The archeological excavations at Cabezo Juré, near Alosno, Huelva Province, in southwestern Spain, have recently revealed the vestiges of an ancient community of workers specialized in the metallurgy of copper (Cu); they were active between 2873 and 2274 B.C. (calibrated radiocarbon age). Evidence of their metallurgical activity has been found in remains of various furnaces, as well as large quantities of slag and copper products, both worked and as raw material. The results of the archeological, geochemical, mineralogical and textural studies performed on slags found in the area show that the recovery of copper was a twostage process. Primary fusion was obtained in furnaces at relatively high temperatures (~1200°C) with the addition of mafic rocks as a flux. Further refinement of the metal in crucibles produced slags with a mineral composition simpler than that at the furnace stage. The abundance of copper oxides in both smelting and refining slags suggests a highly inefficient metallurgical procedure, with only partial liberation of the copper from the ores.
como recipiente de la metalurgia del cobre prehistórico ha sido identificada también en Francia. Los autores proponen una síntesis del estado de los conocimientos sobre el uso de esta técnica en España, su encuadre geográfico y cronológico y sus principales características mineralógicas y metalúrgicas. Estas últimas permiten mostrar la eficacia y la simplicidad de los medios puestos enjuego para la realización de esta metalurgia inicial. En contrapartida, en Francia los hallazgos son todavía modestos y sólo unos pocos han sido objeto de los apropiados análisis de laboratorio. No obstante, la revisión de la documentación arqueológica sugiere que investigaciones específicas orientadas por los resultados expuestos en este artículo deberían permitir en Francia, como ha sucedido en España en el curso de los últimos años, poner de manifiesto el impacto de esta técnica durante las Edades del Cobre y del Bronce. RÉSUMÉMise en évidence en Espagne à la fin des années quatrevingts, rutilisation de céramiques banales comme récipient de la métallurgie du cuivre préhistorique a été désormais repérée en France. Dans cet article, les auteurs proposent une synthèse de l'état des connaissances concernant l'utilisation de cette technique en Espagne, son cadre géographique et chronologique, ses principales caractéristiques minéralogiques et métallurgiques. Elles permettent de
Pots used in reducing copper minerals: a metallurgical technological used particularly in Iberia: its extension in southern France. Identified in Spain at the end of the 1980s, the use of common earthenware vessels as containers for prehistoric copper metallurgy has also now been observed in France. The authors propose a synthesis of present knowledge concerning the use of this technology in Spain, its chronological and geographical framework, and the more relevant mineralogical and metallurgical features. This allows the effectiveness and simplicity of the resources brought into play in this early metallurgy to be demonstrated. The finds in France are more modest and have rarely been properly analysed in the laboratory. Notwithstanding this, the review of the archaeological record suggests that specific research, in the light of the results presented in this article, should provide evidence in France - as has been the case in Spain in recent years - of the impact of this technology through the Copper and Bronze Ages.
Summary A wide‐ranging study based on compositional and isotopic analyses of minerals and manufactured objects from the north‐eastern Iberian Peninsula and their respective archaeological and cultural contexts demonstrates significant lead mineral exploitation in the El Priorat area (Tarragona province) linked to Phoenician trade (seventh–sixth centuries BC). This exploitation continued, despite losing intensity, until the Romanization of the territory. Our project also aims to determine the nature and origin of the lead and silver supply in the northern Iberian territory surrounding the Phocaean enclave of Emporion, especially with regard to the demands of the colonial mint. The behaviour pattern of the circulation of lead, silver and copper in Catalonia in the period studied indicates a plurality of contemporary supply sources, although, at least from the fifth century BC onward, minerals and metals from the south‐eastern Iberian Peninsula take on considerable importance.
This paper focuses on the characterization of technological processes used for producing copper, tin-bronze and silver in the Prehistory and Protohistory of the Iberian Peninsula. To this purpose, slags and slaggy materials have been analyzed by optical microscopy (OM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM-EDS). In particular, the results obtained allow us to characterize the main technological features for smelting copper ores since the 3 rd millennium BCE, a process that was performed in simple fire structures by using a non-slagging process. Regarding tin-bronze, the analytical data suggest that prehistoric bronzes were obtained by co-smelting copper and tin oxidic ores or by cementation of copper with cassiterite. Finally, some metallurgical debris dated to the Phoenician time, in the early 1 st millennium BCE, points to the extraction of silver from argentiferous copper ores employing a method similar to the 15 th century liquation process. This is a unique discovery up to now as this type of materials is unknown in any other Mediterranean region settled by the Phoenicians.
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