Physical Barriers, Cultural Connections: A Reconsideration of the Metal Flow at the Beginning of the Metal Age in the Alps

Laura Perucchetti

• Publisher: Archaeopress Archaeology
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9781784916145
• eBook ISBN: 9781784916152
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Archaeology
• Index: Social Sciences

Physical Barriers, Cultural Connections: A Reconsideration of the Metal Flow at the Beginning of the Metal Age in the Alps considers the early copper and copper-alloy metallurgy of the entire Circum- Alpine region. It introduces a new approach to the interpretation of chemical composition data sets, which has been applied to a comprehensive regional database for the first time. An extensive use of GIS has been applied to investigate the role of topography in the distribution of metal and to undertake spatial and geostastical analysis that may highlight patterns of distribution of some specific key compositional element. The Circum-Alpine Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age show some distinctively different patterns of metal use, which can be interpreted through changes in mining and social choices. But there are also some signs of continuity, in particular those which respect the use of major landscape features such as watersheds and river systems. Interestingly, the Alpine range does not act as a north-south barrier, as major differences in composition tend to appear on an east-west axis. Conversely, the river system seems to have a key role in the movement of metal. Geostastical analyses demonstrate the presence of a remelting process, applicable also in the case of ingots; evidence that opens new and interesting questions about the role of ingots and hoards in the distribution of metal at the beginning of the Metal Age. New tools and new analysis may also be useful to identify zones where there was a primary metal production and zones where metal was mostly received and heavily manipulated.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Foreword
• 1 Introduction
• 2 A History of the Archaeometallurgical Research in the Circum-Alpine Region
• 3 Old and New Perspectives
• 4 Introduction to the Use of Gis in Archaeometallurgy: Theoretical and Practical Issues
• 5 The Circum-Alpine Region: Geology and Geomorphology of the Study Area
• 6 Metallurgical Background
• 7 Introduction to the Archaeology of the Region, with Special Regard to Metallurgy
• 8 The Construction of the Database Gis and the Tools Used in This Book
• 9 The Flow Model in The Copper Age
• 10 The Flow Model in the Early Bronze Age
• 11 The Appearance of Tin
• 12 The Flow Model through the Landscape: the Role of Topography
• 13 General Discussion
• 14 Conclusions and Recommendations for Further work
• References
• Apendices
• Appendix I: The Table of Sites
• Appendix II: The Table of Objects
• Appendix III: The Table of Mines
• Appendix IV: Code “Normalise”
• Appendix V: Code “Grouping”
• Appendix VI: Code “Percentage P1”
• Appendix VII: Code “Percentage Element”