Краткие сообщения Института археологии (КСИА), 2019
Точное определение химического и изотопного состава серебряных изделий Бородинского клада позволи... more Точное определение химического и изотопного состава серебряных изделий Бородинского клада позволило выявить сходство и различия в характеристиках серебряных сплавов, реконструировать технологические биографии изделий и определить, в какой степени они связаны друг с другом. При изготовлении копья 1, кинжала и втулки копья 3 к полученному методом купелирования серебру, состав которого связывается с чистым серебром копья 1, была добавлена мышьяковая медь, смешанная с оловом. Эти предметы клада имеют общую производственную биографию , связанную, вероятно, с металлургическими традициями степной зоны юга Восточной Европы. По типу и химическому составу копье 2 Бородинского клада можно связать с серебряными изделиями Турбинского могильника на Урале, при сопоставлении с которыми прослеживается единая технологическая схема: при их изготовлении к серебру добавлялась медь с повышенным содержанием мышьяка или никеля. The paper is dedicated to the studies of the Borodino hoard. Precise chemical a...
The metal composition of bronze alloys has been routinely examined as a means of inferring the so... more The metal composition of bronze alloys has been routinely examined as a means of inferring the source of the ore. But bronze is recycled, and the quantity of some components, such as arsenic, is depleted every time the alloy is melted down. Since the Early Bronze Age of the British Isles was largely supplied from a single mine on Ross Island, Co. Kerry, tracking arsenic content shows the number of re-melts and this gives the object a biography and a social context. Applying this ingenious new procedure to their large database, the authors also winkle out other sources of supply and new insights about the technology involved.
We present a new methodology for interpreting lead isotope data from archaeological copper alloy ... more We present a new methodology for interpreting lead isotope data from archaeological copper alloy objects. It is not based on the conventional isotope ratio biplots, which were originally devised to allow the calculation of the geological age of the lead mineralization, but is derived from isotope mixing models, more often used for presenting strontium isotope data. We illustrate the method by reworking published data on Sardinian Nuragic oxhide ingots and copper alloy artefacts. While we confirm the consensus assumption that the oxhide ingot fragments found on Sardinia are isotopically consistent with Cypriot copper ores (although we see no isotopic reason to favour only Apliki, as originally suggested), we also show that there is evidence for mixing between local and ingot copper in some objects, which was previously not detected. More broadly, we suspect that the apparent mismatch between some source allocations for copper drawn from isotope geochemistry and the rest of the archae...
Anyang, the last capital of the Chinese Shang dynasty, became one of the largest metal consumers ... more Anyang, the last capital of the Chinese Shang dynasty, became one of the largest metal consumers in Eurasia during the second millennium BCE. However, it remains unclear how Anyang people managed to sustain such a large supply of metal. By considering the chemical analysis of bronze objects within archaeological contexts, this paper shows that the casting and circulation of metal at Anyang was effectively governed by social hierarchy. Objects belonging to the high elites such as Fuhao, particularly the bronze ritual vessels, were made by carefully controlled alloying practice (primary) using very pure copper, whereas the lower elites only had access to bronzes made by secondary alloying practice and copper with more impurities. Such contrasts allow scholars to identify those objects which are less likely to have been made by mixing and recycling, which has very important implications for the chemical and isotopic determination of provenance for future studies.
The role of Panlongcheng—a walled settlement on the Yangtze River with obvious links to the Erlig... more The role of Panlongcheng—a walled settlement on the Yangtze River with obvious links to the Erligang capital at Zhengzhou, ~ 500 km to the north—in early Bronze Age China has been the subject of much debate. Panlongcheng is a typical Erligang site (~ 1500–1300 BC), with evidence for people of elite status, unlike any other site apart from Zhengzhou itself. The tombs and bronzes at Panlongcheng, as well as other materials, closely resemble those at Zhengzhou. Why was Panlongcheng established along the Yangtze River, and what were the Erligang elites doing there? Considering the rich copper deposits in this area, it is widely assumed that the major function of Panlongcheng was to ship metal to Zhengzhou, and in return to receive bronze vessels from Zhengzhou. The purpose of this paper is to revisit this discussion through a re-evaluation of the scientific data on the bronzes from each site. A series of differences and similarities in the chemical and isotopic compositions of the metal...
In recent years, the Research Laboratory for Archaeology and History of Art in the University of ... more In recent years, the Research Laboratory for Archaeology and History of Art in the University of Oxford has developed a systematic approach to metal chemistry designed to characterize, using trace elements, alloying elements and lead isotopes in an assemblage of material, the underlying flow of metal. The primary objective of this paper is to present its fundamental principal, stepwise analysis meaning and a number of preliminary results from its application to Shang and Western Zhou China and some associated regions. The characterization in this paper has brought new light to a series of archaeologically meaningful issues on copper flow between Zhengzhou and Panlongcheng, remelting objects during the interaction between central China and the Steppe, the provenance and dynamic mechanism of copper and lead supply from Erlitou/Erligang, Anyang to Western Zhou. More importantly, it enables scholars to combine more easily archaeological information and scientific data and ask new questi...
Connections, contacts and interactions between ancient cultures of Northern Eurasia and civilizations of the East during the Palaeometal period (IV–I mil. BC)
The potential of copper-alloy objects to be re-melted and recast is a powerful property, allowing... more The potential of copper-alloy objects to be re-melted and recast is a powerful property, allowing them to be reused, reshaped, merged, split, and re-contextualized almost without limit. This profound mutability has significant implications:. identifying and quantifying recycling is a notorious and significant challenge, at least within the framework of the ‘provenance hypothesis’, which aims to establish a direct link between a chemical or isotopic signature of an artefact and its original ore source. This chapter proposes alternative approaches to chemical data—a ‘characterization hypothesis’. Rather than chemically identifying a separate block of ‘recycled metal’, we can instead define a series of overlapping processes of metal melting, mixing, and manipulation. Instead of replacing the search for a provenance signal with one for a recycling signal, we should instead embrace the intricacies of the archaeological and chemical record. This complexity more accurately represents the m...
Connections, contacts and interactions between ancient cultures of Northern Eurasia and civilizations of the East during the Palaeometal period (IV–I mil. BC), 2019
The role of Panlongcheng-a walled settlement on the Yangtze River with obvious links to the Erlig... more The role of Panlongcheng-a walled settlement on the Yangtze River with obvious links to the Erligang capital at Zhengzhou, ~ 500 km to the north-in early Bronze Age China has been the subject of much debate. Panlongcheng is a typical Erligang site (~ 1500-1300 BC), with evidence for people of elite status, unlike any other site apart from Zhengzhou itself. The tombs and bronzes at Panlongcheng, as well as other materials, closely resemble those at Zhengzhou. Why was Panlongcheng established along the Yangtze River, and what were the Erligang elites doing there? Considering the rich copper deposits in this area, it is widely assumed that the major function of Panlongcheng was to ship metal to Zhengzhou, and in return to receive bronze vessels from Zhengzhou. The purpose of this paper is to revisit this discussion through a re-evaluation of the scientific data on the bronzes from each site. A series of differences and similarities in the chemical and isotopic compositions of the metal...
Anyang, the last capital of the Chinese Shang dynasty, became one of the largest metal consumers ... more Anyang, the last capital of the Chinese Shang dynasty, became one of the largest metal consumers in Eurasia during the second millennium BCE. However, it remains unclear how Anyang people managed to sustain such a large supply of metal. By considering the chemical analysis of bronze objects within archaeological contexts, this paper shows that the casting and circulation of metal at Anyang was effectively governed by social hierarchy. Objects belonging to the high elites such as Fuhao, particularly the bronze ritual vessels, were made by carefully controlled alloying practice (primary) using very pure copper, whereas the lower elites only had access to bronzes made by secondary alloying practice and copper with more impurities. Such contrasts allow scholars to identify those objects which are less likely to have been made by mixing and recycling, which has very important implications for the chemical and isotopic determination of provenance for future studies. Metal is one of the ea...
This paper discusses the reorganisation of archaeometallurgical legacy data for future research. ... more This paper discusses the reorganisation of archaeometallurgical legacy data for future research. When archaeometallurgical research aims to answer questions that involve significant movements of raw material or metal objects, it needs to rely on large sets of data. These data are available but scattered across hundreds publications, where they are differently organised, based on the focus of the original papers. The FLAME-D database aims to collect this corpus of data and include it in a versatile structure that also maintains the information about the original data organization. The production of such a database requires transparent data transformations. The database is complemented by a series of online tools that make data available to answer new questions.
