The smelting of copper in the third millennium cal BC Trentino, north-eastern Italy

Pearce, Mark; Merkel, Stephen; Hauptmann, Andreas; Nicolis, Franco

Abstract

This paper presents observations and analyses on seven slag pieces from two third millennium cal BC (late Copper Age / early Bronze Age) rock shelters in the Trentino, northeastern Italy: La Vela di Valbusa and the Riparo di Monte Terlago. We review previous work on contemporary slags from the region and show that the smelting did not follow the well-known 'Timna', 'Eibner' or so-called 'Chalcolithic' copper smelting processes. We show that ethnographic accounts of copper smelting in the Himalayas (Sikkim and Nepal), illuminate the smelting process, in particular the lack of preliminary roasting or ore beneficiation by washing, the use of slags as fluxes for the first smelt (matte smelting) and the use of wooden (?) implements to lift the hot slags from the furnace during the smelt. The rock inclusions in the slag are consistent with an ore origin from mines at Calceranica or Vetriolo, as previously reported in the literature.

Citation

Pearce, M., Merkel, S., Hauptmann, A., & Nicolis, F. (2022). The smelting of copper in the third millennium cal BC Trentino, north-eastern Italy. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 14(1), Article 10. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-021-01475-1

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Nov 16, 2021
• Online Publication Date: Dec 23, 2021
• Publication Date: 2022-01
• Deposit Date: Dec 10, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 23, 2021
• Journal: Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences
• Print ISSN: 1866-9557
• Electronic ISSN: 1866-9565
• Publisher: Springer Verlag
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 14
• Issue: 1
• Article Number: 10
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-021-01475-1
• Keywords: Archeology; Anthropology; Archeology
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/6916534
• Publisher URL: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs12520-021-01475-1