development of the

Our study of these questions is based on a new series of radiocarbon dates (Krause in press, Chapter 4.6, 1997; Rassmann 1997) and on a large database of metal analyses. The Stuttgart database contains around 41,000 analyses of prehistoric artefacts from Europe and the Near East

33

Metals and Society initially limited adaptation of copper working in Late Neolithic cultures was very divergent. In some areas, such as the north Alpine region, the newly-attained skills soon stagnated and even regressed (Krause in press, Chapter 9.2), while in other areas metalworking developed continuously, especially during the late and final Neolithic in central Germany (Muller 2001 ).

Denmark and southern Sweden (Klassen 2000). In the final Neolithic and into the Early Bronze Age this route figures in maps as a recurrent and distinct 'main axis', from which a branch leads along the Danube river to the Alpine foothills and Lake Constance. This so-called axis of the spread of copper metallurgy maintained importance and later became a major component in the development of Early Bronze Age Unetice culture in Bohemia and central Germany (Bartelheim 1998; Krause in press, Chapter 9; Zich 1996), at the turn of the third to the second millennium BC.

During the third and at the beginning of the second millennia cal BC, a change in older metallurgical techniques as well as the appearance of new ones can be noted in the metalwork of the final Neolithic Beaker cultures, i.e. the Corded Ware and Bell Beaker cultures. These new skills are especially notable among subsequent Early Bronze Age groups. At first tin working was of significance in only a few areas, but later this knowledge spread rapidly and widely. Without any apparent preliminary or experimental stages new types of copper appeared at this time (Krause in press, Chapter 9.3). These, together with new techniques in working and casting as well as tin alloying, form the basis of the highly-developed bronze industry of the Unetice culture in eastern Central Europe. The effects of this new direction in metallurgy were felt far and wide, from the Alps to southern Scandinavia.

The exploitation of copper minerals, trade in copper ores and the alloying copper with tin to produce bronze were essential and distinctive cultural hallmarks throughout all periods of time. Copper and tin resources in large quantities were known in only a few areas, and in some cases had to be transported over long distances. The Alps were a principal source of raw material; indeed they were the basis of the development of the prosperous Bronze Age cultures of Central and Northern Europe. Experienced metalworkers and bronzesmiths could recognise the properties and quality of copper ingots (e.g. their malleability, hardness and colour), and knew how to conduct the casting process so as to achieve good results. The melting point of copper is 1084°C. An even, controlled supply of air through the bellows was of utmost importance for achieving the optimal fire that would reach the necessary high temperature and melt the copper under a reducing atmosphere. Indeed, it was a constant balancing act that determined the quality of the smelted copper. Thus, in the course of time Bronze Age techniques and equipment were improved to attain the best results (see Ottaway 1994 and Pernicka 1995).

The influence of Carpathian metallurgy during the fifth and fourth millennia BC was equally as widespread, especially northwards to the Baltic Sea (Figs 3-4). Furthermore, the flourishing Carpatho-Balkan copper industry on the lower Danube river during the fifth and the turn of the fourth millennia BC represents an innovative stage in the development of metalworking north of the Carpathian mountains. It led to the appearance of the first small metallurgical centres in central Germany, the Alpine foothills in western Austria and the area of Lake Constance in south-west Germany (Fig. 6) during the Late Neolithic period, i.e. the first half of the fourth millennium BC (Ottaway 1982; Strahm 1994). This primary phase of the earliest copper working in the Lake Constance area and the Alpine foothills constitutes a temporal horizon around and shortly after 4000 cal BC, during which the first copper objects such as the ornamental disk from Hornstaad arrived in south-west Germany probably as imports from the east Alpine region. Only with the emergence of the Pfyn culture (3800-3500 cal BC) is the smelting of small quantities of copper in crucibles in simple fire pits evidenced in settlements. This is augmented by other finds, such as fragments of casting crucibles, casting droplets and artefacts like the rivetted dagger from Reute-Schorrenried, small spirals beads and flat axes, dating to the first half of the fourth millennium cal BC (Matuschik 1997).

The addition of tin facilitated a better command over metal composition and working. Tin is advantageous because it not only combines directly with the copper, acting as a deoxidiser to aid casting, but an increase in tin causes the smelting point to sink below 1000°C. Finishing bronze containing 10% tin could increase the hardness of, for instance, a blade to that of soft steel. Bronze technology in the advanced Early Bronze Age presented metalsmiths and craftsmen with many new possibilities, for alloying copper with tin made the resulting bronze harder; furthermore, the quality of the cast object was improved. Discussion

Research by the Stuttgart SAM group under E. Sangmeister soon recognised that compositional studies of artefact metal and divisions in the resulting analyses of Neolithic to Middle Bronze Age artefacts reflect characteristic copper types with a wide distribution as well as smaller groups, restricted to a specific type for a region (Junghans, Sangmeister and Schroder 1968). The group's multivariate analyses, together with interpretations of the archaeological context and discussions of the content of individual regional databases as well as the results of similar studies between the Carpathian Basin and the Baltic Sea have shown that the copper groups identified

Distribution maps of analysed artefacts in the Stuttgart database - hammer axes, adze-axes (Fig. 3) and early flat axes (Fig. 4) - and of corresponding Early Neolithic copper types (Fig. 5) show the dissemination of these artefacts and early types of copper ore from the west Carpathian Basin through Moravia, Bohemia and northern areas of the Mittelgebirge in central Germany to the North German plain (Lutz et al. 1998) (Fig. 7), and in some cases 34

Rudiger Krause: The Cultural and Chronological Context of the Development of Early Bronze Age Metallurgy can be of great chronological relevance in specific regions, or that they can predominate in a specific artefactual group (Krause in press; Krause and Pernicka 1996). In every thematic and geographic database certain clusters or copper types can be identified, which represent exclusively or predominately artefact and/or copper types from the Neolithic period. The presence of high impurity fahlerz ores (Figs 6- 7) clearly points to a change in mining and the techniques used to exploit copper resources at the onset of the Early Bronze Age. Yet, the reason(s) for this fundamental change remain(s) unresolved. Ore deposits and sites of ore extraction and processing from prehistoric times are insufficiently known; hence, little can be said about the various processes involved. However, it can be assumed that Early Bronze Age smiths were knowledgeable of the exact copper ore(s) from which classic Osenring copper could be produced, presumably following a specific method or 'recipe' (Krause and Pernicka 1997a, 1997b ).

western Switzerland, further metallurgical development in the northern Alpine region along the Danube river to Lake Constance was subject to influence from the east and the northern Unetice groups. The tin used by Unetice smiths probably came from the metalliferous mountains of Bohemia and Saxony (Bohmisches Eerzgebirge ), although as of yet there is no direct evidence for this. The undoubtedly significant role that the rich occurrence of tin ores in the Slovakian 'Ore Mountains' played in Bronze Age metallurgy also remains undefined.

