The Provenance, Use and Circulation of Metals in the European Bronze Age: The state of debate
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Authors
Roberts, Benjamin
Pernicka, Ernst
Stos-Gale, Zofia
Rehren, Thilo
Bray, Peter
Brandherm, Dirk
Ling, Johan
Vandkilde, Helle
Kristiansen, Kristian
Shennan, Stephen
Publication Date
2019-06Journal Title
Journal of Archaeological Research
ISSN
1573-7756
Publisher
Springer Nature
Volume
27
Issue
2
Pages
1-55
Language
en
Type
Article
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Radivojevic, M., Roberts, B., Pernicka, E., Stos-Gale, Z., Martinon-Torres, M., Rehren, T., Bray, P., et al. (2019). The Provenance, Use and Circulation of Metals in the European Bronze Age: The state of debate. Journal of Archaeological Research, 27 (2), 1-55. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10814-018-9123-9
Abstract
Bronze is the defining metal of the European Bronze Age and has been at the center of archaeological and science-based research for well over a century. Archaeometallurgical studies have largely focused on determining the geological origin of the constituent metals, copper and tin, and their movement from producer to consumer sites. More recently, the effects of recycling, both temporal and spatial, on the composition of the circulating metal stock have received much attention. Also, discussions of the value and perception of bronze, both as individual objects and as hoarded material, continue to be the focus of scholarly debate. Here, we bring together the sometimes diverging views of several research groups on these topics in an attempt to find common ground and set out the major directions of the debate, for the benefit of future research. The paper discusses in turn issues of: geological provenance of new metal entering the system and how to determine and interpret it; the circulation of extant metal across time and space, and how this is seen in changing compositional signatures; and some economic aspects of metal production. These include the role of metal-producing communities within larger economic settings, quantifying the amount of metal present at any one time within a society, and aspects of hoarding, a distinctive European phenomenon that is less prevalent in the Middle Eastern and Asian Bronze Age societies.
Keywords
Bronze Age, metal, mining, tin, provenance, lead isotope, trace element, circulation, recycling, trade, hoarding
Sponsorship
Funded by the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research
Identifiers
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10814-018-9123-9
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/277883
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