Recent applications of PIXE spectrometry in archaeology part I Observations on the early development of copper metallurgy in the Old World

Abstract

The early development of copper metallurgy can be characterized by three steps of innovation: i) exploitation of native copper resources for simple tool-making as early as the 7th millennium B.C. in the Near East; ii) the recovery of copper metal from minerals such as malachite, by smelting, during the 5th millennium B.C., both in the Near East and in eastern Europe; and iii) the deliberate alloying of copper and tin, to make bronze, circa 2800 B.C. in Mesopotamia (modern Iraq). This paper reviews the technological aspects associated the first two of these steps, comparing compositional patterns (as determined by PIXE spectrometry) for the copper metallurgy of various regions including the Middle Danube basin, the Tigris basin and the Iranian Plateau.

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