Conclusion We can maintain that the inception of the cultures of the Early Bronze Age was accompanied by a change in the employment of copper ores and by new methods in metalworking. Current understanding of advances in Early Bronze Age metallurgy after the mid third millennium BC in the cultural spheres situated between the Carpathian mountains and the Baltic Sea rests on three main points (Krause in press, Chapter 10, figs 34 and 240):

Casting in two-piece moulds is detectable in Anatolia from the middle of the fourth millennium BC, while in the Balkans and the Carpathian Basin this method appeared in the first half of the third millennium BC during the renewed rise of copper metallurgy there (Krause in press, Chapter 10, fig. 240; Parzinger 1993). North of the Alps bivalve casting is evidenced in Early Bronze Age metalwork of the northern Unetice groups. The appearance in the northern Unetician sphere of bivalve moulds for producing complicated forms marks a momentous step, while at the same time providing the technological basis for further advancement in casting techniques. Based on available calibrated radiocarbon dates, we can presume that a highly developed casting and bronze metallurgy existed in the Unetice area around 2000 cal BC. The question of the origin of tin metallurgy and the source of tin as a raw material requires several answers. The earliest intentionally tin-alloyed artefacts are known in the Near East and are dated to the beginning of the third millennium BC (Pernicka 1998). Around the middle of that millennium tin was used in larger amounts in Troy and in prestige graves in Alac;a Hoyok in northern Anatolia. In addition, tin was found in a well-stratified context at Velika Gruda in Montenegro on the Adriatic coast, reliably dated to 2800-2700 BC (Primas 1996). In areas north of the western Carpathians and in the Alps stratified and welldated tin alloys come from the Early Bronze Age cemetery at Singen (c. 2200-2000 cal BC) (Krause 1988) and diverse graves of the Bell Beaker culture. Radiocarbon dates place artefacts of the latter in the twenty-fourth and twenty-third centuries cal BC (Krause in press, Chapter 8.2). The tin utilised in the production of the artefacts at the Singen cemetery was obtained from the Armorican-British Early Bronze Age, as evidenced by four imported dagger blades (Krause 1988: 56ff, fig. 18, 242ff.). There are no signs of a similar western influence in the southern German Early Bronze Age. Whereas proof of a continued western orientation exists in the Rhine valley and in

1.

The old 'main axis' of copper working from the late Neolithic period (Figs 3-5). This extends from the large ore deposits in the western Carpathians and the eastern Alps through Lower Austria, Moravia and Bohemia to central Germany and into the North German plain. This route of distribution was still followed more than 2000 years later, when copper working and other traditions of the final Neolithic and Early Bronze periods spread to the north (Fig. 2).

2.

The advent of the use of fahlerz coppers and tin by the Corded Ware and Bell Beaker cultures as the basis for Early Bronze Age metallurgy can be sought in eastern Central Europe presumably around the middle of the third millennium BC. The spread of this earliest fahlerz usage followed the traditional main distribution route of copper working to the north-west but also to the west along the Danube river to lower Bavaria. The question of whether the earliest occurrence of tin alloys can be included in a Bell Beaker or Early Bronze Age context thereby remains unanswered.

3.

The comparatively abrupt appearance of complicated metallurgical operations among the northern Unetice cultural groups is comprehensible only when seen as the result of outside influences and the long tradition of copper working in the Neolithic in central Germany. The new and much more complex casting techniques of the Unetice groups were not a local development. Instead, they derived (like the knowledge of tin alloying and the production of tin bronze) from South-Eastern Europe.

A scheme for the development of Early Bronze Age metallurgy in four horizons is supposed:

35

Metals and Society In Horizon I, at the end of the Neolithic period after the mid third millennium BC, signs of the first use of fahlerz are visible. They are accompanied by new techniques in metalworking and the appearance of small quantities of tin as an intentional alloy.

Grabfunde von Singen am Hohentwiel, 1. Forsch. u. Ber. zur Vor- und Friihgeschichte in BadenWiirttemberg 32. Krause, R. 1997 Zur Chronologie der Frilhen und Mittleren Bronzezeit Silddeutschlands, der Schweiz und Osterreichs. The Verona Chronology Conference 1995. Acta Arch. Kopenhagen 67: 73-86. Krause, R. (in press) Studien zur kupfer- und frilhbronzezeitlichen Metallurgie zwischen Karpatenbecken und Ostsee. Vorgeschichtliche Forschungen 22. Krause, R and Pernicka, E. 1996 Das neue Stuttgarter Metallanalysenprojekt "SMAP". Archaologisches Nachrichtenblatt 3: 27 4-91. Krause, R. and Pernicka, E. 1997a The function of ingot torques and their relation with Early Bronze Age copper trade. In: Actes du Colloque International de Neuchatel et Dijon I 996, Bd. 2. Paris 1998, pp.219-25. Krause, R. and Pernicka, E. 1997b Frilhbronzezeitliche Kupfersorten im Alpenvorland und ihr archaologischer Kontext. In: Actes du Colloque International de Neuchatel et Dijon 1996, Bd. 1. Paris, pp.191-202. Lutz, J. and Pernicka, E. 1996 Energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence analysis of ancient copper alloys: empirical valuse for precision and accuracy. Archaeometry 38 (2): 313-23. Lutz, J., Matuschik, I., Rassmann, K. and Pernicka, E. 1998 Die frilhesten Metallfunde in MecklenburgV orpommern im Lichte neuer Metallanalysen. Jahrb. Bodendenkmalpjl. MecklenburgVorpommern 1997: 41-67. Matuschik, I. 1997 Der neue W erkstoff - Metall. Goldene Jahrhunderte. Die Bronzezeit m Sildwestdeutschland. ALManach 2: 16-25. Muller, J. 2001 Soziochronologische Studien zum Jungund Spatneolithikum im Mittelelbe-Saale-Gebiet (4100-2700 v. Chr.). Eine sozialhistorische Interpretation prahistorischer Quellen. Vorgesch. Forschungen 21. Ottaway, B.S. 1982 Earliest Copper Artifacts of the Northalpine Region: Their Analysis and Evaluation. Schriften des Seminars fiir Urgeschichte der Universitat Bern, Heft 7. Bern: Seminars fur Urgeschichte der Universitat Bern. Ottaway, B.S. 1994 Prahistorische Archaometallurgie. Espelkamp: Leidorf. Parzinger, H. 1993 Studien zur Chronologie und Kulturgeschichte der Jungstein-, Kupfer- und Frilhbronzezeit zwischen Karpaten und Mittlerem Taurus. Romisch-Germ. Forsch. 52. Pernicka, E. 1984 Instrumentelle Multi-Elementanalyse archaologischer Kupfer und Bronzeartefakte: Ein Methodenvergleich. Jahrb. Rom.-Germ. Zentralmuseum Mainz 31 : 51 7- 31. Pernicka, E. 1995 Gewinnung und Verbreitung der Metall in prahistorischer Zeit. Jahrb. Rom.-Germ. Zentralmuseum Mainz 37: 21-129. Pernicka, E. 1998 Die Ausbreitung der Zinnbronze im 3. Jahrtausend. In: Mensch und Umwelt in der

