Zofia Anna Stos-Gale
Biographic Data
| ID | 631545 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Zofia Anna Stos-Gale |
| GIVEN NAMES | Zofia Anna |
| FAMILY NAME | Stos-Gale |
| SIGNATURE | STOS-GALE Z A |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Gothenburg |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-9722-5024 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 43 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 686 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 43 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1981 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 13 |
‘You Load Sixteen Tons, What Do You Get?’. The Jodłowno Hoard (Pomerania, Poland) as Evidence of Long‐Distance Contacts in the Early Iron Age
This study presents multifaceted analyses of metal artefacts from the Jodłowno Hoard (Northern Poland), revealing that the metal originated from Iberian polymetallic ore deposits. Transported as raw ingots via Atlantic maritime routes, this copper was reworked locally into regionally distinctive forms. Elemental classification identified deliberate deposition patterns based on metallurgical properties, with artefacts wrapped together using lime b…
An Early Neolithic copper axehead: New insights from west Sweden
The aim of this paper is to provide an in-depth study, including both invasive and non-invasive chemical analyses, and lead isotope analysis, of one of the northernmost Early Neolithic copper flat axeheads in Europe, the Öja axehead from west Sweden. In addition, we present an updated catalogue of the early copper axeheads found in Sweden. Our analyses suggest that the copper used to manufacture the Öja axehead originates from eastern Serbian ore…
New data about the provenance of the Early Eneolithic copper artefacts from western Lesser Poland
The Early Eneolithic period in Lesser Poland is represented by the Lublin-Volhynian culture and the Wyciąże-Złotniki group. For both of them, the main cultural references were the Middle Copper Age groups from the Carpathian Basin (the Bodrogkeresztúr, the Hunyadihalom-Lažňany, the Balaton-Lasinja cultures, as well as the Ludanice, and the Bajč-Retz-Gajary groups). One of the most important indicators of the Transcarpathian influence was the use …
Local and non-local metal supply strategies in the Early Iron Age. Case study: The Wicina fortified settlement and the Bieszków hoard, western Poland
During the Early Iron Age (750–450 BC), settlement centres emerged in western Poland, playing a significant socio-economic role in local development. The fortified settlement of Wicina (Żary County, Lubusz Voivodeship) in western Poland, is an exemplar of such a regional center, strategically positioned on a natural dune above a marshland. In this study, we use archaeometallurgical analyses to shed light on the role of this settlement in the supr…
The Kaliska II hoard: Interconnections and metal trade between Pomerania and the Nordic zone during the North European Bronze Age
Iron age metal trade between the Atlantic and the Baltic Sea: New insights from the first complete plano-convex ingot found in Sweden and ingot rods from the Iława Lakeland in northeastern Poland
Metallurgy in first-millennium BC Poland: Insights From Metal Production, Trade Networks and Landscape Archaeology
Multidisciplinary methods permit the first archaeometallurgical study of artefacts from five key first-millennium BC settlements in Poland: Grzybiany, Wicina, Kamieniec, Tarławki and Mołtajny. This project fills a lacuna in our understanding of technical ceramics, metal provenance and the role of settlements in the cultural landscape
Lead isotopic compositions link copper axes from Kietrz (Poland, 3500–3350 BC) to Slovak and Balkan copper mines
Chemical and lead isotope analyses aided by metallographic examination of copper axes found at the Late Neolithic settlement of Kietrz in southwestern Poland provide new evidence for the origin of copper and metal trade routes in the region. Our results indicate that metal used for the axes could be sourced from copper mines in modern Slovakia, Bulgaria and perhaps Serbia. The evidence from this study confirms that the Funnel Beaker people from P…
Exploitation of Mining Resources in El Argar Culture: Bronze Age Metallurgy in the Hinterland of the Western Betic Cordillera (Southeastern Iberian Peninsula)
This research addresses the territorial organisation of metallurgical production during the El Argar Bronze Age (2200–1550 cal bc ) in the inner areas of El Argar territory through lead‐isotope and trace element analyses of geological copper ores, archaeometallurgical remains and copper‐based artefacts. Results from 31 mineral and 35 archaeological samples suggest that the exploitation of copper resources in the studied region was significant and…
A complex case of trade in metals: The origin of copper used for artefacts found in one hoard from a Late Bronze Age Lusatian Urnfield Culture in Poland
Metal artefacts from Bronze Age hoards have routinely been used to study interregional contacts. Their stylistic and typological features helped distinguish local products and imports by appearance. In the last 40 years, combined lead isotope and chemical analyses of metals have been widely applied to verify hypotheses based on style and typology. This paper is a comprehensive typological and analytical study of a metal item hoard discovered in P…
Moving metals V: The question of shared copper sources between Scandinavia and Hungary 1700–1500 BC
The remarkable typological parallels between Carpathian and Scandinavian metalwork, especially from around 1700 to 1500 BC, have long been stressed as evidence that the Carpathian tell communities supplied the Scandinavians with copper. Thus, this study's main objective was to investigate if Bronze Age societies in Scandinavia and the Carpathian basin utilized the same copper sources. To test this hypothesis, analyses, comprising lead isotopes an…
The bronze cup from Dohnsen in the light of old and new evidence
The bronze cup found in Dohnsen (Lower Saxony, Northern Germany) in the 1950s is an enigmatic artefact that bears striking similarities with the metalwork of the Late Aegean Bronze Age. We provide an accurate review of the primary sources of information on the cup's find history and context, and present the results of previously unpublished chemical and Pb isotope analyses. The latter suggest that the vessel might have been produced from Central …
The Late Bronze Age 'metallurgists' graves’ in south-western Poland. Tracing the provenance of the metal raw material using casting moulds
A collection of objects associated with prehistoric metallurgy, including casting moulds, a casting core, and a fragment of a tuyere, were found in three metallurgists’ graves in the Late Bronze Age cemetery in Legnica, south-west Poland. The finds from these graves presented an opportunity for a scientific investigation of several aspects of Bronze Age metallurgy in this region by applying various analytical procedures to characterise the remain…
Moving metals IV: Swords, metal sources and trade networks in Bronze Age Europe
European Bronze Age swords had high functional and symbolic value, and therefore they are an interesting case for approaching questions of provenance and trade in Bronze Age Europe. It is often assumed that there is a strong affinity between metal supplies and artefact type. However, this study demonstrates that metal supply and sword types are mostly unrelated. In this paper we present a comparative provenance study of 118 Bronze Age swords, whi…
Back to the Eneolithic: Exploring the Rudki-type ornaments from Poland
For a long time, the Eneolithic attribution of the Rudki-type double spiral ornaments was contested by a wide academic audience, and therefore, this new and extraordinary category of the copper metalwork seemed to have fallen into scientific oblivion. In this paper, we contribute to the debate about cultural attribution of the Rudki-type double spiral ornaments considering their chemical and isotope characteristics (using ED XRF and MC-ICP-MS) an…
The role of pre-Norsemen in trade and exchange of commodities in Bronze Age Europe
The Provenance, Use, and Circulation of Metals in the European Bronze Age: The State of Debate
Bronze is the defining metal of the European Bronze Age and has been at the center of archaeological and science-based research for well over a century. Archaeometallurgical studies have largely focused on determining the geological origin of the constituent metals, copper and tin, and their movement from producer to consumer sites. More recently, the effects of recycling, both temporal and spatial, on the composition of the circulating metal sto…
Moving metals III: Possible origins for copper in Bronze Age Denmark based on lead isotopes and geochemistry
The Political Economy and Metal Trade in Bronze Age Europe: Understanding Regional Variability in Terms of Comparative Advantages and Articulations
In the second millennium cal BC, a new metal conquered Europe: the alloy of copper and tin that improved the quality of tools and weapons. This development, we argue, initiated a framework for a new political economy. We explore how a political economy approach may help understand the European Bronze Age by focussing on regional comparative advantages in long-distance trade and resulting bottlenecks in commodity flows. Links existed in commodity …
Final response and future directions
It is rare for authors to be able to read comments on their paper by leading colleagues and to have the chance to respond before its publication. We would like to thank the editor of Antiquity for providing this opportunity. The comments express both acceptance of, and doubts about, interconnectedness between the eastern Mediterranean and Scandinavia in the Bronze Age. Kaul's comments demonstrate a deep insight into how Nordic archaeology reveals…
Representations of oxhide ingots in Scandinavian rock art: The sketchbook of a Bronze Age traveller
Moving metals II: Provenancing Scandinavian Bronze Age artefacts by lead isotope and elemental analyses
The Lead Ingots from the Wreck of the Zuiddorp (1712), Western Australia: A report on their provenance and manufacture
The Dutch United East India Company ship Zuiddorp vanished on its way to Batavia in 1712 – its last port of call was the Cape of Good Hope. After its wreck was found on the Western Australian coast, archaeological investigations resulted in the retrieval of 21 lead ingots. Recent study of this artefact assemblage, comprising both great pigs and pieces, suggests that they were of north English origin. Historical records indicate that the Dutch pro…
Croatian Appoxiomenos alloy composition and lead provenance study
Objetos metálicos de la Edad del Bronce de Chipre - metal procedente de Anatolia y el Mediterráneo Occidental
Cientos de objetos de metal de la Edad del Bronce excavados en yacimientos de Chipre han sido analizados para conocer su composición elemental y sus isótopos de plomo en el Isotrace Laboratory de la Universidad de Oxford entre los años 1982 y 2002. Especialmente con posterioridad a 1995 cientos de muestras de minerales y escorias recogidas de minas y sitios de reducción de minerales localizadas en el entorno de las montañas de Troodos también fue…
Metal provenancing using isotopes and the Oxford archaeological lead isotope database (Oxalid)
This paper reviews the research into the methodology of lead isotope provenance studies carried out at the University of Oxford between 1975 and 2002, at first in the Department of Geology (Geological Age and Isotope Research Laboratory), later in the Isotrace Laboratory based in the Department of Nuclear Physics, and eventually part of the Research Laboratory of Archaeology and the History of Art. These 27 years of intensive work, funded initial…
Moving metals II: Provenancing Scandinavian Bronze Age artefacts by lead isotope and elemental analyses
The Political Economy and Metal Trade in Bronze Age Europe: Understanding Regional Variability in Terms of Comparative Advantages and Articulations
In the second millennium cal BC, a new metal conquered Europe: the alloy of copper and tin that improved the quality of tools and weapons. This development, we argue, initiated a framework for a new political economy. We explore how a political economy approach may help understand the European Bronze Age by focussing on regional comparative advantages in long-distance trade and resulting bottlenecks in commodity flows. Links existed in commodity …
Lead Isotope Data From the Isotrace Laboratory, Oxford: Archaeometry Data Base 1, Ores From the Western Mediterranean
The Provenance, Use, and Circulation of Metals in the European Bronze Age: The State of Debate
Bronze is the defining metal of the European Bronze Age and has been at the center of archaeological and science-based research for well over a century. Archaeometallurgical studies have largely focused on determining the geological origin of the constituent metals, copper and tin, and their movement from producer to consumer sites. More recently, the effects of recycling, both temporal and spatial, on the composition of the circulating metal sto…
Lead Isotope Characteristics of the Cyprus Copper Ore Deposits Applied to Provenance Studies of Copper Oxhide Ingots
Nearly 200 new lead isotope analyses of sulphidic and oxidized ores from 26 copper mines on Cyprus show that the mines from different geological regions group in five distinctive isotopic groups, each with a substructure, related to the geological history of the ore formation. Comparison of lead isotope compositions of Bronze Age artefacts with these data can in many cases reveal the actual mines from which the copper for particular artefacts was…
Moving metals III: Possible origins for copper in Bronze Age Denmark based on lead isotopes and geochemistry
Cycladic Lead and Silver Metallurgy
Interest in the prehistory of the Cyclades may fairly be said to have been awakened in the middle of the nineteenth century when travellers like Walpole or Fiedler were intrigued by what we now regard as one of the characteristic products of ECII times in the Cyclades—the marble folded-arm figurines whose harmony, balance, and economy of artistic expression appeal so much to the admirers of twentieth-century artists such as Mondrian or Modigliani…
Lead Isotope Data From the Isotrace Laboratory, Oxford: Archaeometry Data Base 3, Ores From the Aegean, Part 1
Lead Isotope Data From the Isotrace Laboratory, Oxford: Archaeometry Data Base 4, Ores From Cyprus
Lead Isotope Data From the Isotrace Laboratory, Oxford: Archaeometry Data Base 5, Ores From Bulgaria
The Sources of Mycenaean Silver and Lead
Lead-isotope and neutron-activation analyses are reported for Greek Bronze Age lead and silver artifacts from the Shaft Graves of Mycenae, from the Athenian Acropolis and Agora, from Vapheio, Thorikos, Menidi, and Perati, and for lead-silver ores from Laurion, Attica. The analyses prove that mines at Laurion were being exploited for silver, lead being produced as a byproduct, from at least as early as Middle Helladic times, continuing into the La…
The Provenance of Lead Used at Ayia Irini, Keos
Alloy Types and Copper Sources of Anatolian Copper Alloy Artifacts
Few will doubt that in the East Mediterranean world and in the Near East the development of metallurgy was an important factor (though certainly not the only one) in the evolution of socio-economic organization in the Late Chalcolithic and especially in the Early and Late Bronze Age. The availability of silver, lead and gold added markedly to the possibilities of the acquisition of prestigious objects by the few, to developments in the concept of…
Early Bronze Age Trojan Metal Sources and Anatolians in the Cyclades
New chemical analyses of EB II copper‐alloy artefacts from Troy show that about seventy per cent are of high tin, low arsenic, bronze; the remaining Trojan objects are of arsenical copper but contain no more than 3 per cent of arsenic. Lead‐isotope analyses suggest that at this time the Trojans made use of at least five different copper‐ore deposits and that at least two of these were not in the immediate vicinity of Troy itself. At this period t…
Moving metals IV: Swords, metal sources and trade networks in Bronze Age Europe
European Bronze Age swords had high functional and symbolic value, and therefore they are an interesting case for approaching questions of provenance and trade in Bronze Age Europe. It is often assumed that there is a strong affinity between metal supplies and artefact type. However, this study demonstrates that metal supply and sword types are mostly unrelated. In this paper we present a comparative provenance study of 118 Bronze Age swords, whi…
Back to the Eneolithic: Exploring the Rudki-type ornaments from Poland
For a long time, the Eneolithic attribution of the Rudki-type double spiral ornaments was contested by a wide academic audience, and therefore, this new and extraordinary category of the copper metalwork seemed to have fallen into scientific oblivion. In this paper, we contribute to the debate about cultural attribution of the Rudki-type double spiral ornaments considering their chemical and isotope characteristics (using ED XRF and MC-ICP-MS) an…
Oxhide Copper Ingots in Crete and Cyprus and the Bronze Age Metals Trade
Lead isotope and neutron activation analyses of second millennium BC copper ingots are described. Examples from Cyprus, from the Mathiati hoard, and from Skouriotissa are consistent, and show similarities with Late Cypriot bronze artefacts from Hala Sultan Teke and Ayios Dhimitrios. Analysis of the Hagia Triada ingots shows that these Cretan examples were not imports from Cyprus. The possibility that they used Cretan ores is discussed and rejecte…
The Late Bronze Age 'metallurgists' graves’ in south-western Poland. Tracing the provenance of the metal raw material using casting moulds
A collection of objects associated with prehistoric metallurgy, including casting moulds, a casting core, and a fragment of a tuyere, were found in three metallurgists’ graves in the Late Bronze Age cemetery in Legnica, south-west Poland. The finds from these graves presented an opportunity for a scientific investigation of several aspects of Bronze Age metallurgy in this region by applying various analytical procedures to characterise the remain…
The Lead Ingots from the Wreck of the Zuiddorp (1712), Western Australia: A report on their provenance and manufacture
The Dutch United East India Company ship Zuiddorp vanished on its way to Batavia in 1712 – its last port of call was the Cape of Good Hope. After its wreck was found on the Western Australian coast, archaeological investigations resulted in the retrieval of 21 lead ingots. Recent study of this artefact assemblage, comprising both great pigs and pieces, suggests that they were of north English origin. Historical records indicate that the Dutch pro…
Representations of oxhide ingots in Scandinavian rock art: The sketchbook of a Bronze Age traveller
Lead isotopic compositions link copper axes from Kietrz (Poland, 3500–3350 BC) to Slovak and Balkan copper mines
Chemical and lead isotope analyses aided by metallographic examination of copper axes found at the Late Neolithic settlement of Kietrz in southwestern Poland provide new evidence for the origin of copper and metal trade routes in the region. Our results indicate that metal used for the axes could be sourced from copper mines in modern Slovakia, Bulgaria and perhaps Serbia. The evidence from this study confirms that the Funnel Beaker people from P…
A complex case of trade in metals: The origin of copper used for artefacts found in one hoard from a Late Bronze Age Lusatian Urnfield Culture in Poland
Metal artefacts from Bronze Age hoards have routinely been used to study interregional contacts. Their stylistic and typological features helped distinguish local products and imports by appearance. In the last 40 years, combined lead isotope and chemical analyses of metals have been widely applied to verify hypotheses based on style and typology. This paper is a comprehensive typological and analytical study of a metal item hoard discovered in P…