Краткие сообщения Института археологии (КСИА), 2019
Точное определение химического и изотопного состава серебряных изделий Бородинского клада позволи... more Точное определение химического и изотопного состава серебряных изделий Бородинского клада позволило выявить сходство и различия в характеристиках серебряных сплавов, реконструировать технологические биографии изделий и определить, в какой степени они связаны друг с другом. При изготовлении копья 1, кинжала и втулки копья 3 к полученному методом купелирования серебру, состав которого связывается с чистым серебром копья 1, была добавлена мышьяковая медь, смешанная с оловом. Эти предметы клада имеют общую производственную биографию , связанную, вероятно, с металлургическими традициями степной зоны юга Восточной Европы. По типу и химическому составу копье 2 Бородинского клада можно связать с серебряными изделиями Турбинского могильника на Урале, при сопоставлении с которыми прослеживается единая технологическая схема: при их изготовлении к серебру добавлялась медь с повышенным содержанием мышьяка или никеля. The paper is dedicated to the studies of the Borodino hoard. Precise chemical a...
The metal composition of bronze alloys has been routinely examined as a means of inferring the so... more The metal composition of bronze alloys has been routinely examined as a means of inferring the source of the ore. But bronze is recycled, and the quantity of some components, such as arsenic, is depleted every time the alloy is melted down. Since the Early Bronze Age of the British Isles was largely supplied from a single mine on Ross Island, Co. Kerry, tracking arsenic content shows the number of re-melts and this gives the object a biography and a social context. Applying this ingenious new procedure to their large database, the authors also winkle out other sources of supply and new insights about the technology involved.
We present a new methodology for interpreting lead isotope data from archaeological copper alloy ... more We present a new methodology for interpreting lead isotope data from archaeological copper alloy objects. It is not based on the conventional isotope ratio biplots, which were originally devised to allow the calculation of the geological age of the lead mineralization, but is derived from isotope mixing models, more often used for presenting strontium isotope data. We illustrate the method by reworking published data on Sardinian Nuragic oxhide ingots and copper alloy artefacts. While we confirm the consensus assumption that the oxhide ingot fragments found on Sardinia are isotopically consistent with Cypriot copper ores (although we see no isotopic reason to favour only Apliki, as originally suggested), we also show that there is evidence for mixing between local and ingot copper in some objects, which was previously not detected. More broadly, we suspect that the apparent mismatch between some source allocations for copper drawn from isotope geochemistry and the rest of the archae...
Anyang, the last capital of the Chinese Shang dynasty, became one of the largest metal consumers ... more Anyang, the last capital of the Chinese Shang dynasty, became one of the largest metal consumers in Eurasia during the second millennium BCE. However, it remains unclear how Anyang people managed to sustain such a large supply of metal. By considering the chemical analysis of bronze objects within archaeological contexts, this paper shows that the casting and circulation of metal at Anyang was effectively governed by social hierarchy. Objects belonging to the high elites such as Fuhao, particularly the bronze ritual vessels, were made by carefully controlled alloying practice (primary) using very pure copper, whereas the lower elites only had access to bronzes made by secondary alloying practice and copper with more impurities. Such contrasts allow scholars to identify those objects which are less likely to have been made by mixing and recycling, which has very important implications for the chemical and isotopic determination of provenance for future studies.
The role of Panlongcheng—a walled settlement on the Yangtze River with obvious links to the Erlig... more The role of Panlongcheng—a walled settlement on the Yangtze River with obvious links to the Erligang capital at Zhengzhou, ~ 500 km to the north—in early Bronze Age China has been the subject of much debate. Panlongcheng is a typical Erligang site (~ 1500–1300 BC), with evidence for people of elite status, unlike any other site apart from Zhengzhou itself. The tombs and bronzes at Panlongcheng, as well as other materials, closely resemble those at Zhengzhou. Why was Panlongcheng established along the Yangtze River, and what were the Erligang elites doing there? Considering the rich copper deposits in this area, it is widely assumed that the major function of Panlongcheng was to ship metal to Zhengzhou, and in return to receive bronze vessels from Zhengzhou. The purpose of this paper is to revisit this discussion through a re-evaluation of the scientific data on the bronzes from each site. A series of differences and similarities in the chemical and isotopic compositions of the metal...
