Archaeological investigations carried out in 1999 in the town centre of Vaste (Puglia, inland from Otranto) have brought to light a Messapian sanctuary. The sacred area includes a building divided in two enclosures with fireplaces, and an open space with three large underground pits. In the enclosure B a large hearth comprises layers pertaining to various activities in the life of the sanctuary. They show a persisting use of the same area going on through centuries since the sixth till the end of the third century BC. In the first century BC this place was still reminded, so it was protected by a crumbled limestone stratum. Metallurgical and archaeobotanical analysis contribute to reconstruct some aspects of the worship.

Analisi archeometriche dei rinvenimenti nella fattoria romana di San Biagio (Metaponto)

Vengono esaminati e discussi i risultati delle indagini archeometallurgiche condotte sui reperti rinvenuti alla Corna Nibbia di Bione (Brescia).

Ra’s al-Jinz and Failaka were two key sites of the Arabian Peninsula of 3rd and 2nd millennium BC. Arabia represented, during the Bronze Age, a marginal area with respect to the great Near East centres, even though it played a role anything but secondary as a source of supply for precious and raw materials. The Peninsula, and particularly Oman, has relevant copper ore deposits, a strategic material that has been the object of middle and long distance trades. In fact the region was incorporated in an international net of traffic directed to supply of metals the ancient Mesopotamian states. For the early copper exploitation the most promising metal ore deposits are those located in south-eastern Arabia, and in the Al Hajjar Mountains in particular. The coastal settlement of Ra's al-Jinz in Oman peninsula is placed on a low tabular promontory, marks the eastern extremity of the Arabian Peninsula and it was the first sign of the Arabian coasts for the sailors coming from India. Several constructions characterize the Early Bronze Age settlement; a quite large amount of metal items were discovered in its houses, finished objects (sometimes of exotic aspect), semi-manufactured materials and evidence of copper melting, like crucible fragments and copper prills: metallurgy played a relevant role at RJ-2. The analyses made with ED-XRF show a developed metallurgy of copper and copper alloys; there are evidences of tin alloying on the site too. Failaka is a large island situated about 20 km off the coast, at the entrance to Kuwait Bay; it blocks the entrance to the bay and it controls the mouths of the Tigris and the Euphrates, the Shatt Al-Arab. One of the main characteristics of the Failaka metal production is the large amount and the typological variability of the artefacts that were recovered during the excavations. About 90 kg of metallic finds were discovered in the Bronze Age levels. They show a large variability in shapes and types. Many functional classes of objects are represented, most of the metal items that were in use in the second half of the 2nd millennium BC in this part of Arabian Peninsula. The island had no metal ore deposits nearby, therefore it had to import ingots and scrap metal in order to feed the local industry: Failaka was in fact a relevant centre for the production and for recycling of metals, collected from different place of the region. The analyses carried out on metalwork from the site show a developed level of metallurgy.

The use of three-dimensional models is widespread in many sciences and has been in common use in archaeological studies, both in the phase of the study and in divulgation for a long time. When making decisions about the use of available technologies the following aspects should be taken into consideration: cost, accuracy, speed and easy of use. The Computer Vision is a relatively recent computer technology that is able to produce a three-dimensional reconstruction by a cluster of photos processed by automated software. The aim of this work is to evaluate the performance offered by the Computer Vision using low cost tools and software.

Italy with its major islands represents an area of strong interactions between the Mediterranean world and Europe throughout history, thanks to the peculiar geographical position of the peninsula. The metal finds, mostly from hoards, underline these contacts that flourished particularly in the period of the Late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age. Razors, swords, trunnion axes, palstaves, flesh-hooks and fibulae chart a course that connects the Mediterranean with Western Europe. The presence of these materials in the Sicilian Late Bronze Age – Early Iron Age outlines the role of the island in a multidirectional network of maritime traffic. Late Bronze Age southern Italian hoards and particularly those ones from Apulia show connections with the Aegean and the Balkans. Axes, swords, knives and hammers from these hoards reveal the existence of intensive trade and cultural interactions across the Adriatic and Ionian Seas in the late phases of prehistory. Meaningful evidence is provided by the presence of moulds for the production of artefacts of Aegean typology from the settlement of Roca Vecchia (Lecce).

