Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T09:07:57.752Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Experimental reconstruction of the casting of copper ‘oxhide’ ingots

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Sven Van Lokeren
Sven Van Lokeren*
Affiliation:
Fitch Laboratory, British School at Athens, Odos Souedias 52, GR-10676 Athens, Greece. bsafitch@eexi.gr
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

One of the most crucial elements in the dynamics of the Late Bronze Age metals trade in the Mediterranean was the production and exchange of copper 'oxhide' ingots (Knapp & Cherry 1994). These are basically flat, oblong slabs of nearly pure and unalloyed copper that weigh between 10 and 40 kg. The majority has an average weight of c. 29-30 kg however, and as a result this 'standard' has been traditionally equated with the existence of a 'talent'. They furthermore form a prominent part of the bulk cargo in shipwrecks discovered at Ulu Burun and Cape Gelidonya (Gale 1991). The results of an extensive programme of lead-isotope analyses aimed at determining the provenance of these ingots have led some archaeologists to propose that most of the ingots were produced from the rich copper resources on the island of Cyprus. Based on the same results, the Oxford group has also discussed the possibility of a specialized centre for their production in the Skouriotissa region of the island (Stos-Gale et ~ l . 1997

Type
News and notes
Information
Antiquity , Volume 74 , Issue 284 , June 2000 , pp. 275 - 276
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2000

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Gale, N.H. 1991. Copper oxhide ingots: their origin and their place in the Bronze Age Aegean, in Gale, N.H. (ed.), Bronze Age trade in the Mediterranean. Papers presented at the conference held at RewleyHouse, Oxford, in December 1989: 197–240. Jonsered: Paul Aströms Förlag. Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology 90.Google Scholar
Herbert, E. 1984. Red gold of Africa. Copper in precolonial history and culture. Madison (WI): University of Wisconsin Press.Google Scholar
Hoover, H.C. & Hoover, L.H. 1950. Georgius Agricola. De re metallica. Translated from the first Latin edition of 1556. New York (NY): Dover Publications.Google Scholar
Knapp, A.B. & Cherry, J.F.. 1994. Provenience studies and Bronze Age Cyprus. Production, exchange andpolitico-economic change. Madison (WI): Prehistory Press. Monographs in World Archaeology 21.Google Scholar
Merkel, J.F. 1986. Ancient smelting and casting of copper ‘oxhide’ ingots, in Balmuth, M.S. (ed.), Sardinia in the Mediterranean: 251–74. Ann Arbor (MI): University of Michigan Press. Studies in Sardinian Archaeology 2.Google Scholar
Stos-Gale, Z.A., Maliotis, G., