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  • Metalworking in the British Chalcolithic-Bronze Age

Alternative approaches to elucidating the social organisation of metalworking in the British Chalcolithic-Bronze Age

Chalcolithic and Bronze Age metalwork is relatively ubiquitous across the British Isles, with thousands of artefacts housed in museum archives. These artefacts demonstrate a tradition of obtaining, transforming and using metals since the introduction of copper into Britain at c. 2500 BC, thought to correlate with the arrival of the Beaker package. This arrival coincides with a time of considerable social and ideological transition in the UK, ending the more insular Neolithic which is associated with the creation of large communal monuments, such as Stonehenge and Avebury. 

In recent decades there have been significant advances in the understanding of the prehistoric mining of metals across the British Isles, with Beaker and Bronze Age mines identified in locations such as Ross Island (Ireland), the Great Orme (UK) and Alderley Edge (UK). Likewise, detailed compositional analyses of artefacts have revealed evidence of use, transportation and recycling of metals during this period, with well-defined typological schemes for Chalcolithic/Bronze Age metal artefacts. However, although the chronology for the adoption and use of metals is relatively well understood, defining the social context of metalworking has proven to be a more difficult problem to address. All too often metalworking is described as a technological process divorced from the conditions of its production. Our knowledge of both the landscape context and the social context of metalworking is still limited and old questions remain unanswered. Was bronze cast by itinerant smiths or by specialists tied to particular communities?

The reasons for this disparity, is due to the lack of archaeological evidence. The archaeological evidence from metallurgy during these early prehistoric periods are likely to be slight, and possibly not identifiable as metalworking remains during excavation. However, the application of scientific analyses have considerable potential to address these questions, through looking at samples from excavated sites of these periods on the microscopic geochemical level.

Figure-1-Cu-anomalies-Trewortha

Figure 1:  Identification of copper anomalies from floor contexts sampled from a replica Middle Bronze Age roundhouse where experimental copper and bronze working had occurred (pdf version)

 

Project timeframe

This is an ongoing project starting in 2017.

Project aims

This new project is being launched to investigate this social dimension of metalworking, through utilising geochemical surveys on samples obtained from the excavations of Chalcolithic/Bronze Age sites across the UK. A range of sites dating from enclosures or henges used in the Chalcolithic/Early Bronze Age, through to roundhouses associated with the Middle Bronze Age, are going to be investigated, through integrating detailed geochemical sampling and analyses within archaeological excavations. Previous work has demonstrated a robust ability for geochemical analysis to detect metalworking signatures from experimental copper alloy metalworking (Figure 1) and also in a Middle Bronze Age roundhouse at Tremough, Cornwall. These methods of analyses will used on a range of Chalcolithic and Bronze Age sites across the UK to create data on this elusive distribution and location of Chalcolithic/Bronze Age metalworking.

Project findings and impact

The project is just starting, but there is considerable scope to identify metalworking in the archaeological record through the project. Analyses are ongoing on samples from the Damerham Henge sites recently discovered on Cranborne Chase and a possible Beaker metalworking assemblage from Cornwall. This summer will see the excavation of a roundhouse on Bodmin Moor with detailed geochemical analysis and sampling and other sites will be investigated in due course.

Research team

Dr Chris Carey – University of Brighton – Project Lead

Output

To follow on completion of the project

Partners

Dr Andy Jones – Cornwall Archaeological Unit, Cornwall Council – Project Partner

Dr Gill Juleff – University of Exeter – Project Partner

Dr Mike Allen – Allen Environmental Archaeology – Project Partner

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