In Horizon II, after 2300-2200 cal BC in the earliest Early Bronze Age, metalworking with the use of fahlerz copper ores, accompanied by the prerequisite knowledge of fahlerz technology, becomes established. This also involves the employment of fahlerz ores with or without nickel, as found in Singen copper (Fig. 1) and Osenring copper (Fig. 2). The technical level of metallurgy in the northern Alpine region is represented by simple artefacts worked after casting (the so-called 'Blechkreis', see Krause (1988)), whereas the northern Unetice groups were already acquainted with complex casting techniques and tin-bronze metallurgy. Horizon III follows in the twentieth century BC with the classic Unetice culture of the advanced Early Bronze Age. This horizon can be characterised by the increased use of the so-called 'east Alpine copper type' in addition to fahlerz copper ores. Unetice metallurgy spread with cast forms across the northern Alpine region, especially into western Switzerland where contact and exchange led to the development of prosperous local bronze production. Horizon IV in the advanced and final Early Bronze Age (c. 1800 - sixteenth century BC) was dominated by east Alpine copper, while the use of tin bronze took broad hold in the north Alpine region. In the environment of the Veterov culture to the east and on the middle course of the Danube river fortified settlements with specialised economic subsistence activities, including extensive metallurgical operations, appeared. At the end of the development of the Early Bronze Age, in regions north of the western Carpathians and the Alps, a distinct differentiation in social hierarchy is recognisable within settlements for the first time. Hence, it can be assumed that from this moment on metalworking took a firm and lasting position in the social structure. Acknowledgments

My thanks to Emily Schalk for translating the original German text of this paper. References

Bartelheim, M. 1998 Studien zur bohmischen AunjetitzKultur. Chronologische und chorologische Untersuchungen. Universitatsforsch. Prahist. Archaologie 46. Klassen, L. 2000 Frilhes Kupfer 1m Norden. Untersuchungen zu Chronologie, Herkunft und Bedeutung der Kupferfunde der Nordgruppe der Trichterbecherkultur. Jutland Archaeological Society 36. Krause, R. 1988 Die endneo lithischen und frilhbronzezeitlichen Grabfunde auf der Nordstadtterrasse von Singen am Hohentwiel. 36

Rudiger Krause: The Cultural and Chronological Context of the Development of Early Bronze Age Metallurgy Bronzezeit Europas. Abschlufitagung der Kampagne des Europarates: Die Bronzezeit: das erste goldene Zeitalter Europas an der Freien Universitat Berlin, 17.-19. Marz 1997. Kiel, pp.135-47. Primas, M. 1996 Velika Gruda I. Hiigelgraber des friihen 3. Jahrtausends v. Chr. im Adriagebiet - Velika Gruda, Mala Gruda und ihr Kontext. Universitatsforsch. Prahist. Archaologie 32. Rassmann, K. 1997 Zurn Forschungsstand der absoluten Chronologie der friihen Bronzezeit m Mitteleuropa auf der Grundlage von Radiocarbondaten. The Verona Chronology Conference 1995. Acta Arch. Kopenhagen 67: 199-207. Junghans, S., Sangmeister, E. and Schroder, M. 1960 Metallanalysen kupferzeitlicher und friihbronzezeitlicher Bodenfunde aus Europa. Studien zu den Anfangen der Metallurgie (SAM I). Berlin: Gebr. Mann. Junghans, S., Sangmeister, E. and Schroder, M. 1968 Kupfer und Bronze in der friihen Metallzeit Europas. Studien zu den Anfangen der Metallurgie (SAM I-III). Berlin: Gebr. Mann. Junghans, S., Sangmeister, E. and Schroder, M. 1974 Kupfer und Bronze in der friihen Metallzeit Europas. Studien zu den Anfangen der Metallurgie (SAM IV). Berlin: Gebr. Mann. Strahm, C. 1994 Die Anfange der Metallurgie in Mitteleuropa. Helvetia Archaeologica 25: 2-39. Zich, B. 1996 Studien zur regionalen und chronologischen Gliederung der nordlichen Aunjetitzer Kultur. Vorgesch. Forschungen 20.

37

Metals and Society

Fig. 1: Distribution of fahlerz copper containing nickel of the Singen copper type (after Krause in press, using data in the Stuttgart SAM database).

38

Rudiger Krause: The Cultural and Chronological Context of the Development of Early Bronze Age Metallurgy

lT T

All/ti

l

l.;;\ "'"'"--'" ~T.

T~L

T

T

T .,~l"

~'f."ft tYfrT

,,.. T

f

Tl') ) -yT

Fig. 2: Distribution offahlerz copper without nickel of the classic Osenring copper type (after Krause in press, using data in the Stuttgart SAM database).

39

Metals and Society

Fig. 3: Distribution of the adze-axes in the Stuttgart SAM database (see Fig. 7, 82) (after Krause in press).

40

Rudiger Krause: The Cultural and Chronological Context of the Development of Early Bronze Age Metallurgy

I

"\-, 5) 1,C •

fct,·

,. i r

12-j

z,f{-, ,_

31(. '~

~*~

y~rk ..,, I/,

:.L~t--* *

-~**# **1 * ~

i

Fig. 4: Distribution of early Neolithic flat axes of the late fifth and early fourth millennia BC in the Stuttgart SAM database (see Fig. 5, Band C) (after Krause in press).

41

Metals and Society

I

"\-,

'!

1,C •

fct.·

,.

.

r

Fig. 5: Distribution of an antimony-containing copper, based on Cluster 13 of Neolithic artefacts from the mid Danube and western Carpathians. Artefacts made of this copper, together with the early Neolithic artefacts in Figs 3 and 4, have a distribution from the north-western Carpathians to the western Baltic (after Krause in press, Chapter 12.6).

42

Rudiger Krause: The Cultural and Chronological Context of the Development of Early Bronze Age Metallurgy

Fig. 6: Distribution ofCarpatho-Balkan metallurgy in the east and west-Mediterranean metallurgy in southern France and the Rhone Valley (after Strahm 1994, fig. 4).

43

Metals and Society

Reinkupfer; sOdosteuropaischer Import

A 4600-4100

0 Kupfer'lyp Nogradmarcal; westkarpatischer Import

B

4100 -3850

0

2

3

5

4

C

Arsenkupfer; ?

3850-3400

D

Mitteldeutschland: Reinkupfer; lokale Produktion

?

3400-2700

Fahlerzmetalle; Mitteldeutschland: vereinzelteZinn• bronzen; mitteldeutscherImport

E

2800 - 2200/2000

CJ

9

10

11

12

Fig. 7: Neolithic copper finds of the eastern part of the North German plain (after Lutz et al. 1998, fig. 2).

44

Mining as Social Process: A Case Study from the Great Orme, North Wales, UK

Emma C. Wager

Abstract

Previous studies of Bronze Age mining on the Great Onne, near Llandudno, north Wales, have concentrated on innnediate technological considerations, such as characterisation of the ore body and the extraction techniques used by the early miners. While such studies are vital to our understanding of prehistoric production at this site, little attempt has yet been made to explore the socially-embedded nature of early mining there, nor to investigate its social context. There is a danger that such an approach will reduce the study of prehistoric production at this impotiant site to the level of description rather than explanation and contextual interpretation. This short paper concerns a recent attempt to overcome such a limitation, and briefly presents elements of the methodology that has been utilised to explore some of the ways in which the act of mining on the Otme during the second millennium cal BC was a social rather than simply a technological practice.

Dutton and Fasham 1994; Hunt 1993), together with more than 2000 stone finds interpreted as mining and ore processing tools (Dutton in Dutton and Fasham 1994; Gale 1995; Lewis 1988, 1990a). Other finds include large amounts of spoil and charcoal but no early wooden artefacts, most probably because the neutral to slightly alkaline ground water conditions at the site are not conducive to the preservation of timber (Lewis 1997: 134).

Introduction

The Great Orme is a long low promontory of Lower Carboniferous limestone jutting into the Irish Sea on the coast of north Wales, near the modern resort of Llandudno (Fig. 1). The copper mine is located in a roughly northwest-south-east trending valley, 0.5km south-east of the summit. Despite extensive mining in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries AD, a fragment of bone found in an underground working was radiocarbon dated to the latter part of the second millennium cal BC in the 1970s (James 1985, 1990). This provided the first secure indication of the antiquity of mineral extraction at this site, and of the continued survival of the material evidence for Bronze Age mining there.

Previous Research: Problems and Potentials

Since then, at least 6000m of exceptionally well-preserved prehistoric workings have been discovered underground, extending over a distance of 240m by 130m (Lewis 1988, 1989, 1990a, 1994, 1997, 1998). They vary in size from huge chambers up to 15m wide and 8m high, to torturously narrow tunnels, some of which are little more than 0.2m across. These latter have obviously yet to be explored. All are thought to have been formed by the Bronze Age miners following the mineralised copper veins through the barren host rock (Lewis 1997: 105). In addition to these underground workings, there are a series of possible trench workings at the surface, as well as a large hollow that has been interpreted as an early opencast (Dutton and Fasham 1994; Lewis 1997). However, this feature is in fact most probably the now-collapsed remains of an underground cavern exploited during prehistory (David 1995; Wager 2002).

As a consequence of its extent, abundant material remains and excellent preservation, the Great Orme mine has recently been a focus for sustained and detailed research by a small group of dedicated fieldworkers (e.g. David 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000; Jenkins and Lewis 1991; Lewis 1990a, 1994, 1997, 1998). Their aim has been the excavation, survey and recording of the source and the surviving physical evidence for early mining. This has given rise to a vast body of data relating to the prehistoric phase of extraction on the headland. The main types of find have been described, the technology of the early working has been reconstructed, and criteria with which to identify prehistoric mining on the Orme, and perhaps at other sites elsewhere, have been outlined. These criteria include general passage size, shape and profile; spoil type; the presence of charcoal and bone, stone and possibly copper-based metal tools; the occurrence of tool marks made by bone and stone implements, and the presence of thick deposits of calcite. The role geology may have played in determining both the mining methods used and the subsequent morphology of the workings has also received considerable attention (Lewis 1990a, 1997).

Thirteen radiocarbon dates spanning a thousand years from the early second to the middle of the first millennium cal BC have been obtained from charcoal and bone found within both these surface and underground contexts. In excess of 25,000 bone fragments - the remains of mining tools and food debris - have so far been recovered throughout the prehistoric workings (Hamilton-Dyer in

The results of this research have made a substantive contribution to our understanding of the antiquity of mineral mining in north Wales, and of the tools and techniques used by prehistoric miners on the Orme to extract and process ore. All further studies are therefore made possible by, and must draw on, this earlier painstaking research. However, a limitation of this work

45

Metals and Society has been the tendency to conceptualise early mining on the headland as a strictly technological process. Few attempts have so far been made to consider how this activity may have been organised in terms of, for example, age, gender or kinship, nor to assess whether it was practised on a communal or smaller, perhaps family group, scale (for exceptions, see Budd et al. 1992 and Gale 1995). Consequently, little real sense of the character of Bronze Age working at the source in terms of, for example, its labour organisation or the temporality of routine practice there have yet been gained.

and the social dynamics of this process can therefore facilitate understanding of the articulation between the coeval production and consumption of metalwork. This may in turn enable a reassessment of prevailing conclusions about the form of exchange relations during this period and their role in the reproduction of contemporary social relations. In order to explore these issues, a re-evaluation of approaches to the study of early mining on the Great Orme is clearly needed. In the remainder of this paper, I will very briefly outline the methodology I have been utilising as a response (Wager 2002).

Furthermore, discussion of issues such as the type(s) of mineralisation being exploited by the early miners has typically involved the uncritical use of terms and concepts borrowed from modern economics (e.g. Ixer 2000), without explicit consideration of whether these are appropriate for assessing production in pre-industrial societies. The broader social context of mining on the Orme during the second millennium cal BC has also yet to be explored. Moreover, emphasis has been placed on further excavation, survey and laboratory-based investigation of the surviving physical evidence as a means of producing more finely-grained interpretations of the character and content of early extraction at this source (Jenkins and Lewis 1991: 159-160; Jenkins et al. 1994: 15). While such techniques are likely to facilitate a more comprehensive understanding of the material components of mining, they will not in themselves enable the practice of extraction to be interpreted as anything other than a technological activity.

Future Directions The first step has been to consider aspects of the synchronic and diachronic character of Bronze Age exploitation at the Great Orme source, namely its scale, temporality and the size and composition of the group(s) mining there. This was followed by an attempt to reconstruct in detail the 'chaine operatoire' or 'operational sequence' (Leroi-Gourhan 1971 [1943]; Mauss 1979 [ 1935]) of metallurgical activity on this headland during the second millennium cal BC. Like the 'task structure' concept employed by O'Brien (1994) to investigate early mining on Mount Gabriel, south-west Ireland, the notion of the chaine operatoire is useful because it recognises that the way in which the mining sequence unfolded through space and over time could have been fluid rather than necessarily static or linear. Furthermore, it facilitates exploration of this patterning and the ways in which the tasks involved may have been interdigitated - spatially and temporally - with other routine activities.

Why are these limitations important? Following the work of researchers such as Lemmonier (e.g. 1992), Mauss (1979 [1935]) and Pfaffenberger (e.g 1992), I suggest that, like any other technology, early mining on the Great Orme must have been a social as well as a practical activity. In other words, the practice of ore extraction there during the Bronze Age was most probably not just about obtaining the raw material needed to produce copper metal. Rather, action at the source itself is also likely to have constituted a context for the production and reworking of social relations, understandings of individual and group identities, and broader concepts concerned with making sense of the world and people's place within it. Furthermore, it is now widely recognised that the production, circulation and use of artefacts comprise a unified cycle of interaction (e.g. Barrett and Needham 1988: 127-8). Of relevance to this is the idea that the value and significance of any artefact, including items of metalwork, are not immutable characteristics but arise through the way in which each object is interacted with by people in the exercise of their day-to-day lives (e.g. Barrett 1985, 1989; Barrett and Needham 1988; Shanks and Tilley 1987; Stig S0rensen 1989). Consequently, the "mechanisms of production" (Barrett 1985: 95-6) of items such as metalwork impart certain values or meanings to these artefacts, which in turn affect how they may be circulated, used and subsequently deposited. Exploring the content and character of Bronze Age mining on the Orme

Examination of investigation of:

these

issues

has

been

aided

by

a) The available radiocarbon dates and the physical and stratigraphic relationships between different areas of early working at the source. This has enabled a relative and absolute chronology of prehistoric mining on the Orme to be outlined, thereby facilitating the reassessment of the chronological framework for the progression of prehistoric extraction at this source developed by Lewis (1997). b) The spatial lay-out of the early workings. Doonan (1999) suggests that analysis of the 'architecture' of sites such as mines can be an effective means of addressing issues such as the number of people who may have been able to work in a particular passage at a given time, or possible patterns of movement around a site as extraction progressed. O'Brien (1994, chapter seven) uses a similar approach to reconstruct the organisation of early working on Mount Gabriel. c) The results of published replication experiments (e.g. Craddock 1990, 1994; Lewis 1990b; Pickin and Timberlake 1988; Timberlake 1990). Such experiments are typically carried out to understand a particular aspect of mining technology, like firesetting or stone tool hafting. However, as O'Brien (1994: 181) suggests, the technical

