Showing papers on "Bronze published in 2009"

The Transmission of Early Bronze Technology to Thailand: New Perspectives

Abstract: In the four decades since the discovery that a discrete Bronze Age preceded the Iron Age in mainland Southeast Asia, much has been learned about the dating, technology, production, organization, and use of bronze metallurgy in the region, particularly in prehistoric Thailand. Although independent invention of copper smelting in Southeast Asia has not been considered likely by most regional archaeologists since the 1980s, the source of copper-base technology and the mechanisms of adoption remain poorly understood. Arguments claiming that the primary stimulus for the appearance of copper-base metallurgy in Southeast Asia came from early states in the Central Plain of China have dominated recent discussions, but anthropological approaches to technology transmission, adoption, and adaptation have yet to be systematically explored. After summarizing the current evidence for early bronze metallurgy in Thailand, this paper proposes an alternative to the predominant Sinocentric view of the source for Southeast Asian bronze technology. It will be proposed on both chronological and technological grounds that the first bronze metallurgy in Southeast Asia was derived from pre-Andronovo late third millennium BC Eurasian forest-steppe metals technology, and not from the second millennium, technologically distinctive, elite-sponsored bronze metallurgy of the Chinese Erlitou or Erligang Periods. Hypotheses for a transmission route and a research agenda for resolving debates on bronze origins in Southeast Asia are offered.

Phase transformations of ammonium tungsten bronzes

Abstract: This article discusses the formation and structure of ammonium tungsten bronzes, (NH4) x WO3−y . As analytical tools, TG/DTA-MS, XRD, SEM, Raman, XPS, and 1H-MAS NMR were used. The well-known α-hexagonal ammonium tungsten bronze (α-HATB, ICDD 42-0452) was thermally reduced and around 550 °C a hexagonal ammonium tungsten bronze formed, whose structure was similar to α-HATB, but the hexagonal channels were almost completely empty; thus, this phase was called reduced hexagonal (h-) WO3. In contrast with earlier considerations, it was found that the oxidation state of W atoms influenced at least as much the cell parameters of α-HATB and h-WO3, as the packing of the hexagonal channels. Between 600 and 650 °C reduced h-WO3 transformed into another ammonium tungsten bronze, whose structure was disputed in the literature. It was found that the structure of this phase—called β-HATB, (NH4)0.001WO2.79—was hexagonal.

Land-use patterns and cultural change in the Middle to Late Bronze Age in Ireland: inferences from pollen records

Abstract: In Ireland, the Middle to Late Bronze Age (1500–600 cal b.c.) is characterised by alternating phases of prolific metalwork production (the Bishopsland and Dowris Phases) and apparent recessions (the Roscommon Phase and the Late Bronze Age-Iron Age transition). In this paper, these changes in material culture are placed in a socio-economic context by examining contemporary settlement and land-use patterns reconstructed from the pollen record. The vegetation histories of six tephrochronologically linked sites are presented, which provide high-resolution and chronologically well-resolved insights into changes in landscape use over the Middle to Late Bronze Age. The records are compared with published pollen records in an attempt to discern if there are trends in woodland clearance and abandonment from which changes in settlement patterns can be inferred. The results suggest that prolific metalworking industries correlate chronologically with expansion of farming activity, which indicates that they were supported by a productive subsistence economy. Conversely, declines in metalwork production occur during periods when farming activity was generally less extensive and perhaps more centralised, and it is proposed that disparate socio-economic or political factors, rather than a collapse of the subsistence economy, lie behind the demise of metalworking industries.

A Holistic Approach to Examining Ancient Agriculture A Case Study from the Bronze and Iron Age Near East

Abstract: Agriculture provided the foundation for the development and sustenance of Bronze and Iron Age civilizations in the Near East, yet remarkably little is known about how its practice varied across the region at this time. Archaeobotany and zooarchaeology have been used independently to study ancient agriculture, but there is a dire need for a more comprehensive and holistic approach, one that integrates the two data sets and better represents the reality of food production. Correspondence analysis can be an effective tool for quantitatively integrating regional Bronze and Iron Age plant and animal data spanning Syria and Jordan. Distinct regional patterns of food production and wild resource use are evident. The main variable driving this trend is available moisture. Theoretically, the method outlined here can be applied to any region and time period.

