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Fifth Millennium BC Evidence for Metallurgical Processing of Copper and Copper Alloys in South-East Europe.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2011

Petar D. Glumac  and
Judith A. Todd
Petar D. Glumac
Affiliation:
Dept. of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL 60616
Judith A. Todd
Affiliation:
Dept. of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL 60616
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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.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 185: Symposium G – Materials Issues in Art and Archaeology II , 1990 , 637
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1990

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