The First Bronzes in El Argar: An Approach to the Production and Origin of the Metal

Autor: Montero Ruiz, Ignacio, Murillo-Barroso, Mercedes
Přispěvatelé: Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (España), Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (España), Montero Ruiz, Ignacio, Murillo Barroso, Mercedes
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2022
Předmět:
Popis: Este capítulo está sujeto a una licencia CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
Contrary to copper ore resources, tin is scarce in southeastern Iberia. However, tin is essential to produce the copper/tin alloy called tin bronze. The fi rst use of this alloy in the so-called El Argar Culture is detected in its later phases (from 1900–1800 calBC), although it never constituted the predominant alloy. The absence of metallurgical debris related to bronze smelting limits our understanding on how the alloy was obtained and if cassiterite was co-smelted with copper ores in the Argaric territory or whether metallic tin bronzes were imported to El Argar from regions further away. Tin, as an external resource, would have been exchanged or traded, but there is also the possibility that fi nished bronze objects were imported as well. Some differential pattern in the presence/absence of arsenic in the composition of metal objects could refl ect a double strategy, suggesting that local production of tin bronzes usually contains some arsenic, but tin bronzes without any arsenic could have come from other Iberian regions, or at least that different copper ores for the production of arsenical copper and tin bronze were used. This hypothesis is tested using the available lead isotopes analyses.
This paper has been produced within the R&D Project ‘Metal y Ámbar: Modelos de Circulación de Materias Primas en la Prehistoria Reciente de la Península Ibérica’ (HAR2017–82685–R) funded by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities and the R&D Project ‘Metal y Ámbar II: Circulacion de bronce y ámbar en el Sureste peninsular durante la Edad del Bronce’ (PID2019– 108289GB-I00) funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation.
Databáze: OpenAIRE