Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-13T22:38:05.872Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Development of metallurgy in Eurasia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Benjamin W. Roberts ,
Christopher P. Thornton  and
Vincent C. Pigott
Benjamin W. Roberts
Affiliation:
Department of Prehistory and Europe, British Museum, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DG, UK (Email: [email protected])
Christopher P. Thornton
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, 3260 South Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6398, USA (Email: [email protected])
Vincent C. Pigott
Affiliation:
Institute of Archaeology, University College London, 31-34 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PY, UK (Email: [email protected])
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The authors reconsider the origins of metallurgy in the Old World and offer us a new model in which metallurgy began in c. eleventh/ninth millennium BC in Southwest Asia due to a desire to adorn the human body in life and death using colourful ores and naturally-occurring metals. In the early sixth millennium BC the techniques of smelting were developed to produce lead, copper, copper alloys and eventually silver. The authors come down firmly on the side of single invention, seeing the subsequent cultural transmission of the technology as led by groups of metalworkers following in the wake of exotic objects in metal.

Keywords

Eurasiacoppergoldsilvertransmissionmobilitycraftspeople
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 83 , Issue 322 , December 2009 , pp. 1012 - 1022
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aldenderfer, M., Craig, N., Speakman, R. & Popelka-Filcoff, R.. 2008. Four-thousand-year-old gold artifacts from the Lake Titicaca basin, southern Peru. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 105(13): 5002-5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ambert, P. 2001. La place de la métallurgie campaniforme dans la première métallurgie française, in Nicolis, F. (ed.) Bell Beakers today. Pottery, people, culture, symbols in prehistoric Europe: 577–88. Trento: Ufficio Beni Archeologici.Google Scholar
Bayley, J. & Rehren, T.. 2007. Towards a functional and typological classification of crucibles, in La Niece, S., Hook, D. & Craddock, P. T. (ed.) Metals and mines: studies in archaeometallurgy: 46–55. London: Archetype.Google Scholar
Bar-Yosef Mayer, B. & Porat, N.. 2008. Green stone beads at the dawn of agriculture. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105(25): 8548–51.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Borić, D. 2009. Absolute dating of metallurgical innovations in the Vinča culture of the Balkans, in Kienlin, T. L. & Roberts, B. W. (ed.) Metals and societies: papers in honour of Barbara S. Ottaway: 191–245. Bonn: Habelt.Google Scholar
Boroffka, N., Cierny, J., Lutz, J., Parzinger, H., Pernicka, E. & Weisgerber, G.. 2002. Bronze Age tin from Central Asia: preliminary notes, in Boyle, K., Renfrew, C. & Levine, M. (ed.) Ancient interactions: east and west in Eurasia: 135–59. Cambridge: McDonald Institute of Archaeological Research.Google Scholar
Bourgarit, D. 2007. Chalcolithic copper smelting, in La Niece, S., Hook, D. & Craddock, P. (ed.) Metals and mining: studies in archaeometallurgy: 3–14. London: Archetype.Google Scholar
Carter, E., Campbell, S. & Gauld, S.. 2003. Elusive complexity: new data from late Halaf Domuztepe in south central Turkey. Paléorient 29(2): 117–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cauvin, M.-C., Gourgaud, A., Gratuze, B., Arnaud, N., Poupeau, G., Poidevin, J.-L. & Chataigner, C. (ed.) 1998. L'obsidienne au Proche et Moyen-Orient: du volcan à l'outil (British Archaeological Reports International Series 738). Oxford: Archaeopress.Google Scholar
Charles, J. A. 1980. The coming of copper and copper-based alloys and iron: a metallurgical sequence, in Wertime, T. A. & Muhly, J. D. (ed.) The coming of the age of iron: 151–82. New Haven (CT): Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Chernykh, E. N. 1992. Ancient metallurgy in the USSR: the early Metal Age. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Childe, V. G. 1930. The Bronze Age. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Craddock, P. 2001. From hearth to furnace: evidences for the earliest metal smelting technologies in the eastern Mediterranean. Paléorient 26: 151–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ehrhardt, C. In press. Copper working technologies, contexts of use, and social complexity in the Eastern Woodlands of Native North America. Journal of World Prehistory.Google Scholar