46

Emma C. Wager: Mining as Social Process: A Case Study from the Great Orme, North Wales, UK

insights gained can also provide "some indication of the dynamics of a mine operation and the options open to the miners in terms oflabour deployment".

limited chronological resolution, it proved considerably easier to express an interest in such aspects of extraction on the Orme than it was to present any answers to these more social issues. Nonetheless, using the methodology outlined here, it was possible to produce a contextual account of Bronze Age mining on the Orme, and to sketch some of the ways in which this practice was a social, and not an exclusively technological, act (Wager 2002, Chapter 11). Furthermore, this study revealed that attempts to investigate the production and circulation of metal and metalwork in Bronze Age Britain typically have yet to capture fully the complexity of the nature of the articulation between these practices, and the impact this may have had on the role they played in the reproduction of social relations. It also became clear that a contextual approach to the interpretation of production, which considers the material remains of the making of metal and metalwork alongside the archaeological evidence for their circulation and consumption, can provide insights into these issues. The results obtained and the conclusions reached will be dealt with more fully in a forthcoming publication (Wager in prep.).

To examine how the chaine operatoire of Bronze Age mining on the Great Orme was embedded within other contemporary activities, and to explore the impact of these broader material and social conditions on the relations of production at the source, it has been necessary to adopt a contextual approach. This requires situating the archaeological evidence for early mining on the headland alongside what is known about coeval routines of metal and artefact use, as well as those of other forms of practice such as agriculture and dwelling, on a range of geographic and temporal scales of analysis. The field and artefactual evidence for environment, settlement, burial, subsistence, and the production, circulation and use of metals and metalwork have therefore been examined on a regional and more local scale. In this way, the character and chronology of routine life in north Wales and on the Great Orme during the Bronze Age have been explored, enabling the social and material conditions of contemporary mining and metal production on the headland to be outlined.

Acknowledgments

However, a primary aim of this study was to gain some perception of early mining on the Orme as a social rather than simply a practical activity. A fruitful way to consider this proved to be through use of the concept of 'community', or the notion that shared participation in the labour of mining may have engendered and sustained people's identities, their understandings of themselves both as individuals and as members of a group, and their place in the social world. More specifically, I defined the object of analysis as the 'community of labour', or the web of relations and systems of belief that arise out of and are recognised through participation in the labour of mining. This definition is useful because it allows us to move beyond the analytical dependence on the material evidence of settlement as an index of community interaction, which tends to characterise other studies of this concept (e.g. Hardesty 1988; Lawrence 1998). This is particularly necessary when investigating Bronze Age mining on the Orme, given the paucity of settlement remains that have so far been securely associated with early phases of extraction there (e.g. Bibby 1979; Lewis forthcoming; Wager 2002). The next step in the analysis of the character and content of early mining on the headland therefore involved considering the potentials for social reproduction, or the creation of a community of labour, that may have been created by the chaine operatoire of mining there during the second millennium cal BC.

This research was made possible by a studentship from the AHRB and an award from the British Federation of Women Graduates. I gratefully acknowledge their financial support. I also thank the Historical Metallurgy Society for a bursary from the Tylecote Fund for travel, as this facilitated a number of fieldwork excursions to the Great Orme. References

Barrett, J.C. 1988 The living, the dead and the ancestors: Neolithic and Early Bronze Age mortuary practices. In: J.C. Barrett and I.A. Kinnes (eds) The Archaeology of Context in the Neolithic and Bronze Age: Recent Trends. Sheffield: Department of Archaeology and Prehistory, University of Sheffield, pp.30-41. Barrett, J.C. 1989 Food, gender and metal: questions of social reproduction. In: M.L. Stig S0rensen and R. Thomas (eds) The Bronze Age - Iron Age Transition in Europe. BAR (Int. Series) 483 (ii). Oxford: British Archaeological Reports, pp.pp.304-20. Barrett, J.C. and Needham, S.P. 1988 Production, circulation and exchange: problems in the interpretation of Bronze Age metalwork. In: J.C. Barrett and I.A. Kinnes (eds) The Archaeology of Context in the Neolithic and Bronze Age: Recent Trends. Sheffield: Department of Archaeology and Prehistory, University of Sheffield, pp.12740. Bibby, D. 1979 The Rural Archaeology of the Great Orme 's Head. BA dissertation, University College of Bangor, north Wales.

Conclusion

In archaeological contexts, the investigation of issues such as the social significance of mining is more difficult and controversial than the reconstruction of the technical sequence of extraction. Due to the indirect and partial nature of the available archaeological evidence, and its

47

Metals and Society Budd, P., Gale, D., Pollard, A.M., Thomas, R.G. and Williams, P.A. 1992 The early development of metallurgy in the British Isles. Antiquity 66: 67786. Craddock, B. 1990 The experimental hafting of stone mining hammers. In: P. Crew and S. Crew (eds) Early Mining in the British Isles. Plas Tan y Bwlch Occasional Paper No. 1. Blaenau Ffestiniog: Plas Tan y Bwlch, Snowdonia National Park Study Centre, p.58. Craddock, 8. 1994 Notes on stone hammers. Mining Before Powder. Bulletin of the Peak District Mines Historical Society 12 (3): 28-30. David, G.C. 1992 Great Orme Bronze Age mme, Llandudno (SH771 831). Archaeology in Wales 32: 58. David, G.C 1993 Great Orme Bronze Age mine, Llandudno (SH77 l O 8310). Archaeology in Wales 33: 48. David, G.C. 1994 Great Orme Bronze Age mine, Llandudno (SH77 l O 8310). Archaeology in Wales 34: 46. David, G.C. 1995 Great Orme excavations since 1991. Available at (14/08/2001). David, G.C. 1996 Great Orme Bronze Age mine, Llandudno (SH7710 8310) Conwy. Archaeology in Wales 36: 59-60. David, G.C. 1997 Great Orme, Bronze-Age mme, Llandudno (SH77 l 831 ). Archaeology in Wales 37: 56. David, G.C. 1998 Great Orme, Bronze-Age mme, Llandudno (SH77 l 831 ). Archaeology in Wales 38: 94-95. David, G.C. 1999 Great Orme, Bronze Age mme, Llandudno (SH77 l 831 ). Archaeology in Wales 39: 95-6. David, G.C. 2000 Great Orme, Bronze-Age mme, Llandudno (SH 771 831). Archaeology in Wales 40: 73-75. Doonan, R.C.P. 1999 Copper production in the Eastern Alps during the Bronze Age: technological change and the unintended consequences of social reorganisation. In: S.M.M. Young, A.M. Pollard, P. Budd and R.A. Ixer (eds) Metals in Antiquity. BAR (Int. Series) 792. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports, pp. 72- 77. Dutton, A. and Fasham, P.J. 1994 Prehistoric copper mining on the Great Orme, Llandudno, Gwynedd. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 60: 245286. Gale, D. 1995 Stone Tools Employed in Prehistoric Metal Mining. PhD thesis, University of Bradford. Hardesty, D.L. 1988 The Archaeology of Mining and Miners: A View From the Silver State. Special Publication Series, No.6. Pleasant Hill, California: The Society for Historical Archaeology. Hunt, A. 1993 An Analysis of Animal Bone Assemblages from the Bronze Age Copper Mines of the Great

