Investigation on Metal Adornments from Ancient Eastern Europe

Dissertationes Archaeologicae 3/12, 2024

In the Bronze Age, the initial production of sheet metal vessels was limited to specialised workshops in eastern Mediterranean centres such as Troy or Mycenae, spreading slowly to the European hinterland. In this sense, the recently discovered hoard at Hrádok in Western Slovakia, dated to ca. 1225–1175 BC, represents the earliest and most complete set of bronzeworking tools in Central Europe, providing a deeper understanding of the making and decorating of bronze vessels in an Early Urnfield environment. Through a comprehensive evaluation of tin content analysis results of copper alloy vessels from western Eurasia, the spread of this most advanced contemporary technology could be reconstructed, highlighting the importance of such research in understanding the processes leading to the emergence of the Urnfield power structures and centralised political control over secondary metallurgy (the production of artefacts from already processed raw materials) in Europe in the Bronze Age.

2014

In: Brandherm, Dirk - Zimmermann, Thomas (eds.), Water Supply and Water Management in the Metal Ages. Proceedings from the UISPP Metal Ages colloquium, 13–16 October 2022, Ankara (Türkiye), 2024

In 2020, during metal-detector survey, part of a Late Bronze Age metal hoard was discovered in Vatta-Telekoldal-dűlő (NE Hungary). Although the hoard had been heavily disturbed by agricultural activities, 14 objects were unearthed in situ. The assemblage consists mostly of broken artefacts (axes, sickles, rings, ingots etc.). Several artefacts were selected for chemical and metallographic analyses. By using a portable XRF spectrometer, initial insights have been gained about the copper alloys used for the objects. As regards the chemical composition of the finds examined, mainly the variation in the tin content was remarkable, and this also allowed the pieces to be well grouped. However, interesting correlations were found between the concentrations of tin and other constituents (lead, arsenic, antimony, and silver). Metallographic analysis with an optical microscope and SEM-EDS provide useful information about the microstructure of the inner parts of the cut samples, and possible manufacturing lines were identifiable as well. The combined results from the archaeometallurgical and use-wear analyses indicate a diverse hoard composition in which both raw metal, miscast and used artefacts played a role.

Analele Banatului XXIV 2016, 2016

The study concerns an unpublished bronze hoard discovered fortuitous in the `70`s in a village (Fântânele –Rus) in north-eastern part of Sălaj county, on Someș valley. The hoard consist, at least in two bronze axes with disc and spike. They analyzed several aspects of the bronze hoarding phenomenon from the so-called „Someș Corridor.” Unfortunately, the archaeological research of contemporary settlements of these hoards remain only a dream for the future.

K. Leshtakov, M. Andonova (eds.), Galabovo in Southeast Europe and Beyond. Cultural Interactions during the 3rd-2nd Millennium BC, Sofia., 2021

The present paper discusses 19 artefacts from Romania and Bulgaria with at least 1% tin in their composition. These artefacts were dated mainly to the first three quarters of the 3rd millennium BC. Fourteen of them cluster in a distinct compact group, well anchored in time (ca. 2700-2400 BC). The most numerous are shaft-hole axes (12 artefacts) and half of them contain tin between 4% and 15%. To the same period were attributed a flanged axe and a massive dagger with a wide midrib, containing 5% and 6.3% Sn, respectively. The use of bronze for the manufacture of these items is in complete accord with the situation in the Near East and the Aegean area where various types of bronze items existed from the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC, with an increase in their number starting with 2700 BC. Most likely, the copper-tin alloy was initially employed for objects with a high social value which differentiated by their yellowish, gold-like colour from similar artefacts manufactured from copper and arsenical copper.

In this study the authors aim to introduce into the scholarly literature several prehistoric metal artefacts found in the past few years in Prahova County as a result of the activity of metal detector owners. Following their discovery, the items were handed over according to current legislation and entered, for the most part, the collection of the Prahova County Museum of History and Archaeology. They can be assigned to different typological categories, such as flanged axes, socketed axes, pins and awls, and cover various phases of the Bronze and Iron Ages.

2020

This paper presents the study of bronze artefacts resulting from an accidental discovery in the Preajba neighbourhood of Târgu Jiu municipality, Gorj County, Romania. In addition to the presentation of the field assessment and artefact analogies, the objects were analysed using optical microscopy (OM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with Energy-Dispersive X-Ray (EDX), in order to highlight the morphology of the corrosion crust and to determine the elemental composition of corrosion and soil contamination products. Thus, it was possible to establish the nature of the materials used and the manufacturing technology.

The interpretation of Bronze Age metal hoards is one of the main subjects of Central European archaeology. In this study the finds of the so–called Tolnanémedi horizon, which belong to the material remains of the Transdanubian Encrusted Pottery culture, offer an opportunity to study the various phases of the life cycle of an object. The analysis of how the objects were manufactured, what they were used for and under what circumstances they were buried, may enable us to establish who these objects can be linked to, and why they were deposited in that particular way.