Inventing Metallurgy in Western Eurasia

A Look Through the Microscope Lens

Datos Bibliográficos

ID7700514
AutoresMiljana Radivojević (0000-0001-7329-305X, University College London, autor de correspondencia)
Año2015
Volumen25
Número1
Páginas321-338
Fecha de publicación2015-02-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaCambridge Archaeological Journal (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0959-7743 • E-ISSN: 1474-0540
EditorialCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0959774314001097
OpenAlexW2317659821
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas19
Referencias citadas25

The quest for the ‘when’ and ‘where’ of the world's earliest metallurgy has been dominating scholarly research on this topic for decades. This paper looks beyond the question of origins by discussing ‘how’ and ‘why’ metallurgy was invented. It looks into choices and skills involved in selection, experimentation and processing of distinctively coloured copper minerals and ores throughout c. 2000 years in the Balkans. The body of evidence is built around the currently earliest evidence for copper smelting, dated at c. 5000 bc and discovered in the Serbian Vinča culture site of Belovode. The ‘microstructure’ of a metal invention process is explored through optical and compositional analyses of a selection of copper minerals and metal production evidence: ores, slags, slagged sherds and metal droplets recovered from seven settlements in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, altogether dated between the late seventh and the late fifth millennia bc . This research suggests an independent technological trajectory of the emergence of metallurgy in the Balkans based on a unique technological meme, black and green mineral, which follows the evolution of early metallurgy from mono- to polymetallic within the fifth millennium bc

Ancient history · Metallurgy · Microscope · Optics · Physics · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · History · Materials Science · Metallurgy and Cultural Artifacts · Geology · Paleontology