Orme, Wales. BSc dissertation, University of Sheffield. Ixer, R.A. 2000 Potential and Realizable Ores from the Great Orme Mine. Available at

(6/12/2001). James, D. 1985 Great Ormes Head, Llandudno (SH 770 832). Archaeology in Wales 25: 17. James, D. 1990 Prehistoric copper mining on the Great Orme's Head. In: P. and S. Crew (eds) Early Mining in the British Isles. Plas Tan y Bwlch Occasional Paper No. 1. Blaenau Ffestiniog: Plas Tan y Bwlch, Snowdonia National Park Study Centre, pp.1-4. Jenkins, D .A. and Lewis, C.A. 1991 Prehistoric Mining for Copper in the Great Orme, Llandudno. In: P. Budd, 8. Chapman, C. Jackson, R. Janaway and 8. Ottaway (eds) Archaeological Sciences 1989. Oxbow Monograph 9. Oxford: Oxbow, pp. 151161. Jenkins, D.A., Lewis, C.A., Longley, D., Lynch, F. and Hammond, A. 1994 Research Framework for the Great Orme Mines. Report to Cadw/BCS. Lawrence, S. 1998 Gender and community structure on Australian colonial goldfields. In: A.B. Knapp, V.C. Pigott and E.W. Herbert (eds) Social Approaches to an Industrial Past. London and New York: Routledge, pp.39-58. Lemmonier, P. 1992 Elements for an Anthropology of Technology. Anthropological Papers, Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, No.88. Ann Arbor, Michigan: The Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan. Leroi-Gourhan, A. 1971 [1943] Evolution et Techniques: L 'Homme et la Matiere. Paris: Albin Michel. Lewis, A. 1988 Great Orme copper mines, Llandudno. Archaeology in Wales 28: 45-46. Lewis, A. 1989 Great Orme copper mines, Llandudno (SH7710 8315). Archaeology in Wales 29: 42-43. Lewis, A. 1990a Underground exploration of the Great Orme copper mines. In: P. and S. Crew (eds) Early Mining in the British Isles. Plas Tan y Bwlch Occasional Paper No. 1. Blaenau Ffestiniog: Plas Tan y Bwlch, Snowdonia National Park Study Centre, pp.1-10. Lewis, A. 1990b Great Orme copper mine, Llandudno (SH 771 831). Archaeology in Wales 30: 43. Lewis, A. 1994 Bronze Age mines of the Great Orme: interim report. Mining Before Powder, Bulletin of the Peak District Mines Historical Society 12 (3): 31-36. Lewis, A. 1997 Prehistoric Mining at the Great Orme. Criteria for the Identification of Early Mining. M.Phil dissertation, University of Wales, Bangor. Lewis, A. 1998 The Bronze Age mines of the Great Orme and other sites in the British Isles and Ireland. In: C. Mordant, M. Pernot and V. Rychner (eds) L 'Atelier du Bronzier en Europe du XX au VIII' Siecle Metal, du Metal a l 'Objet. Paris: CTHS, pp.45-58.

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Emma C. Wager: Mining as Social Process: A Case Study from the Great Orme, North Wales, UK

Lewis, A. forthcoming Early mining at the Great Orme's Head: some observations and implications. Prehistoric Metalworking in Wales: Technology, Production and Analyses. Symposium to honour Dr H.N. Savory in his 80th year. Cardiff: National Museum of Wales. Mauss, M. 1979 [1935] [trans. B. Brewster] Sociology and Psychology: Essays. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. O'Brien, W. 1994 Mount Gabriel. Bronze Age Mining in Ireland. Galway: Galway University Press. Pfaffenberger, B. 1992 Social anthropology of technology. Annual Review of Anthropology 21: 491-516. Pickin, J. and Timberlake, S. 1988 Stone hammers and firesetting: a preliminary experiment at Cwmystwyth mine, Dyfed. Bulletin of the Peak District Mines Historical Society 10 (3): 165-6. Shanks, M. and Tilley, C. 1987 Reconstructing Archaeology. Theory and Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Stig S0rensen, M.L. 1989 Ignoring innovation - denying change: the role of iron and the impact of external influences on the transformation of Scandinavian societies 800-500 BC. In: S.E. van der Leeuw and R. Torrence (eds) What's New? A Closer Look at the Process of Innovation. London: Unwin Hyman, pp.182-202. Timberlake, S. 1990 Firesetting and pnm1tlve mmmg experiment, Cwmystwyth, 1989. In: P. Crew and S. Crew (eds) Early Mining in the British Isles. Plas Tan y Bwlch Occasional Paper No. 1. Blaenau Ffestiniog: Plas Tan y Bwlch, Snowdonia National Park Study Centre, pp.53-54. Wager, E.C. 2002 The Character and Context of Bronze Age Mining on the Great Orme, North Wales, UK. PhD thesis, University of Sheffield. Wager, E.C. (in prep.) The practical and social context of Bronze Age copper mining on the Great Orme, north Wales, UK.

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Metals and Society

GreatOrme'sHead

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Fig. 1: Map showing the location of the Great Orme mine.

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1km

The Provenance of Early Bronze Age Copper from Northern Bohemia and Central Germany: First Results from Physico-chemical Investigations Elke Niederschlag and Ernst Pernicka

Abstract The Erzgebirge ('Ore Mountains') are located on the border between Bohemia and Saxony. Non-ferrous metals were mined extensively in these mountains from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century. The region is known in particular as one of the most impotiant tin deposits in Europe. During the last decades, many ideas have been circulating about prehistoric mining in the Erzgebirge. To date, however, there are some indications but no conclusive proof of prehistoric copper and tin mining in this region. The aim of the present study is to investigate this problem by physico-chemical methods. Unlike in the case of tin, there are a variety of copper deposits close to the rich Bronze Age cultures in northern Bohemia and central Gennany that also have to be taken into account as early metal sources (e.g. the Harz region, Thuringia). Therefore, an evaluation of the role of these deposits in prehistoric metallurgy around the Erzgebirge is necessary. This is being done by comparing the lead isotope ratios of a large amount of prehistoric artefacts and copper ores. The investigated copper and bronze objects derive mainly from the Unetice (Aunjetitz) culture. The copper ores are from several mines all over the Erzgebirge as well as from the Harz and Thuringia. Lead isotope ratios are being detennined by multiple collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. This allows a meaningful amount of data to be collected within a relatively short period of time.

Late Bronze Age or Early Iron Age date were only recently discovered in the vicinity of a tin placer during the course of a two-year-long archaeometallurgical survey of this region (Bartelheim and Niederschlag 1998). These finds are interpreted as the remains of seasonal activity focused at the tin placer. Other evidence, like moulds and casting residues from the surroundings of the Erzgebirge, supports the idea that Late Bronze Age metal processing took place there (Bartelheim et al. 1998), whereas the presence of furnace structures on the outskirts of Dresden and the Vogtland is highly disputed (Simon 1992; Pietzsch 1971).

