Copper-based metallurgy by Mercedes Murillo-Barroso
This article has been peer-reviewed through the journal's standard double-blind peer-review proce... more This article has been peer-reviewed through the journal's standard double-blind peer-review process, where both the reviewers and authors are anonymised during review.
Metallurgy has been defined as a pivotal activity in understanding of the development of El Argar... more Metallurgy has been defined as a pivotal activity in understanding of the development of El Argar society. Nonetheless, comprehensive studies of extractive metallurgical processes based on archaeometallurgical analyses remain lacking. This article examines the production remains found at the El Argar site of Laderas del Castillo, documented from 2150 to 1950 cal BC, including samples of slag, crucibles, copper prills and artefacts. Laderas del Castillo emerges as a key site for understanding the technology and organization of metallurgical production in the El Argar world. There are few sites with archaeometric analysis of metallurgical remains, and the present case allows for an almost complete view of the entire metallurgical chaîne opératoire in this period. Microstructural analyses of smelting remains by SEM-EDS reveal a technological tradition that mirrors the previous Copper Age one and the direct exploitation of complex arsenical copper ores with occasional copper sulphides. Despite the existence of closer mineralizations, lead isotope analyses show the exploitation of various copper resources and sources far from the settlement (Linares, the Interior of the Baetic Cordilleras and Almagrera, about 300, 200 and 140 km respectively). These active exchange networks in Laderas del Castillo reflect the same pattern found in the rest of the El Argar territory, which is based on the intensive exploitation of mineralizations in the interior of the Baetics and the Southeast of the peninsula. Some of these sources have also been observed in Copper Age metallurgy, suggesting that the mobility and exchange networks operating in the southeast during the El Argar period were rooted in earlier archaeological phases, indicating a wide and complex exchange network in the region.
Geoarchaeology
This research addresses the territorial organisation of metallurgical production during the El Ar... more This research addresses the territorial organisation of metallurgical production during the El Argar Bronze Age (2200-1550 cal BC) in the inner areas of El Argar territory through lead-isotope and trace element analyses of geological copper ores, archaeometallurgical remains and copper-based artefacts. Results from 31 mineral and 35 archaeological samples suggest that the exploitation of copper resources in the studied region was significant and had a similar impact than other mining districts of El Argar territory. This, therefore, leads the hierarchical and centralised production model to be questioned. It also appears that the copper ore deposits in the coastal regions that were intensively exploited during the Copper Age were used less intensively in the El Argar period. At that time, copper was mostly procured from ore deposits in the inland areas of El Argar territory: that is, ore deposits within the Alpine orogeny hinterland (inland areas of the Betic Cordillera, from Granada to Baza). Other artefacts were sourced from outside the Alpine geological domain, but still on the fringe of El Argar territory (the foothills of the Sierra Morena-Linares mining district) or even from ore deposits definitely outside El Argar territory itself (the Los Pedroches Variscan region and elsewhere).
Archeometriai Műhely
The transition from arsenic copper to tin-bronze in ancient metallurgy has long been attributed t... more The transition from arsenic copper to tin-bronze in ancient metallurgy has long been attributed to the superior physical and mechanical properties of tin-bronze. However, recent archaeometallurgical studies have cast doubt on this theory, suggesting that the functional and productive advantages of tin-bronze over arsenical copper may not be as clear-cut as traditionally thought.
This paper presents the analytical study of the metal objects from the Siret Collection held by t... more This paper presents the analytical study of the metal objects from the Siret Collection held by the British Museum. X-ray Fluorescence has been conducted to determine their elemental composition and by lead isotope analysis (by MC-ICP-MS) to determine their origin. We combine this new data with extant analyses to discuss and reinterpret the role of bronze alloys in Argaric society and the diversity of exploited mining resources.
