Patterns of metal procurement, manufacture and exchange in Early Bronze Age northwestern Anatolia: Demircihüyük and beyond

Abstract

This paper adds a new interpretive layer to the already extremely well-investigated site of Demircihüyük, a small Early Bronze Age settlement at the northwestern fringes of the central Anatolian plateau. It presents a reassessment of the evidence for prehistoric mining in the region, as well as a new programme of chemical composition analysis integrated with an object functional and technological typology of the site's metal assemblages. The results reveal complex manufacturing techniques (such as bivalve mould casting, plating and lost wax) and the co-occurrence of several alloying types, including the earliest tin bronzes in the region. Object typology further indicates that the Demircihüyük community was at the intersection of two distinct metallurgical networks: one centred on the western Anatolian highlands, the other spanning the northern part of the central plateau. Additionally, several strands of evidence suggest that the beginning of interregional exchanges, linking central Anatolia to northern Levantine and Mesopotamian societies, may have started at an earlier date than the commonly assumed ca 3000–2800 BC.

An insight into Old Hittite metallurgy: alloying practices at Hüseyindede (Çorum, Turkey)

“…For the Hüseyindede assemblage, the instrument window was indeed filled with the surface to be analysed; thus distortion in the results is unlikely. This set-up is comparable to those of other projects using a similar methodology -for example, the pXRF analysis of a western Anatolian Early Bronze Age assemblage (Massa et al 2017). However, calibration techniques and analysis time do differ.…”

“…The obvious main benefit of pXRF analysis is that it is non-destructive and portable; thus, analyses can be conducted within museums, for example, rather than being limited to laboratories (Frahm, Doonan 2013). This method is the only one possible for the compositional analysis of museum-housed objects in Turkey, where permits are restricted and controlled, with tight regulations regarding the movement of artefacts (Massa et al 2017). The analyses of the Hüseyindede artefacts were conducted in July 2017, in the Çorum Museum depot.…”

The Missing Jigsaw Piece - pXRF Bulk Analysis of the Karaburun Dagger and Some General Considerations on Metalwork in Early Bronze Age Western Anatolia

“…We however concur with J. Lehner's observation (Lehner 2014, 132) and set the demarcation line at 1%. 13 Lechtman 1996;Lehner 2014, 132;Massa 2017, 66. 14 Harper 1987Ratnaike 2003.…”

Shifting Centres: Site Location and Resource Procurement on the North Coast of Cyprus over the Longue Durée of the Prehistoric Bronze Age

“…Recent portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) analyses undertaken by Andreas Charalambous [13] of the University of Cyprus on 408 artefacts from MBA tombs at Lapithos have, however, identified 36% as arsenical copper (Cu-As), 29% as arsenical bronze (Cu-Au-Sn or Cu-Sn-As), and 20% as tin bronze (Cu-Sn) alloys, with only 14% of the assemblage of pure copper (Figure 13 left). While we need to take into account the limitations of pXRF, which examines only the surface of an object where some alloyed metals are more or less abundant than others [104] (p. 225), similar analyses elsewhere have proved successful in identifying the major alloyed elements in prehistoric artefacts, while tending to overestimate the proportion of secondary metals [105] (p. 57). With due caution with regard to the latter, Charalambous' analyses show that 68% of analysed artefacts contain tin (Sn): 43% registered as between 0.1 and 4.9%, 8% between 5 and 10% and 17% over 10% (Figure 13 right).…”

“…Thus while Knapp's suggestion [78] (p. 39) that copper was a scarce resource in EBA and MBA Cyprus may be true of some regions of the island, in particular the west and south, it does not The tin in these artefacts was certainly imported, probably by the same north coast settlements that were exporting copper. While the minimum presence of arsenic required to distinguish an intentional alloy is a matter of debate (likely >2-3 wt %, see [105]) (p. 67)), the amount present in many of the objects from Lapithos indicates the addition of arsenic-rich minerals or exploitation of the high arsenic polymetallic ores of the Limassol Forest area [106] (Table 5) [107] (p. 392). In either case, the evidence suggests that local and imported copper, imported tin, and arsenic sulphide minerals or high arsenic copper ores were available on the north coast in the MBA.…”