Introduction

In the last decades many ideas have been circulating about the Erzgebirge as a potential prehistoric mining district (e.g. Billig 1954; Otto and Witter 1952; Simon 1985, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995; Witter 1938). Several observations support the idea of ancient tin and copper mining in this reg10n: •

•

•

•

•

North and south of the Erzgebirge are the settlement areas of the wealthy Bronze Age Unetice culture, whose rich graves and hoards with many copper and bronze artefacts are well known. There was an extensive distribution of rich cassiterite placers in the Erzgebirge in former times. It can be assumed that this cassiterite could have been mined easily by ancient miners. The Erzgebirge occupies a geographically isolated position in Central Europe as far as tin deposits are concerned, with large distances to other economically important tin deposits in Cornwall, Brittany or the north-western Iberian peninsula. Therefore, the exploitation of local ores to supply the metal needed by the Unetice culture seems more likely than the transport of metal over such long distances. The mining areas of the Erzgebirge and northern Bohemia show a close spatial correlation between copper and tin ores. Sometimes copper and tin mineralizations occur even within the same pit (e.g. at Homi Slavkov). Although there are no settlement traces in the elevated regions of the Erzgebirge, some have been found relatively nearby. Early Bronze Age sites in northern Bohemia are located at a distance of only about 20km from the ore deposits in the eastern Erzgebirge.

To summarize, this means that there is no direct archaeological evidence for prehistoric mining in the Erzgebirge. Neither dated workings of prehistoric age nor finds like stone hammers have been discovered (Blazek et al. 1995; Christl and Simon 1995). A potential reason for this could be the destruction of ancient mining remains by extensive medieval and modem mining. Therefore, an investigation with the aim of relating Early Bronze Age metal artefacts to regional base metal deposits by physicochemical methods seems a more promising approach than continued survey and/or excavation. Unlike in the case of tin, there are a variety of copper deposits close to the areas where evidence for rich Bronze Age cultures has been found in northern Bohemia and central Germany which also have to be taken into account as potential early metal sources. These ore districts include, for example, the Harz Mountains, the central German Kupferschiefer ('copper shale') and the mining district of Saalfeld-Kamsdorf. The latter is of special interest, because there is archaeological evidence for Iron Age copper smelting in eastern Thuringia nearby (Bohme 1997). It is necessary to evaluate the significance of all these deposits for prehistoric metallurgy around the Erzgebirge. Although it may only be possible to gain information relating to the provenance of copper in this study, we suggest that the hypothesis that the tin placers of

Despite these facts and observations, the evidence for Bronze Age mining and metal processing in the Erzgebirge is notably meagre. A small number of sherds of probable

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Metals and Society the Erzgebirge were exploited during the Bronze Age becomes more likely if the coeval use of regional copper sources can be shown.

can use the same line of reasoning in a different way, to suggest that different artefacts produced using copper ores from these deposits should also exhibit large variations in their lead isotope ratios. If they do not, the copper must derive from another deposit.

Methodology The lead isotope compositions of copper ores and Early Bronze Age metal artefacts from central Germany and Bohemia were determined by multiple collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (MC ICPMS) (e.g. Rehkamper and Halliday 1998; Walder 1997; Walder and Furuta 1993). This method yields very precise data at a higher rate than thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS), because chemical separation of lead is not strictly necessary. A paper with a detailed description of the method is in preparation (Niederschlag and Pernicka, in prep.).

Figures 2 and 3 seem to suggest that the range of lead isotope variation is more or less similar in ores and artefacts in the area below 207 Pb / 206 Pb = 0.86. However, if the artefact samples are separated into regional groups as outlined in Figures 4 and 5, it becomes obvious that the large range is only found in artefacts from the Bautzen area east of the Elbe river. The western regions and the two large hoards from Bennewitz and Bresinchen show a much more restricted variation. Accordingly, it is highly unlikely that their copper derived from deposits like Marienberg or Horni Slavkov, although this conclusion is certainly less compelling than it would be if there was no isotopic match at all. On the other hand, objects from sites east of the Elbe river are compatible with the hypothesis that their copper derived from Erzgebirgian deposits with large lead isotope vanat10ns. Moreover, chemical analyses by energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence analysis (EDXRF) show that some of the objects from eastern sites contain relatively large concentrations of tin up to the order of 10 to 15%. This suggests that not only local copper but also local tin sources may have been exploited. However, it may prove necessary to extend the study further east to investigate whether isotopically variable copper deposits also occur in Silesia.

Up to now, 56 copper ores from the Erzgebirge, the V ogtland, the Oberlausitz and several deposits in Bohemia (Kutna Hora, Pi'ibram and Horni Slavkov) have been investigated (Fig. 1). A few samples of copper ores from the Harz Mountains and the central German Kupferschiefer ('copper shale') were also included in this study. In addition, 100 Early Bronze Age artefacts of the Unetice culture, mainly from Germany and Bohemia, were analysed. The experimental error, which is indicated on the diagrams, was determined by 95 independent measurements of the NIST standard NBS 981 within a period of six months. The average of these measurements results in a relative standard deviation (20) of 0.04% for 208 Pb/2°6Pb and 0.02% for 207 Pb/2°6Pb. The deviations from the published TIMS values of Galer and Abouchami (1998) for NBS 981 are -0.052% for 208 Pb/2°6Pb and +0.0002% for 207 Pb!2°6Pb respectively. The deviations from the values of Todt et al. (1996) are -0.020% for 208 Pb/2°6Pb and +0.018% for 207 Pb/2°6Pb.

In relation to the possible provenance of both the singlefind copper-based artefacts and those from the two hoards, lead isotope ratios of copper ores and other minerals (e.g. galena) from the Harz Mountains, the Fichtelgebirge and the Kupferschiefer were taken from the literature (Hohndorf and Dill 1986; Leveque and Haak 1993; Wedepohl et al. 1978). They are plotted in Figure 6. The data from none of these ore districts extend to the very low isotope ratios which can be found in ores from the Erzgebirge area. To the extent to which this data can be assumed to be a representative isotopic characterization, these mining regions are isotopically also different from the majority of the analysed artefacts and are thus unlikely source regions. One exception is the Rammelsberg deposit near Goslar. This is the first indication that copper mining may have taken place in prehistoric times at this large mixed-sulphide deposit.

Results and Discussion The lead isotope ratios in copper ores from the Erzgebirge and Bohemia exhibit very large variations even within certain deposits. The reason for this is an impregnation of the copper ores by hydrothermal fluids containing uranium. This leads to a second-stage uranium mineralization within the ores resulting in high and variable U/Pb ratios on a micro scale. The radiogenic lead released from these uranium mineralizations mixes with the lead of the copper minerals, again on a micro scale. Therefore, different samples from the same deposit can contain drastically different lead isotope ratios. This situation prevails in the deposits of Marienberg and Horni Slavkov, for example.

If we look at isotope data for ores and artefacts in the central part of Figure 2 in more detail (Fig. 7), some smaller deposits in the Erzgebirge and its surroundings remain which plot closely with the bulk of the artefacts. These include Gottesberg and Lauterbach in the Vogtland; Ludwigsdorf in the Oberlausitz; and Schonborn, which lies about 25km north-west of Freiberg, in the Granulitgebirge bordering the Erzgebirge to the north. These mineralizations will be investigated in the field to provide more information on their possible use in ancient times.