Objects of personal adornment from Late Antiquity have been extensively studied in the Iberian Pe... more Objects of personal adornment from Late Antiquity have been extensively studied in the Iberian Peninsula since the 19th century, when the first funerary contexts from that period began to come to light. However, only partial information was available with regard to their production process and chemical composition. This came from the archaeometallurgical studies carried out on funerary assemblages from central and northern Iberia. In order to obtain a more complete picture, a set of 80 copper-based alloy objects were analysed, most of ornaments and parts of them, from the necropolis of Cortijo del Chopo (Granada), in southeastern Spain. The results from the portable X-ray fluorescence reveal the presence of a wide variety of alloys and confirm the practice of recycling metals to make the items, a characteristic of the metallurgy of the period. Lead isotope analysis provide evidence of a local production of brass objects with a high Zn content, similar in appearance to gold.
LANDSCAPES AND RESOURCES IN THE BRONZE AGE OF SOUTHERN SPAIN, 2022
Contrary to copper ore resources, tin is scarce in southeastern Iberia. However, tin is essential... more Contrary to copper ore resources, tin is scarce in southeastern Iberia. However, tin is essential to produce the copper/tin alloy called tin bronze.
The fi rst use of this alloy in the so-called El Argar Culture is detected in its later phases (from 1900–1800 calBC), although it never constituted the predominant alloy. The absence of metallurgical debris related to bronze smelting limits our understanding on how the alloy was obtained
and if cassiterite was co-smelted with copper ores in the Argaric territory or whether metallic tin bronzes were imported to El Argar from regions
further away. Tin, as an external resource, would have been exchanged or traded, but there is also the possibility that fi nished bronze objects were
imported as well. Some differential pattern in the presence/absence of arsenic in the composition of metal objects could refl ect a double strategy, suggesting that local production of tin bronzes usually
contains some arsenic, but tin bronzes without any arsenic could have come from other Iberian regions, or at least that different copper ores for
the production of arsenical copper and tin bronze were used. This hypothesis is tested using the available lead isotopes analyses.
Revista d'Arqueologia de Ponent, 2021
Se presentan nuevos datos sobre la actividad metalúrgica en el
término de Gandía obtenidos en las... more Se presentan nuevos datos sobre la actividad metalúrgica en el
término de Gandía obtenidos en las excavaciones de las parcelas de
Sanxo Llop durante los años del 2010 al 2016. El trabajo recoge la
información sobre tres estructuras (59, 105 y 126), una de ellas con
un enterramiento infantil. Todas ellas contienen restos metalúrgicos
y algunos objetos cuyo estudio mediante caracterización elemental
(XRF) y de análisis isótopos de plomo permiten reinterpretar el
modelo propuesto hace años para la metalurgia calcolítica del vecino
yacimiento de La Vital. La constatación de metalurgia precampaniforme 
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Copper-based metallurgy by Mercedes Murillo-Barroso
The fi rst use of this alloy in the so-called El Argar Culture is detected in its later phases (from 1900–1800 calBC), although it never constituted the predominant alloy. The absence of metallurgical debris related to bronze smelting limits our understanding on how the alloy was obtained
and if cassiterite was co-smelted with copper ores in the Argaric territory or whether metallic tin bronzes were imported to El Argar from regions
further away. Tin, as an external resource, would have been exchanged or traded, but there is also the possibility that fi nished bronze objects were
imported as well. Some differential pattern in the presence/absence of arsenic in the composition of metal objects could refl ect a double strategy, suggesting that local production of tin bronzes usually
contains some arsenic, but tin bronzes without any arsenic could have come from other Iberian regions, or at least that different copper ores for
the production of arsenical copper and tin bronze were used. This hypothesis is tested using the available lead isotopes analyses.
término de Gandía obtenidos en las excavaciones de las parcelas de
Sanxo Llop durante los años del 2010 al 2016. El trabajo recoge la
información sobre tres estructuras (59, 105 y 126), una de ellas con
un enterramiento infantil. Todas ellas contienen restos metalúrgicos
y algunos objetos cuyo estudio mediante caracterización elemental
(XRF) y de análisis isótopos de plomo permiten reinterpretar el
modelo propuesto hace años para la metalurgia calcolítica del vecino
yacimiento de La Vital. La constatación de metalurgia precampaniforme