Frame, L. D. & Lechtman, H.. Forthcoming. Early Chalcolithic crucible melting of copper ores at Tal-i Iblis, Iran. Journal of Field Archaeology.Google Scholar
Golden, J. 2009. Dawn of the Metal Age: technology and society during the Levantine Chalcolithic. London: Equinox.Google Scholar
Guilaine, J. 1991. Roquemengarde et les débuts de la métallurgie en France Méditerranéenne, in Eluère, C. & Mohen, J. P. (ed.) Découverte du métal: 279–94. Paris: Picard.Google Scholar
Hauptmann, A. 2007. The archaeometallurgy of copper: evidence from Faynan, Jordan. New York: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hess, K., Hauptmann, A., Wright, H. & Whallon, R.. 1998. Evidence of fourth millenium BC silver production at Fatmali-Kalecik, East Anatolia, in Rehren, T., Hauptmann, A. & Muhly, J. (ed.) Metallurgica antiqua: in honour of Hans-Gert Bachmann and Robert Maddin: 57–68. Bochum: Deutsches Bergbau Museum.Google Scholar
Higham, C. 2006. Crossing national boundaries: southern China and Southeast Asia in prehistory, in Bacus, E. A., Glover, I. C. & Pigott, V. C. (ed.) Uncovering Southeast Asia's past: 13–21. Singapore: Singapore University Press.Google Scholar
Higham, C. & Higham, T.. 2009. A new chronological framework for prehistoric Southeast Asia, based on a Bayesion model from Ban Non Wat. Antiquity 83: 125–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Higham, T. J. Chapman, Gaydarksa, B., Slavchev, V., Honch, N., Yordanov, Y. & Dimitrova, B.. 2007. New perspectives on the Varna cemetery (Bulgaria) - AMS dates and social implications. Antiquity 81: 640–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hole, F. 2000. New radiocarbon dates for Ali Kosh, Iran. Neo-lithics 1: 13.Google Scholar
Höppner, B., Bartelheim, M., Husijmans, M., Krause, R., Martinek, K., Pernicka, E., Schwab, R.. 2005. Prehistoric copper production in the Inn Valley, Austria, and the earliest copper production in central Europe. Archaeometry 47(2): 293–315.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kenoyer, J. M. & Miller, M.-L.. 1999. Metal technologies of the Indus Valley tradition in Pakistan and western India, in Pigott, V. C. (ed.) The archaeometallurgy of the Asian Old World: 107–52. Philadelphia (PA): University of Pennsylvania Museum.Google Scholar
Lechtman, H. 1996. Arsenic bronze: dirty copper or chosen alloy? A view from the Americas. Journal of Field Archaeology 23: 477–514.Google Scholar
Lechtman, H. 1999. Afterword, in Dobres, M.-A. & Hoffman, C. R. (ed.) The social dynamics of technology: 223–32. Washington (D. C.): Smithsonian Institution Press.Google Scholar
Linduff, K. & Mei, J.. In press. Metallurgy in ancient eastern Asia: how is it studied? Where is the field headed? Journal of World Prehistory.Google Scholar
Linduff, K., Rubin, H. & Shuyun, S.. 2000. The beginnings of metallurgy in China. Lampeter: Edwin Mellen Press.Google Scholar
Lo Schiavo, F., Giumlia-Mair, A. & Valera, R.. 2005. Archaeometallurgy in Sardinia: from the origins to the beginning of the early Iron Age. Montagnac: Monique Mergoil.Google Scholar
Maddin, R., Muhly, J.D. & Stech, T.. 1999. Early metalworking at Çayönü, in Hauptmann, A., Pernicka, E., Rehren, T. & Yalçin, Ü. (ed.) The beginnings of metallurgy: 37–44. Bochum: Deutsches Bergbau Museum.Google Scholar
Mei, J. 2000. Copper and bronze metallurgy in late prehistoric Xinjiang: its cultural context and relationship with neighbouring regions (British Archaeological Reports International Series 865). Oxford: Archaeopress.Google Scholar
Moulherat, C., Mille, B., Tengberg, M. & Haque, J.-F.. 2002. First evidence of cotton at Neolithic Mehrgarh, Pakistan: analysis of mineralized fibres from a copper bead. Journal of Archaeological Sciences 29(12): 1393–1401.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Muhly, J. D. 1988. The beginnings of metallurgy in the Old World, in Maddin, R. (ed.) The beginning of the use of metals and alloys: 2–20. Cambridge (MA): MIT Press.Google Scholar
Muhly, J. D. 2002. Early metallurgy in Greece and Cyprus, in Yalçin, U. (ed.) Anatolian metal II : 77–82. Bochum: Deutsches Bergbau- Museum.Google Scholar
Muller-Karpe, M. 1990. Aspects of early metallurgy in Mesopotamia, in Pernicka, E. & Wagner, G. A. (ed.) Archaeometry '90: 105–16. Basel: Birkhauser.Google Scholar
Needham, S. 1996. Chronology and periodisation in the British Bronze Age. Acta Archaeologica 67: 121–40.Google Scholar
Nezafati, N., Pernicka, E. & Momenzadah, M.. 2006. Ancient tin: old question and a new answer. Antiquity 80: 308.Google Scholar
Northover, J. P. 1989. Properties and use of arsenic-copper alloys, in Hauptmann, A., Pernicka, E. & Wagner, G. (ed.) Old World archaeometallurgy: 111–18. Bochum: Deutsches Bergbau Museum.Google Scholar