The strength of lead isotope analysis is the exclusion of certain ore deposits as possible sources, if they do not match with archaeological artefacts. Since deposits like Marienberg and Horni Slavkov cover the very large range of lead isotope ratios normally observed in prehistoric copper-based artefacts, they cannot be excluded at all. One 52

Elke Niederschlag and Ernst Pernicka: The Provenance of Early Bronze Age Copper strata-bound, vein-type, and unconformity related Pb, Sb, and Bi ore mineralizations from the western edge of the Bohemian Massif (F. R. Germany). Mineralium Deposita 21: 329-336. Leveque, J. and Haak, U. 1993 Pb Isotopes of hydrothermal ores in the Harz. Monograph Series on Mineral Deposits 30: 197-210. Niederschlag, E. and Pernicka, E., in prep. Application of lead isotope investigations by multiple collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry to provenance studies of Early Bronze Age artefacts from northern Bohemia and central Germany. Archaeometry. Otto, H. and Witter, W. 1952 Handbuch der altesten vorgeschichtlichen Metallurgie in Mitteleuropa. Leipzig: Johann Ambrosius Barth Verlag. Pietzsch, A. 1971 Bronzeschmelzstiitten auf des Heidenschanze in Dresden-Coschiltz. Arbeits-u. Forschberichte zur sachsischen Bodendenkmalpflege 19: 35-68. Rehkiimper, M. and Halliday, A. N. 1998 Accuracy and long-term reproducibility of lead isotopic measurements by multiple-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry using an external method for correction of mass discrimination. International Journal of Mass Spectrometry 181 : 123-13 3. Simon, K. 1985 Bronzemetallurgie der Hallstattzeit an Saale und mittlerer Elbe. In: F. Horst (ed.) Produktivkrafte und Produktionsverhaltnisse in ur- und friigeschichtlicher Zeit, Tagung vom I 4. bis I6.I2.I98I Berlin. Berlin: Akademie Verlag Berlin, pp.157-205. Simon, K. 1991 Beitriige zur Urgeschichte des Vogtlandes. II. Kulturgeschichtliche Auswertung. Arbeits- und Forschungsberichte zur sachsischen Bodendenkmalpjlege 34: 63-156. Simon, K. 1992 Ein Schmelzofen der spiiten Bronzezeit aus dem siichsischen Vogtland. Arbeits- und Forschungsberichte zur sachsischen Bodendenkmalpjlege 35: 51-82. Simon, K. 1993 Zurn iiltesten Bergbau in Ostthilringen und Sachsen. Argumente und Hypothesen. In: H. Steuer and U. Zimmerman (eds) Montanarchaologie in Europa: Berichte zum International en Kolloquium "Friihe Erzgewinnung und Verhiittung in Europa" in Freiburg im Breisgau vom 4. bis 7. Oktober I 990. Sigmaringen: Thorbecke, pp.89-104. Simon, K. 1995 Der Kulmer Steig vor dem Mittelalter Zu den iiltesten siichsisch-bohmischen Verkehrswegen ilber das Osterzgebirge. Arbeitsund Forschungsberichte zur sachsischen Bodendenkmalpjlege 37: 9-98. Todt, W., Cliff, R.A., Hanser, A. and Hofmann, A.W. 1996 Evaluation of a 202 Pb - 205 Pb double spike for high-precision lead isotope analysis. In: A. Basu and S. Hart (eds) Earth Processes: Reading the Isotopic Code. Geophysical Monograph 95. Washington: American Geophysical Union, pp.429-437.

Conclusions Although there 1s no doubt that further lead isotope investigations are required to increase the statistical reliability of the data, the following conclusions can be made: •

•

•

Several regions within the Erzgebirge and Bohemia are potential prehistoric mining districts (Lauterbach, Gottesberg, Schonborn, Biirenstein, Marienberg, Zinnwald, Medenec, Horni Slavkov, Ludwigsdorf). These will be investigated in the field to determine how accessible they were to ancient miners. Large lead isotope variations of artefacts from the Bautzen area support the idea that the Erzgebirge may indeed be regarded as an ore source exploited in the Early Bronze Age. The lead isotope signatures of ores from the Erzgebirge cover the whole range of metal objects sampled while ores from the Harz Mountains, the Fichtelgebirge and the Kupferschiefer do not. Copper ores from the Rammelsberg also possibly supplied the raw material for some of the investigated artefacts.

Acknowledgments We are grateful to K. Rank, Geowissenschaftliche Sammlungen der TU Bergakademie Freiberg, for supplying most of the ore samples from the Erzgebirge and the surrounding areas. This work is being supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. References Bartelheim, M. and Niederschlag, E. 1998 Untersuchungen zur Buntmetallurgie, insbesondere des Kupfers und Zinns, im siichsisch-bohmischen Erzgebirge und dessen Umland. Arbeitsund Forschungsberichte zur sachsischen Bodendenkmalpjlege 40: 8-87. Bartelheim, M., Niederschlag, E. and Rehren, T. 1998 Research into prehistoric metallurgy in the Bohemian/Saxon Erzgebirge. In: B. Hansel (ed.) Mensch und Umwelt in der Bronzezeit Europas. Kiel: Oetker-Voges-Verlag, pp.225-230. Billig, G. 1954 Ur- und Friihgeschichte des sachsischen Vogt/ands. Plauen: Vogtliindisches Kreismuseum. Blazek, J., Cerna, E. and Velimsky, T. 1995 Zur Siedlungsgeschichte der bohmischen Seite des Erzgebirges. Germania 73: 463--479. Bohme, M. 1997 Kupfergewinnung auf latenezeitlichen Siedlungen Ostthuringens. Alt-Thiiringen 31: 85188. Christl, A. and Simon, K. 1995 Nutzung und Besiedlung des siichsischen Erzgebirges und des V ogtlandes bis zur deutschen Ostkolonisation. Germania 441--462. Galer, S.J.G. and Abouchami, W. 1998 Practical application of lead triple spiking for correction of instrumental mass discrimination. Mineralogical Magazine 62A: 491-2. Hohndorf, A. and Dill, H. 1986 Lead isotope studies of

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Metals and Society Walder,

A.J. 1997 Advanced isotope ratio mass spectrometry II: isotope ratio measurement by multiple collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. In: LT. Platzner (ed.) Modern Isotope Mass Spectrometry. Chichester: Wiley and Sons, pp.83-108. Walder, A.J. and Furuta, N. 1993 High-precision lead isotope ratio measurement by inductively coupled plasma multiple collector mass spectrometry. Analytical Sciences 9: 675-680. Wedepohl. K.H., Delevaux, M.H. and Doe, B.R. 1978 The potential source of lead in the Permian Kupferschiefer bed of Europe and some selected Paleozoic mineral deposits in the Federal Republic of Germany. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology 65: 273-281. Witter, W. 1938 Die iilteste Erzgewinnung im nordischgermanischen Lebenskreis, Bd. I: Die Ausbeutung der mitteldeutschen Erzlagerstiitten in der fruhen Metallzeit. Leipzig: Curt Rabitzsch Verlag.

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Elke Niederschlag and Ernst Pernicka: The Provenance of Early Bronze Age Copper

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