Il sito di Frattesina, nel Veneto meridionale, fa parte di un sistema territoriale discontinuo, che si estende a S-E fino a Villamarzana, a E fino a Campestrin di Grignano Polesine, e si sviluppa fra EBR e fase iniziale dell’EdF (ca. XIII-IX sec. a.C.). L’analisi dello sviluppo territoriale e della sequenza crono-tipologica è stata elaborata da Paolo Bellintani, che ha identificato tre fasi principali: 1 - EBR/EBF iniziale; 2- fase piena dell’EBF; 3 - fase finale dell’EBF e inizi dell’EdF Per tutto il corso del suo sviluppo il comprensorio si caratterizza per la concentrazione, finora unica in Italia, di attività produttive su scala industriale, basate sia su risorse locali (palco di cervo e - in parte - il vetro con composizione ad alcali misti) sia su materie prime esotiche (rame, piombo, bronzo, oro, ambra baltica, avorio di elefante, uovo di struzzo). La fase 1, nota fino a pochi anni fa solo in base a materiali raccolti in superficie, ha trovato una conferma significativa con la scoperta del sito di Campestrin di Grignano Polesine, un centro per la produzione intensiva di manufatti di ambra di provenienza baltica. Fase 2 - EBF antica e media; questa fase corrisponde al massimo sviluppo di tutte le produzioni, che si concentrano in particolare nel sito di Frattesina (abitato e necropoli di Narde). Fase 3 - compresa fra il momento finale dell’EBF e quello iniziale della IEF: presente a Frattesina, documentato in modo consistente nell’abitato di Villamarzana e nelle necropoli di Narde e di Fondo Zanotto. L’abitato di Frattesina, documentato per ora nel modo più completo nel corso della fase piena dell’EBF, è attualmente riconosciuto come un importantissimo nodo di produzione e di scambio, con collegamenti sistematici in direzione dell’Europa e del Mediterraneo. La possibilità che, almeno durante questa fase, il sito di Frattesina sia la sede della direzione politica del sistema, è indicata, oltre che dalla concentrazione di attività produttive e di scambio, dalla presenza nella necropoli di Narde di due sole tombe maschili (168 e 227), sul totale di circa un migliaio, con un corredo comprendente una spada, in entrambi i casi defunzionalizzata. In particolare nella t. 227, databile a una fase antica dell’EBF, la concentrazione di indicatori di prestigio e di ruolo si presenta in modo chiaro come correlato di uno status sociale eccezionale

For a long time, the important role of the central Tyrrhenian regions in the development and diffusion of metallurgy in the Italian Peninsula has been emphasised, as has the social and economic development connected with it (Bittel et al. 1968: 94–5; Barker & Slater 1971: 189–90, 193; Renfrew & Whitehouse 1979: 238–45; Skeates 1993: 5–10; Dolfini 2010: 707–9). Some of the principal Italian copper ore deposits are located in Etruria, a region where this metal emerges at a very early stage – the beginning of metallurgy in Tuscany occurred during the mid 4th millennium BC – suggesting that in these initial periods the metals were produced in smithing centres connected to local mining centres not too far from ore deposits (Ottaway 1982: 196). In a wider context, in Eastern Europe the metal appears around the 6th millennium BC: copper smelting slag comes from Vinča culture contexts, from the beginning of the 5th millennium BC (Glumac & Todd 1991: 10–2, 14; Giardino 2010: 234, 237–337). In central Europe copper objects and smelting slag have been found in the late Neolithic Austrian and Bavarian Münchshöfen culture in the second half

introduzione all'archeometallurgia dal calcolitico al medioevo

Studio sul popolamento preistorico dell'isola di capri sulla base delle vecchie ricerche e delle ultime indagini archeologiche.

La nascita dell’archeologia sperimentale coincide con quella degli studi scientifici di preistoria; ne sono stati pionieri studiosi scandinavi e inglesi, come S. Nilsson, J. Evans, J. Lubbock e A. Pitt Rivers. Essi applicarono il metodo sperimentale per studiare il funzionamento e le tecniche di produzione di manufatti preistorici, come gli strumenti in selce. In questo si servirono dei dati provenienti dalle indagini etnologiche: archeologia sperimentale ed etnoarcheologia sono state quindi sin dall’inizio strettamente associate. Per le sperimentazioni del XIX secolo gli strumenti musicali protostorici – come carnyx celtici e lurer nordici - costituirono oggetto di particolare interesse. L’esperimento archeologico deriva da scientifico, da cui però diverge per alcuni aspetti. Una delle principali diversità fra i due è che in quello archeologico il risultato positivo non prova l’attendibilità di una teoria, che può essere dimostrata unicamente dalle evidenze archeologiche. Un obiettivo primario è la riproduzione delle catene operative, anche allo scopo di trarne dati di natura socio-culturale. L’esame analitico dei residui prodotti nel corso dell’esperimento costituisce un elemento basilare per verificare la sua ripetibilità e compararlo con il record archeologico. L’archeologia sperimentale è soggetta a rispecchiare le tendenze ideologiche e le mode culturali del momento; questo è particolarmente evidente nelle ricostruzioni di abitazioni o di villaggi preistorico che sono state più volte tentate sin dalla metà dell’Ottocento, divenendo spesso dei musei all’aperto e dei centri sperimentali. Attualmente la situazione economica impone a questi centri di coniugare la vocazione di ricerca con esigenze pedagogiche e turistiche.