Ottaway, B. S. & Roberts, B. W.. 2008. The emergence of metallurgy in Europe, in Jones, A. (ed.) Prehistoric Europe: theory and practice: 193–225. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Parzinger, H. 2002. Das Zinn in der Bronzezeit Eurasiens, in Yalcin, Ü. (ed.) Anatolian metal II : 159–77. Bochum: Deutsches Bergbau-Museum.Google Scholar
Pigott, V. C. 1999. The development of metal production on the Iranian Plateau: an archaeometallurgical perspective, in Pigott, V. C. (ed.) The archaeometallurgy of the Asian Old World: 73–106. Philadelphia (PA): University of Pennsylvania Museum.Google Scholar
Pigott, V. C. & Ciarla, R.. 2007. On the origins of metallurgy in prehistoric Southeast Asia: the view from Thailand, in La Niece, S., Hook, D. & Craddock, P. (ed.) Metals and mining: studies in archaeometallurgy: 76–88. London: Archetype.Google Scholar
Primas, M. 2002. Early tin bronze in Central and Southern Europe, in Bartelheim, M., Pernicka, E. & Krause, R. (ed.) The beginnings of metallurgy in the Old World: 303–14. Rahden: Marie Leidorf.Google Scholar
Pryce, T. O. 2009. Prehistoric copper production and technological reproduction in the Khao Wong Prachan Valley of central Thailand. Unpublished PhD dissertation, University College London.Google Scholar
Radivojević, M. 2007. Evidence for early copper smelting in Belovode, a Vinća culture site in eastern Serbia. Unpublished MSc dissertation, University College London.Google Scholar
Raub, C. J. 1995. The metallurgy of gold and silver in prehistoric times, in Morteani, G. & Northover, J. P. (ed.) Prehistoric gold in Europe: mines, metallurgy and manufacture: 243–59. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Renfrew, C. 1969. The autonomy of the south-east European Copper Age. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 35: 12–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Renfrew, C. 1986. Varna and the emergence of wealth in prehistoric Europe, in Appadurai, A. (ed.) Social life of things: commodities in a cultural perspective: 141–68. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roberts, B. W. 2008. Creating traditions and shaping technologies: understanding the emergence of metallurgy in Western Europe c. 3500-2000 BC. World Archaeology 40(3): 354–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rostoker, W., Pigott, V. C. & Dvorak, J.. 1989. Direct reduction of copper metal by oxide-sulphide mineral interaction. Archeomaterials 3: 69–87.Google Scholar
Rovira, S. & Montero-Ruíz, I.. 2002. Natural tin-bronze alloy in Iberian Peninsula metallurgy: potentiality and reality, in Giumlia-Mair, A. & Lo Schiavo, F. (ed.) Le problème de l'étain à l'origine de la métallurgie (British Archaeological Reports International Series 1199): 15–22. Oxford: Archaeopress.Google Scholar
Ruíz Taboada, A. & Montero-Ruíz, I.. 1999. The oldest metallurgy in Western Europe. Antiquity 73: 897–903.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schoop, U.-D. 1999. Aspects of early metal use in Neolithic Mesopotamia, in Hauptmann, A., Pernicka, E., Rehren, T. & Yalçin, Ü. (ed.) The beginnings of metallurgy: 31–6. Bochum: Deutsches Bergbau Museum.Google Scholar
Sherratt, A. 2006. The Trans-Eurasian exchange: the prehistory of Chinese relations with the West, in Mair, V. (ed.) Contact and exchange in the ancient world: 30–61. Honolulu (HI): Hawai'i University Press.Google Scholar
Smith, C. S. 1981. On art, invention, and technology, in Smith, C. S. (ed.) A search for structure: 325–31. Cambridge (MA): MIT Press.Google Scholar
Thornton, C. P. 2007. Of brass and bronze in prehistoric Southwest Asia, in La Niece, S., Hook, D. & Craddock, P. (ed.) Metals and mining: studies in archaeometallurgy: 123–35. London: Archetype.Google Scholar
Thornton, C. P. In press. The rise of arsenical copper in Southeastern Iran. Iranica Antiqua.Google Scholar
Wertime, T. A. 1964. Man's first encounters with metallurgy. Science 146: 1257–67.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wertime, T. A. 1973. The beginnings of metallurgy: a new look. Science 182: 875–87.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
White, J. C. 1997. A brief note on new dates for the Ban Chiang culture tradition. Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association 16: 103–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, J. C. & Hamilton, E.. In press. The transmission of early Bronze technology to Thailand: new perspectives. Journal of World Prehistory.Google Scholar
Yener, K. A. 2000. The domestication of metals. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar