This study characterizes the bronze jewellery recovered from the Lusatian culture urn-field in Mała Kępa (Chełmno land, Poland). Among many common ornaments (e.g. necklaces, rings, pins) the ones giving evidence of a steppe-styled... more
This study characterizes the bronze jewellery recovered from the Lusatian culture urn-field in Mała Kępa (Chełmno land, Poland). Among many common ornaments (e.g. necklaces, rings, pins) the ones giving evidence of a steppe-styled inspiration (nail earrings) were also identified. With the dendritic microstructures revealed, the nail earrings prove the implementing of a lost-wax casting method, whereas some of the castings were further subjected to metalworking. The elemental composition indicates the application of two main types of bronze alloys: Cu-Sn and Cu-Sn-Pb. It has been established that the Lusatian metalworkers were familiar with re-melting the scrap bronze and made themselves capable of roasting the sulphide-rich ores. The collection from Mała Kępa has been described in terms of its structure and composition. The investigations were made by means of the energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (ED-XRF), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with an energy di...
Research Interests: Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology, Archaeometry, X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) Spectroscopy, Archaeometallurgy, and 14 moreScythian archaeology, Urnfield Culture, Prehistory, Non Destructive Testing, Iron Age, Prehistoric Archeology, Investment Casting, Scythians, Lusatian Culture, Scythian and other Eurasian Nomadic Horse Warrior Cultures, Lost Wax Bronze Casting, Copper Alloys, Scythian Archaeology, and Scythian and Other Eurasian Nomadic Horse Warrior Cultures
At the beginning of 750 BC, the Urnfield world-system was about to collapse, bringing about many serious cultural changes in the region of Central Europe along with the atomization of local Lusatian communities from the territory that is... more
At the beginning of 750 BC, the Urnfield world-system was about to collapse, bringing about many serious cultural changes in the region of Central Europe along with the atomization of local Lusatian communities from the territory that is today northern Poland. It was a time of growing social and political competition between the Lusatian power elites, which took different forms, including more or less open struggle for influence in the metal trading network. In this paper, we provide new chemical (using ED XRF and SEM-EDS) and technological (using mCT, X-ray, OM and SEM-EDS) data for the bronze anklet and three phalerae which were hoarded in present-day Lipienek, northern Poland, between 600 and 450 BC, to combine it further with patterns of metalwork production and consumption in the region. Particular emphasis is placed on the need to present how the metal trading influenced cultural interactions between the Lusatian peoples from the Chełmno land and the nearby Kuyavia region, and how the Chełmno group responded to the dynamic and interconnected landscape of Early Iron Age Poland. Through exploring the metal artefacts from Lipienek, we also contribute to a better understanding of the bricoleur style in the Lusatian metalworking. Here, it appears that this technological trajectory might have resulted from the pragmatism of metalworkers who searched for a way to keep pace with the social and technological competition during the Lusatian era. Furthermore, the results have allowed us to hypothesise that the bricoleur style behind the hoard can also reflect the alienation of Chełmno group metalworkers and their patrons from the mainstream metal trading network, which was controlled by the Stanomin centre in the nearby Kuyavia region.