Bronze production in Southwestern Iberian Peninsula: the Late Bronze Age metallurgical workshop from Entre Águas 5 (Portugal)

Metallography and microstructure interpretation of some archaeological tin bronze vessels from Iran

“…Co-smelting copper and tin ores in crucible to produce a bronze alloy [12,14], 2. Alloying by adding a variable amount of cassiterite (SnO 2 ) to the metallic copper and melting in crucible (cementation of metallic copper with cassiterite) [14][15][16]. 3.…”

“…Smelting copper sulphide ores has been common in ancient metallurgy to extract metallic copper [18,38,39]. In fact, some copper sulphides didn't transform to metallic copper during the smelting processes and are currently visible as small dark inclusions in the bronze microstructure; these may belong to unchanged original copper sulphide ores or these are by-product copper sulphide compounds that are formed during the smelting process but remained in the bronze microstructure, similar to products of matte production in the process of copper smelting [14,40]. These inclusions appear as segregated phases due to their low miscibility in molten copper [41].…”

Ferrous metallurgy from the Bir Massouda metallurgical precinct at Phoenician and Punic Carthage and the beginning of the North African Iron Age

“…For example, the Tyrians were able to negotiate commercial relationships with local tribes to access the mineral wealth of the Iberian Peninsula. In the 10 th and 9 th centuries BC, so-called "Orientalizing" influences in the Central and Western Mediterranean are usually referred to as "protocolonization" or "precolonization" initiated by Phoenician merchants plying foreign waters searching for mineral resources to exploit (Johnston, 2013;Val erio et al, 2010Val erio et al, , 2013Dietler, 2009;van Dommelen, 1998). The earliest evidence of Phoenician settlers in the West comes from Huelva and the region of Tartessos by the 9 th century BC, if not earlier (Aubet, 2008, 247;Canales et al, 2008, 648).…”

“…These strata have been respectively radiocarbon dated (calibrated) from 1310 to 1009 cal BC (two sigma), and 994 to 783 cal BC (two sigma) (Margarida Arruda, 2009, 121), providing early evidence for exchange. Adoption of Phoenician technological practices was selective and gradual as indigenous Portuguese communities integrated their own welldeveloped non-ferrous metallurgical traditions to the Phoenician political economy (Val erio et al, 2010(Val erio et al, , 2013. It has been suggested that the demand for iron in the Iberian Peninsula gradually accelerated due to the removal of scrap bronze in commercial circulation by Phoenicians throughout the Iron Age, further cementing the need for indigenous groups to rely on new Phoenician imports (Aubet Semmler, 2002a).…”

Microscopic study on some Iron Age bronze objects from Western Iran

“…The variety of tin content proves that the objects have not been made by a particular alloy proportion to reach a homogenous bronze composition such as adding a distinct amount of tin to copper and melting them, but an uncontrolled process is used to produce tin bronze alloy, such as co-smelting, cementation, recycling or smelting copper-tin containing ores [3,12,19,20]. The variability of tin content is commonplace in the study of the Iron Age bronze objects of Iran, especially in Luristan bronzes.…”