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

Abstract

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.

Towards a deeper understanding of the third millennium BC Iranian metallurgy: Use of synchrotron light for characterizing arsenic‐bearing minerals in metal objects from Espidej

“…Domeykite inclusions were distributed as bluish droplets within the metallic core 3,46 . Domeykite can present as enriched within the primary arsenic‐containing copper or can be reformed through casting, which could be a reason of complex arsenide–sulfide ores for metal extraction 47 . Copper droplets contained mostly 2.3 wt% arsenide and corresponds with the mineralization at Bazman, where copper contains high amounts of arsenic.…”

“…This can only happen in humid environmental conditions with high oxygen fugacity and in the presence of high chloride (which is responsible of heavy corrosion layers) and sulfide (S 2− ) ions. Furthermore, this might be also the result of recycling of the copper matte, for example, if additional metallic copper was added to the alloy and did not melt completely 47 …”

“…3,46 Domeykite can present as enriched within the primary arsenic-containing copper or can be reformed through casting, which could be a reason of complex arsenide-sulfide ores for metal extraction. 47 Copper droplets contained mostly 2.3 wt% arsenide and corresponds with the mineralization at Bazman, where copper contains high amounts of arsenic. The main mineral constituents at this zone are domeykite and algodonite (Cu 6-7 As).…”

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

“…All analyses were carried out at the Curt-Engelhorn-Zentrum Archäometrie (CEZA) laboratory, Mannheim, Germany. All of the objects were sampled for chemical analysis, and a small selection for metallographic examination and their Pb isotopic ratios (metallographic analyses will be published elsewhere; see [42] (Table 1). X-ray fluorescence analyses of the objects were performed on drillings and the metallographic samples' freshly polished surfaces.…”

“…Roughly half of the objects contain~7-12% Sn, which is the ideal range for casting and later cold deformation [42]. Contrarily, the four Neolithic axes (nos.…”