The study of bronze statuettes with the help of neutron-imaging techniques

Abstract: Until recently fabrication techniques of Renaissance bronzes have been studied only with the naked eye, microscopically, videoscopically and with X-radiography. These techniques provide information on production techniques, yet much important detail remains unclear. As part of an interdisciplinary study of Renaissance bronzes undertaken by the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, neutron-imaging techniques have been applied with the aim of obtaining a better understanding of bronze workmanship during the Renaissance period. Therefore, an explanation of the fabrication techniques is given to better understand the data collected by these neutron-imaging techniques. The data was used for tomography studies, which reveal hidden aspects that could not at all or scarcely be seen using X-radiography. For this specific study, the representative bronze ‘Hercules Pomarius’ of Willem van Tetrode (ca 1520–1588) has been examined, along with 20 other Renaissance bronzes from the Rijksmuseum collection.

For Gods or men? A reappraisal of the function of European Bronze Age shields

Abstract: Are the imposing, decorated copper-alloy shields of Bronze Age Europe symbolic objects or functioning weapons? The author undertakes new analysis and experiments to conclude that whether bronze, leather or wood, all shields had a range of purpose in which the ceremonial and homicidal could rarely be completely isolated.

Discovery of New Cultures of the Bronze Age in Mongolia

Abstract: Organized by Alexey Kovalev in 1998,since 2001 the International Central-Asiatic Archaeological Expedition of St.-Petersburg State University,the Roerich Family Museum-Institute of St.-Petersburg,together with the Institute of History of the Mongolian Academy of Science and the Ulaanbaatar University conduct methodical investigations of Bronze and Early Iron Ages sites on the territory of Outer Mongolia.During seven years of work,a lot of achievements have been made.We discovered and named several new cultures,such as Munkh-Khairkhan culture,Baitag culture,Tevsh culture and for the first time open in Mongolia a lot of mounds belong to Chemurchek(Kermuqi) culture.

The temple of the storm god in aleppo during the late bronze and early iron ages

Abstract: Aleppo, which is the most important Islamic medieval military construc tion in Syria and a national heritage monument. But the hill is not only important for the Islamic period when the fortified medieval palace town covered its whole surface and its flanks. During the pre-Hellenistic periods it was the seat of the Storm God of Aleppo (ancient Halab). The natural outcrop with its fantastic view across the region is comparable to other seats of storm gods, the most famous being Djabal aLAqra, \"the throne of Baal,\" a landmark for sailors on the way from the southern Anatolian coast or Cyprus to the harbor of Ugarit. The storm god, first venerated as Hadda, then as Addu, Teshub, Tarhunta, and Hadad, played a supra-regional role in the ancient Near East, which explains the enormous size of his temple at Aleppo and the brilliance of its relief decoration.

The Distribution of Bronze Drums in Early Southeast Asia: Trade Routes and Cultural Spheres

Abstract: This study focuses on the distribution of early Dong Son bronze drums, from their centres of production in north Vietnam throughout Mainland and Island Southeast Asia, as evidence of cultural contact and cross-regional exchange along river and maritime routes from the late Metal Age to the proto-historic period. Adopting a synoptic view over the entire distribution across present national boundaries, the author analyses the implications of what types of drums are found where.

Tetragonal alkali metal tungsten bronze and hexagonal tungstate nanorods synthesized by alkalide reduction

Abstract: Tetragonal alkali metal tungsten bronze and hexagonal alkali metaltungstate nanorods have been synthesized by sub-ambient reduction by alkalide solutions and subsequent oxidation. Tetragonal potassium tungsten bronze, K0.4WO3, nanorods result after post-reduction annealing at 250 °C for 3 h followed by 600 °C for 4 h in vacuum if the alkalide reduction is performed using K+(15-crown-5)2Na− and a mixed sodium/potassium tungsten bronze, Na0.3K0.2WO3, if K+(18-crown-6)2Na− is used. The rods are generally ∼40 nm wide and 400–500 nm long single crystals, their principal axis being in the [001] crystallographic direction. Annealing in air at 500 °C changes the material to a bronze-like hexagonal alkali metal tungstate, without substantial effect on its nanorod morphology. The hexagonal alkali metal tungstate, K0.3W0.95O3, nanorods can be made directly by heating to 400 °C rather than 600 °C in the 2-step annealing process, consistent with the tungstate being the first phase formed, transforming to the bronze at higher temperature.

