Fifth Millennium BC Evidence for Metallurgical Processing of Copper and Copper Alloys in South-East Europe
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FIFTH MILLENNIUM BC EVIDENCE FOR METALLURGICAL PROCESSING OF COPPER AND COPPER ALLOYS IN SOUTH-EAST EUROPE. PETAR D. GLUMAC AND JUDITH A. TODD Dept. of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, of Technology, Chicago, IL 60616
Illinois Institute
ABSTRACT Archaeological materials recovered from excavations of settlements and cemeteries of prehistoric cultures in the Middle Danube basin offer new evidence for the production of metals by the beginning of the Eneolithic (late neolithic) period. The identification of malachite, azurite and galena indicates that these minerals were extracted from the upland ore-bearing zones and transported to the lowland, alluvial river valleys for processing and smelting at settlement sites. For the first time metallurgical slags, found in association with malachite ores, crucibles, and copper/bronze artifacts, suggest that copper was smelted as early as the fifth millennium BC. Detailed analyses of these slags have identified a unique find of a tinbearing copper slag, raising the question of bronze production during the fifth millennium BC.
INTRODUCTION The oldest evidence for the use of copper minerals and metals appears relatively late in the European prehistoric record. A small number of copper artifacts, both copper carbonate minerals and simple copper metal tools, have been found on Early Neolithic period sites, which in South-East Europe date circa 6400-5400 BC [1]. During the Early Neolithic period, ceramics and copper minerals were first introduced as new raw materials available for everyday use. In the last phase of the Early Neolithic period in South-East Europe (circa middle of the sixth millennium BC), artifacts made of copper metal, such as needles and awls, were found on sites for the first time. The general consensus amongst archaeologists is that these metal artifacts were made from native copper rather than copper smelted from ores [1], since simple and complex shaped artifacts can be fashioned from native copper using essentially stone tool manufacturing techniques (e.g. hammering, grinding, heat-treatment, and drilling). No evidence for smelting and casting processes has yet been found on Early Neolithic sites in South-East Europe. There was a dramatic increase in the incidence of copper minerals and a wider variety of copper metal artifacts were found in settlements and cemeteries of the successor Middle and Late Neolithic (or Eneolithic) cultures [2]. These sites date to circa 5400-4000 BC. Consequently, many scholars believe that the introduction of smelting and casting processes in South-East Europe took place during the fifth millennium BC [3]. However, until recently no direct evidence of local metallurgical production, for example smelting slags, had been found. In 1979, we recognized a small (2 by 2 cm) copper smelting slag in the assemblage of copper minerals and metal recovered from excavations at Selevac, an early fifth millennium BC village settlement site located in Yugoslavia [4]. The identification and analyses of this slag provided the impetus for
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