Copper‐base Metallurgy in Metal‐Age Bali: Evidence from Gilimanuk, Manikliyu, Pacung, Pangkung Paruk and Sembiran

Abstract

The Indonesian Archipelago extends over 5000 km of latitude, from 95°E to 141°E, and hosts some of the world's largest active metal mines. While some fascinating ethnographic and historical sources exist, virtually nothing is known of the country's prehistoric metallurgical traditions. Given Indonesia's scale, this situation cannot be remedied in short order, but with this paper we seek to elucidate some metal production and consumption behaviours on Bali, located around 115°E, during the last centuries of the first millennium bc and the early to middle first millennium ad. The studied early Metal Age assemblage of 27 copper‐base artefacts from the sites of Pacung, Sembiran, Bangkah, Pangkung Paruk, Gilimanuk and Manikliyu includes bangle, bowl, drum, hook, mirror and ornamental typologies, and fragments thereof. Fourteen of the 27 samples were suffering from corrosion, but a strong tendency towards leaded copper alloys (21 of 27) can be distinguished, with some bronzes, a high‐tin bronze and a leaded high‐tin bronze. The high proportion of leaded artefacts mean that lead isotope data cannot be used to identify possible sources of copper, but there is good consistency with Mainland South‐East Asian Iron Age leaded alloy signatures for the bulk of the assemblage, possibly indicating the existence of long‐range (~2000–3000 km one way) exchange systems at the outset of the Island South‐East Asian Metal Age, and perhaps as far as China and India in the case of the mirror and bowl, respectively. Of particular note, the Manikliyu ‘Pejeng’ drum, a stylistically idiosyncratic type known from Bali and Java, and for which there is local production evidence, transpired to be consistent in terms of elemental composition and lead signature with Mainland ‘Dong Son’ drums. This could suggest that Pejeng drums were produced not just from metal imported from the Mainland but with melted down Mainland drums; an intriguing case of local reinterpretation of foreign elite material culture and iconography.

Typo-technological, elemental and lead isotopic characterization and interpretation of Đông Sơn miniature drums

“…Figure 14: LI ratios of medium/large vs miniature leaded and unleaded drums (data from Pryce et al, 2014;T. O. Pryce et al, 2018;.…”

Trans-Asiatic exchange of glass, gold and bronze: analysis of finds from the late prehistoric Pangkung Paruk site, Bali

“…Similar examples are known from Bengal and Peninsular Thailand (Pryce et al . 2018: 1282).

Figure 9.Top) Pangkung Paruk Chinese bronze mirrors (photograph by A. Calo); bottom left) Phu Chanh bronze mirror (diameter approximately 0.1m.

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“…The copper for these latter bronzes was probably sourced from Sepon in Laos, “given the similar signatures for Mainland leaded artefacts and central Lao copper production at Sepon” (Pryce et al . 2018: 1281 & 1286). This suggests the melting of imported ingots or artefact scrap in Bali for local recasting, particularly when considering the evidence for stone casting moulds from Sembiran and Manuaba (Ardika & Bellwood 1991; Calo 2014: 128–33; Calo et al .…”

“…Lead isotope analysis of one mirror from either sarcophagus C or D was undertaken using Multi-Conductor-ICP-MS at the CEZA Laboratory in Mannheim. Pryce et al (2018) also analysed a Pangkung Paruk bronze bowl from the same context as the mirror (sarcophagus C or D), and spiral bronze ornaments from sarcophagus B, as part of a group of 27 copper-alloy samples from our project. The bronze bowl (Figure 10) is unleaded, with a high-tin content, suggesting Indian or Southeast Asian production using South Asian techniques.…”

Dong Son drums from Timor-Leste: prehistoric bronze artefacts in Island Southeast Asia

“…Today, ISEA hosts some of the world's largest active metal mines (Pryce et al 2018). Bronson (1992) recorded the geological presence of copper ores in Sumatra, Java and West Timor, with lead in Sumatra and tin in West Malaysia (Peninsular Malaysia), Bangka and Belitung.…”