Archaeometallurgical investigation of a Late Bronze Age hoard from Mahrersdorf in Lower Austria

Mödlinger, Marianne; Trebsche, Peter

doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2020.102476

Cited by 9 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Antimonial copper with exceptionally high concentrations of antimony of more than 10% are occasionally found in the Late Bronze Age of western Hungary near Velem. St. Vid [ 80 ] and also in adjacent Lower Austria, albeit with lower antimony concentrations up to 3.5% and with lead isotope ratios consistent with the Slovakian Ore Mountains [ 81 ]. Isotopically this axe is consistent with fahlores from the Valais in Switzerland, but antimonial copper seems rare there.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Shifting networks and mixing metals: Changing metal trade routes to Scandinavia correlate with Neolithic and Bronze Age transformations

2021

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Based on 550 metal analyses, this study sheds decisive light on how the Nordic Bronze Age was founded on metal imports from shifting ore sources associated with altered trade routes. On-and-off presence of copper characterised the Neolithic. At 2100–2000 BC, a continuous rise in the flow of metals to southern Scandinavia begins. First to arrive via the central German Únětician hubs was high-impurity metal from the Austrian Inn Valley and Slovakia; this was complemented by high-tin British metal, enabling early local production of tin bronzes. Increased metal use locally fuelled the leadership competitions visible in the metal-led material culture. The Únětice downfall c.1600 BC resulted for a short period in a raw materials shortage, visible in the reuse of existing stocks, but stimulated direct Nordic access to the Carpathian basin. This new access expedited innovations in metalwork with reliance on chalcopyrite from Slovakia, as well as opening new sources in the eastern Alps, along an eastern route that also conveyed Baltic amber as far as the Aegean. British metal plays a central role during this period. Finally, from c.1500 BC, when British copper imports ceased, the predominance of novel northern Italian copper coincides with the full establishment of the NBA and highlights a western route, connecting the NBA with the southern German Tumulus culture and the first transalpine amber traffic.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Shifting networks and mixing metals: Changing metal trade routes to Scandinavia correlate with Neolithic and Bronze Age transformations

2021

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“…44-47) were sampled. Archaeometallurgical analyses of this hoard have already been published in a separate article (Mödlinger and Trebsche, 2020). And finally, two LBA socketed axes found without context from Sieding (Fig.…”

Section: Selected Objects and Their Site Contextmentioning

confidence: 83%

“…In adjacent Lower Austria, metal workshops are assumed to have existed at the hillforts Schanzberg near Thunau am Kamp (Lochner, 2004(Lochner, , 2017, 'Gelände' near Grünbach am Schneeberg (Mühlhofer, 1952;Trebsche et al, 2019, and Rauheneck near Baden (Calliano, 1894, 90). The raw metal that supplied these workshops is disputed; however recent archaeometallurgical investigations of copper alloys from the region suggest that there were likely several ore mining sites that supplied Late Bronze Age metalworkers in the Middle Danube region (Czajlik, 2013;Salaš, 2018, 2019;Mödlinger and Trebsche, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For this work, a series of 20 copper and bronze objects from the Prigglitz-Gasteil copper mining site, and the surrounding Late Bronze Age dated cemetery, cave, hilltop, and hoards, located within a radius of ca 15 km, were selected for metallographic investigation. The 20 metallographic analyses presented in this paper are compared to objects from the Mahrerdorf Late Bronze Age hoard (Mödlinger and Trebsche 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Work on the cutting edge: metallographic investigation of Late Bronze Age tools in southeastern Lower Austria

Mödlinger

Trebsche

2021

Archaeol Anthropol Sci

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This paper analyses 20 Late Bronze Age (ca 1080–800 BC) copper alloy objects to discern their manufacture and the skills of local craftsmen. Several tools and jewellery were studied that originated from a bronze workshop located immediately next to the Prigglitz-Gasteil copper ore mining site and several contemporaneous sites in the surrounding area. The samples were studied with optical microscopy (microstructurally), and SEM-EDXS and XRF (chemical analyses). Our analyses are part of a larger study and suggest that the Prigglitz region’s bronze production was not standardized. Particular alloys do not seem to have been chosen for object types or due to their intended use-function. Notably, approximately 20% of the objects contain unalloyed copper inclusions, which are most likely a result of the incomplete mixing of scrap metals and alloys during their production.

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“…Thomas Stöllner labeled this period of geographical expansion and dispersion the "second zenith," which was followed by the decline of Alpine copper production at the beginning of the Early Iron Age [5,33]. Of note, and in contrast with this general trend, the Prigglitz mine predominantly contains chalcopyrite, yet it was exploited contemporaneously with several major and minor LBA fahlore sites in the Slovakian Ore Mountains, the Tyrolean Lower Inn Valley, and in the Rax-, Hohe Wand-, and Kőszeg-Güns-mountain regions [34][35][36].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Melting, smelting, and recycling: A regional study around the Late Bronze Age mining site of Prigglitz-Gasteil, Lower Austria

2021

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This paper presents a study on copper production and distribution in Lower Austria’s southeastern region during the Late Bronze Age (c. 1350–800 BC), with the focal point being the chemistry and isotopic character of artifacts from a small copper mining site at Prigglitz-Gasteil on the Eastern Alps’ easternmost fringe. Ores, casting cakes, and select objects from the Late Bronze Age mining site at Prigglitz-Gasteil, Lower-Austria, and within 15 km of its surroundings, were chemically and isotopically analysed using XRF, NAA, and MC-ICPMS. The importance of Prigglitz-Gasteil as a local mining and metal processing center is evaluated based on the produced data, and the distribution and sourcing of copper-producing materials found at the site are discussed. Special attention is paid to the mixing of scrap and source materials early in the metal production process. The most salient discussions focus on the variability of the chemistry and Pb isotopic ratios of the studied objects, which seem to constitute a multitude of source materials, unlike the pure chalcopyrite-source copper produced from the Prigglitz-Gasteil mine itself. The analytical data suggests that copper alloys were mainly imported from materials originating in the Slovakian Ore Mountains, which were subsequently mixed/recycled with relatively pure locally produced copper. The purity of the copper from Prigglitz-Gasteil was fortuitous in identifying imported copper that contained measurable amounts of Pb and other chemically distinct characteristics. The chaîne opératoire of metal production at the site is mentioned; however, it is clear that additional information on the region’s geochemistry is required before any finite conclusions on the ore-to-metal production can be made.

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Archaeometallurgical investigation of a Late Bronze Age hoard from Mahrersdorf in Lower Austria

Cited by 9 publications

References 8 publications

Shifting networks and mixing metals: Changing metal trade routes to Scandinavia correlate with Neolithic and Bronze Age transformations

Shifting networks and mixing metals: Changing metal trade routes to Scandinavia correlate with Neolithic and Bronze Age transformations

Work on the cutting edge: metallographic investigation of Late Bronze Age tools in southeastern Lower Austria

Melting, smelting, and recycling: A regional study around the Late Bronze Age mining site of Prigglitz-Gasteil, Lower Austria

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