In recent years, the Research Laboratory for Archaeology and History of Art in the University of ... more In recent years, the Research Laboratory for Archaeology and History of Art in the University of Oxford has developed a systematic approach to metal chemistry designed to characterize, using trace elements, alloying elements and lead isotopes in an assemblage of material, the underlying flow of metal. The primary objective of this paper is to present its fundamental principal, stepwise analysis meaning and a number of preliminary results from its application to Shang and Western Zhou China and some associated regions. The characterization in this paper has brought new light to a series of archaeologically meaningful issues on copper flow between Zhengzhou and Panlongcheng, remelting objects during the interaction between central China and the Steppe, the provenance and dynamic mechanism of copper and lead supply from Erlitou/Erligang, Anyang to Western Zhou. More importantly, it enables scholars to combine more easily archaeological information and scientific data and ask new questi...
Connections, contacts and interactions between ancient cultures of Northern Eurasia and civilizations of the East during the Palaeometal period (IV–I mil. BC)
The potential of copper-alloy objects to be re-melted and recast is a powerful property, allowing... more The potential of copper-alloy objects to be re-melted and recast is a powerful property, allowing them to be reused, reshaped, merged, split, and re-contextualized almost without limit. This profound mutability has significant implications:. identifying and quantifying recycling is a notorious and significant challenge, at least within the framework of the ‘provenance hypothesis’, which aims to establish a direct link between a chemical or isotopic signature of an artefact and its original ore source. This chapter proposes alternative approaches to chemical data—a ‘characterization hypothesis’. Rather than chemically identifying a separate block of ‘recycled metal’, we can instead define a series of overlapping processes of metal melting, mixing, and manipulation. Instead of replacing the search for a provenance signal with one for a recycling signal, we should instead embrace the intricacies of the archaeological and chemical record. This complexity more accurately represents the m...
Connections, contacts and interactions between ancient cultures of Northern Eurasia and civilizations of the East during the Palaeometal period (IV–I mil. BC), 2019
The role of Panlongcheng-a walled settlement on the Yangtze River with obvious links to the Erlig... more The role of Panlongcheng-a walled settlement on the Yangtze River with obvious links to the Erligang capital at Zhengzhou, ~ 500 km to the north-in early Bronze Age China has been the subject of much debate. Panlongcheng is a typical Erligang site (~ 1500-1300 BC), with evidence for people of elite status, unlike any other site apart from Zhengzhou itself. The tombs and bronzes at Panlongcheng, as well as other materials, closely resemble those at Zhengzhou. Why was Panlongcheng established along the Yangtze River, and what were the Erligang elites doing there? Considering the rich copper deposits in this area, it is widely assumed that the major function of Panlongcheng was to ship metal to Zhengzhou, and in return to receive bronze vessels from Zhengzhou. The purpose of this paper is to revisit this discussion through a re-evaluation of the scientific data on the bronzes from each site. A series of differences and similarities in the chemical and isotopic compositions of the metal...
Anyang, the last capital of the Chinese Shang dynasty, became one of the largest metal consumers ... more Anyang, the last capital of the Chinese Shang dynasty, became one of the largest metal consumers in Eurasia during the second millennium BCE. However, it remains unclear how Anyang people managed to sustain such a large supply of metal. By considering the chemical analysis of bronze objects within archaeological contexts, this paper shows that the casting and circulation of metal at Anyang was effectively governed by social hierarchy. Objects belonging to the high elites such as Fuhao, particularly the bronze ritual vessels, were made by carefully controlled alloying practice (primary) using very pure copper, whereas the lower elites only had access to bronzes made by secondary alloying practice and copper with more impurities. Such contrasts allow scholars to identify those objects which are less likely to have been made by mixing and recycling, which has very important implications for the chemical and isotopic determination of provenance for future studies. Metal is one of the ea...
This paper discusses the reorganisation of archaeometallurgical legacy data for future research. ... more This paper discusses the reorganisation of archaeometallurgical legacy data for future research. When archaeometallurgical research aims to answer questions that involve significant movements of raw material or metal objects, it needs to rely on large sets of data. These data are available but scattered across hundreds publications, where they are differently organised, based on the focus of the original papers. The FLAME-D database aims to collect this corpus of data and include it in a versatile structure that also maintains the information about the original data organization. The production of such a database requires transparent data transformations. The database is complemented by a series of online tools that make data available to answer new questions.
Uploads
Papers by Peter Bray