Exploitation of Mining Resources in El Argar Culture: Bronze Age Metallurgy in the Hinterland of the Western Betic Cordillera (Southeastern Iberian Peninsula)
This research addresses the territorial organisation of metallurgical production during the El Argar Bronze Age (2200–1550 cal bc ) in the inner areas of El Argar territory through lead‐isotope and trace element analyses of geological copper ores, archaeometallurgical remains and copper‐based artefacts. Results from 31 mineral and 35 archaeological samples suggest that the exploitation of copper resources in the studied region was significant and…
The bronze cup from Dohnsen in the light of old and new evidence
The bronze cup found in Dohnsen (Lower Saxony, Northern Germany) in the 1950s is an enigmatic artefact that bears striking similarities with the metalwork of the Late Aegean Bronze Age. We provide an accurate review of the primary sources of information on the cup's find history and context, and present the results of previously unpublished chemical and Pb isotope analyses. The latter suggest that the vessel might have been produced from Central …
Ancient Egyptian Silver
Ancient Egyptian Silver
Cycladic Lead and Silver Metallurgy
Interest in the prehistory of the Cyclades may fairly be said to have been awakened in the middle of the nineteenth century when travellers like Walpole or Fiedler were intrigued by what we now regard as one of the characteristic products of ECII times in the Cyclades—the marble folded-arm figurines whose harmony, balance, and economy of artistic expression appeal so much to the admirers of twentieth-century artists such as Mondrian or Modigliani…
Bronze Age Copper Sources in the Mediterranean: A New Approach
Efforts by scientists to locate the sources of copper used in ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern cultures through comparative chemical analyses of copper ores and archeological artifacts have largely failed for various mineralogical and metallurgical reasons. The isotopic composition of lead, an element present in a minor amount in many copper ores and bronze objects, is unchanged through metallurgical processes and may in principle be used t…
The Sources of Mycenaean Silver and Lead
Lead-isotope and neutron-activation analyses are reported for Greek Bronze Age lead and silver artifacts from the Shaft Graves of Mycenae, from the Athenian Acropolis and Agora, from Vapheio, Thorikos, Menidi, and Perati, and for lead-silver ores from Laurion, Attica. The analyses prove that mines at Laurion were being exploited for silver, lead being produced as a byproduct, from at least as early as Middle Helladic times, continuing into the La…
Early Bronze Age Trojan Metal Sources and Anatolians in the Cyclades
New chemical analyses of EB II copper‐alloy artefacts from Troy show that about seventy per cent are of high tin, low arsenic, bronze; the remaining Trojan objects are of arsenical copper but contain no more than 3 per cent of arsenic. Lead‐isotope analyses suggest that at this time the Trojans made use of at least five different copper‐ore deposits and that at least two of these were not in the immediate vicinity of Troy itself. At this period t…
The Provenance of Lead Used at Ayia Irini, Keos
Alloy Types and Copper Sources of Anatolian Copper Alloy Artifacts
Few will doubt that in the East Mediterranean world and in the Near East the development of metallurgy was an important factor (though certainly not the only one) in the evolution of socio-economic organization in the Late Chalcolithic and especially in the Early and Late Bronze Age. The availability of silver, lead and gold added markedly to the possibilities of the acquisition of prestigious objects by the few, to developments in the concept of…
Oxhide Copper Ingots in Crete and Cyprus and the Bronze Age Metals Trade
Lead isotope and neutron activation analyses of second millennium BC copper ingots are described. Examples from Cyprus, from the Mathiati hoard, and from Skouriotissa are consistent, and show similarities with Late Cypriot bronze artefacts from Hala Sultan Teke and Ayios Dhimitrios. Analysis of the Hagia Triada ingots shows that these Cretan examples were not imports from Cyprus. The possibility that they used Cretan ores is discussed and rejecte…
Evaluating Lead Isotope Data: Comments on E. V. Sayre, K. A. Yener, E. C. Joel and I. L. Barnes, ‘Statistical Evaluation of the Presently Accumulated Lead Isotope Data From Anatolia and Surrounding Re…
The Origin of Metal Objects From the Early Bronze Age Site of Thermi on the Island of Lesbos
Lead isotope analysis of metal are deposits in the Mediterranean provides an important database for provenance studies of ancient metal artefacts. the Isotrace laboratory at Oxford has accumulated during the past decade well over 2000 lead isotope data on copper and lead ores and these data (in addition to analyses published by other groups) can be used for comparisons with lead isotope compositions of ancient metal objects. In a search for the r…