About the early copper of Mesopotamia

Abstract: A lead isotope study »On the Early copper of Mesopotamia« reports on copper-base artefacts ranging in age from the 4 th millennium BC (Uruk period) to the Akkadian at the end of the 3 rd millennium BC. Arguments are presented that, in the (tin)bronzes, the lead associated with the tin used for alloying did not contribute to the total in any detectable way. Hence, the lead isotopy traces the copper and cannot address the problem of the provenance of tin. The data suggest as possible source region of the copper a variety of ore occurrences in Anatolia, Iran, Oman, Palestine and, rather unexpectedly (by us), from India. During the earliest period the isotopic signature of ores from Central and North Anatolia is dominant; during the next millennium this region loses its importance and is hardly present any more at all. Instead, southeast Anatolia, central Iran, Oman, Feinan-Timna in the rift valley between Dead Sea and Red Sea, and sources in the Caucasus are now potential suppliers of the copper. Generally, an unambiguous assignment of an artefact to any of the ores is not possible because the isotopic fingerprints of ore occurrences are not unique. In our suite of samples bronze objects become important during ED III (middle of the 3 rd millennium BC) but they never make up more than 50% of the total. They are distinguished in their lead isotopy by very high 206 Pb-normalized abundance ratios. As source of such copper we suggest Gujarat/ Southern Rajasthan which, on general grounds, has been proposed before to have been the most important supplier of copper in Ancient India. We propose this Indian copper to have been arsenic-poor and to be the urudu-luh-ha variety which is one of the two sorts of purified copper mentioned in contemporaneous written texts from Mesopotamia to have been in circulation there concurrently.

Lithics in the Scandinavian Late Bronze Age: Sociotechnical Change and Persistence

Abstract: During south Scandinavian Late Bronze Age, c. 900-500 BC, a new tool was invented. It consisted of a wooden shaft and a knife blade made out of flint. One singel of this tool still exists today. It was found in a Danish bog in late 19th century. But there are many of the knife blades of flint; in museum collections or in flint assemblages from archaeological excavations. Archaeologists call them large blade knives of flint. My research focuses on the question on why these large blade knives of flint were invented, used and finally ceased to exist in a period which archaeologically is defined as a transition time between south Scandinavian Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age. The study takes on a theoretical perspective on sociotechnical change and persistence, discussing interpretative archaeology, materiality, actor-network theory, chaine operatoire and classification. An extensive empirical study is conducted, based in analysis of flint knapping technologies, use and archaeological contexts. The large blade knives as well as other Late Bronze Age flint industries are studied using attribute analysis, use-wear analysis, raw material analysis, experimental archaeology, and contextual analysis. The results shows that the large blade knives are highly standardised and specialised, produced at first hand at specialised production places by flint knappers with a special knowledge and know-how. The blade knives were used to harvest grains and cut reed. They were used in an area answering to today’s south Sweden, Denmark, south Norway, the Baltic coast of north Germany and Poland. There is a large uniformity of the technology over this area, although local variations exist. The large blade knives were used as agricultural tools. They are found in archaeological contexts which are very much associated to household activities. They are also found in ritual deposits, showing they were an evident part of Late Bronze Age cosmology. The do not occur as grave goods. Only one large blade knife from a grave context is known. The results of the research implies that previous studies has been delimitated by presumptions that technological change during this time was limited to metal, i.e. a change from using bronze to the use of iron. Instead we must consider that technological change during south Scandinavian Late Bronze age was a complex set of changes and persistence regarding social, technological, cosmological and power aspects, concerning the use of raw materials, changes in the use of the landscape, agriculture, hierarchy and ritual. Through the study of a specialised flint knapping technology and specialised use of a tool made out of a wooden shaft and a large knife blade of flint, aspects of change and persistence during this time is discussed. It is concluded that sociotechnical change and persistence was a dynamic of different claims in society between social group – between the old conservative power and the new inventors. The blade knives were actors and actants in the dynamic between the old aristocratically interpretative prerogative and the innovators clams on this interpretative prerogative. This is a result which has consequences on how we as archaeologists interpret the European change from Bronze Age to Iron Age. It moves the focus of archaeological interpretation, from looking at this time period as a change from one metal to another, to look at it from a point of view of sociotechnical change and persistence. (Less)

The Drapers' Gardens Hoard: A Preliminary Account

Abstract: Recent excavations by Pre-Construct Archaeology in the City of London uncovered a large hoard of twenty bronze, pewter and iron vessels and other objects in the fill of a Late Roman well. The hoard is the largest group of such objects to be excavated under modern conditions and is exceptionally well dated. This paper provides an illustrated catalogue of the vessels, discusses their date, and suggests reasons for their deposition.