The aim of the article is to foster an interdisciplinary debate regarding the direction that studies of early metallurgy in the central Mediterranean region (from the late Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age, c4500-1650 BC) should be taking in the next decade. It is argued in particular that early metallurgical research has followed an idiosyncratic course due to the sway held on the discipline by Idealism, an influential philosophical movement that greatly hindered the development of science-based archaeology for most of the 20th century. The last fifteen years, however, have witnessed an unprecedented if rather tumultuous expansion of metallurgical research, and important advances have been made in the chronology and chaîne opératoire of early metal technology and artefacts. Yet it is the authors’ contention that, in order to reap full benefits from the recent disciplinary growth, an explicit research agenda must be set. This is to be grounded in the cross-disciplinary examination of metals based on archaeological as well as scientific methods of analysis.

Archeologia, manufatti rupestri, Etruria

The prehistoric civilizations of Oman are strongly connected with the exploitation and the use of copper, the reddish-colored metal that was first metal to be smelted from its ore. Oman, rich of copper ore deposits, was a basic source for the ancient Near East: the Sumer texts named the country Magan, a land where precious copper was found in fabulous abundance. The geography and the environments of Oman, the copper ore deposits of the country, the ancient mining and smelting techniques, the metal properties, the analytical techniques, the production of metal objects connected with the historical, cultural and economic development of Oman: these are just some of the topics covered in this volume. The book ranges from the beginning of the Omani metallurgy until the Early Iron Age, an expanded focus covering the whole of the prehistory of Oman. Particular attention has been paid to the archaeometric investigations on metal finds belonging to the different chronological periods.

Indagini sui metalli del sito protostorico di Scoglio del Tonno (TA)

A seguito degli scavi archeologici condotti dall’Institute of Classical Archaeology dell’Università del Texas di Ausin (ICA) negli anni ’70 e ’80 del secolo scorso nel sito neo-eneolitico di Pizzica Pantanello (Metaponto) diretti da Joseph C. Carter vennero rinvenuti alcuni frammenti di scodelle ascrivibili agli inizi dell’età del rame con forti tracce di esposizione al calore. Una serie di recenti indagini archeometallurgiche condotte mediante fluorescenza X, microscopia ottica ed elettronica hanno permesso di accertare che uno di tali frammenti era un crogiolo nel quale era stata colato rame; alcune labili tracce di stagno evidenziate dall’XRF fanno ipotizzare si trattasse di una lega. La determinazione della presenza di un crogiolo in un contesto così antico offre nuovi spunti di riflessione sulla diffusione della metallurgia nel Mediterraneo centrale.

Etruria is rightly considered one of the main metallurgical centers of the ancient world. Its fame is due both to the rich metal ore deposits throughout the Tyrrhenian region and to the abundance of metallic objects that were recovered from burial grounds, from hoards and from settlements, from the end of the Bronze Age onward. Etruscan craftsmanship enjoyed a high reputation in antiquity. Despite this, research on aspects of production, such as the exploitation of mines, ore smelting and manufacturing of metal items was largely neglected until recently by concerted archaeological research. The paper shows that both the ancient sources and the archaeological data agree in stressing how metallurgy constituted one of the main economical and cultural engines of the Etruscan centers ever since the proto-historic period. It analyzes the new data coming from old and recent research; a special interest is dedicated to the analytical data coming from the study of archaeological materials dating from the Villanovan period to the Etruscan times: in fact the contribution of archaeometallurgy is essential to understand the economic and socio-cultural dynamics of a people so deeply bound to the exploitation and processing of metals, as the Etruscans certainly were.