The Origin of Metals from the Roman-Period Levels of a Site in Southern Poland
In Bronze-Age Mediterranean archaeology, lead isotope provenance studies of metals have provided otherwise unavailable information about metal mining and smelting centres and the trade of metals. There is no similar scientific information about base non-ferrous metals in Europe in the Roman period, but a considerable body of written and archaeological evidence of Roman mining and smelting exists. Less in known about the origin of metal supplies f…
Lead Isotope Data From the Isotrace Laboratory, Oxford: Archaeometry Data Base 1, Ores From the Western Mediterranean
Lead Isotope Data From the Isotrace Laboratory, Oxford: Archaeometry Data Base 3, Ores From the Aegean, Part 1
Lead Isotope Data From the Isotrace Laboratory, Oxford: Archaeometry Data Base 4, Ores From Cyprus
Lead Isotope Characteristics of the Cyprus Copper Ore Deposits Applied to Provenance Studies of Copper Oxhide Ingots
Nearly 200 new lead isotope analyses of sulphidic and oxidized ores from 26 copper mines on Cyprus show that the mines from different geological regions group in five distinctive isotopic groups, each with a substructure, related to the geological history of the ore formation. Comparison of lead isotope compositions of Bronze Age artefacts with these data can in many cases reveal the actual mines from which the copper for particular artefacts was…
Lead Isotope Data From the Isotrace Laboratory, Oxford: Archaeometry Data Base 5, Ores From Bulgaria
Metal provenancing using isotopes and the Oxford archaeological lead isotope database (Oxalid)
This paper reviews the research into the methodology of lead isotope provenance studies carried out at the University of Oxford between 1975 and 2002, at first in the Department of Geology (Geological Age and Isotope Research Laboratory), later in the Isotrace Laboratory based in the Department of Nuclear Physics, and eventually part of the Research Laboratory of Archaeology and the History of Art. These 27 years of intensive work, funded initial…
Croatian Appoxiomenos alloy composition and lead provenance study
Objetos metálicos de la Edad del Bronce de Chipre - metal procedente de Anatolia y el Mediterráneo Occidental
Cientos de objetos de metal de la Edad del Bronce excavados en yacimientos de Chipre han sido analizados para conocer su composición elemental y sus isótopos de plomo en el Isotrace Laboratory de la Universidad de Oxford entre los años 1982 y 2002. Especialmente con posterioridad a 1995 cientos de muestras de minerales y escorias recogidas de minas y sitios de reducción de minerales localizadas en el entorno de las montañas de Troodos también fue…
The Lead Ingots from the Wreck of the Zuiddorp (1712), Western Australia: A report on their provenance and manufacture
The Dutch United East India Company ship Zuiddorp vanished on its way to Batavia in 1712 – its last port of call was the Cape of Good Hope. After its wreck was found on the Western Australian coast, archaeological investigations resulted in the retrieval of 21 lead ingots. Recent study of this artefact assemblage, comprising both great pigs and pieces, suggests that they were of north English origin. Historical records indicate that the Dutch pro…
Moving metals II: Provenancing Scandinavian Bronze Age artefacts by lead isotope and elemental analyses
The Political Economy and Metal Trade in Bronze Age Europe: Understanding Regional Variability in Terms of Comparative Advantages and Articulations
In the second millennium cal BC, a new metal conquered Europe: the alloy of copper and tin that improved the quality of tools and weapons. This development, we argue, initiated a framework for a new political economy. We explore how a political economy approach may help understand the European Bronze Age by focussing on regional comparative advantages in long-distance trade and resulting bottlenecks in commodity flows. Links existed in commodity …
Final response and future directions
It is rare for authors to be able to read comments on their paper by leading colleagues and to have the chance to respond before its publication. We would like to thank the editor of Antiquity for providing this opportunity. The comments express both acceptance of, and doubts about, interconnectedness between the eastern Mediterranean and Scandinavia in the Bronze Age. Kaul's comments demonstrate a deep insight into how Nordic archaeology reveals…
Representations of oxhide ingots in Scandinavian rock art: The sketchbook of a Bronze Age traveller
Archaeology (37 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (33 works) · History (28 works) · Geography (26 works) · Bronze Age (23 works) · Geology (22 works) · Ancient history (20 works) · Bronze (20 works) · Metallurgy and Cultural Artifacts (18 works) · History (17 works)