The Composition of the São Brás Copper Hoard in Relation to the Bell Beaker Metallurgy in the South‐western Iberian Peninsula

Abstract

A large ceramic vessel was discovered at São Brás (southern Portugal) containing a metallic hoard from the Chalcolithic/Early Bronze Age period. These weapons and tools were characterized by microanalytical techniques as being composed of copper with varying arsenic contents (2.2 ± 1.6 wt%) and minor amounts of lead, bismuth and iron. The collection shows a clear association between daggers and copper with a higher arsenic content, which can be explained by the high status of these silvery alloys. Finally, the compositional distribution of the hoard was compared with the metallurgy of the Bell Beaker and non-Bell Beaker communities inhabiting the south-western Iberian Peninsula.

Tell me what you see: Late deposition of an atypical metallic artefact in Perdigões

“…The presence of metallic artefacts in the Ditched Enclosure Complex of Perdigões is not surprising, being this type of elements widely known through the enclosure's Chalcolithic contexts (Bottaini et al 2018;Soares et al 2014;Valera &Basílio, 2017). This is also the scenario found in other regional sites, such as São Pedro (Valério et al 2017), São Brás (Valério et al 2019), Porto das Carretas (Soares 2011), and so on. However, the reduced numerical expression and representativeness of these artefacts, correspondingly decreases the morphological variability, existing a clear predominance of awls, foundry remnants and even ores.…”

Símbolos de estatus o una visión de los primeros momentos del Bronce Medio del suroeste: las estructuras funerarias de Horta do Pinheiro 5 (Torrão do Alentejo, sur de Portugal)

“…These long daggers as well as swords were viewed as symbols of prestige, hence being preferably made with high arsenic contents (Ponte et al 2012;Soares et al 2020), even during Chalcolithic times (Pereira et al 2013;Vidigal et al 2016). Moreover, there was an increased use of arsenical copper alloys to produce weapons and tools between the Late Chalcolithic and Middle Bronze Age suggesting the growing importance of such items among communities of the 2 nd millennium BC in southwestern Iberian peninsula (Valério et al 2014(Valério et al , 2016b(Valério et al , 2019(Valério et al , 2020.…”

O recinto da Folha do Ouro 1 (Serpa) no contexto dos recintos de fossos calcolíticos alentejanos

“…A identificação do metal constituinte do artefacto foi realizada por espectrometria de fluorescência de raios X, dispersiva de energias, utilizando um espectrómetro portátil Bruker S1 Titan equipado com um tubo de raios X com ânodo de ródio, um detector SSD e um colimador para a análise de áreas de dimensão reduzida. O artefacto foi previamente preparado para análise através da remoção dos produtos de corrosão superficial numa área com cerca de 5x5 mm 2 (Valério et al 2019). Em seguida foram efectuadas diversas análises para identificar possíveis heterogeneidades composicionais, encontrando-se na tabela seguinte os respectivos resultados.…”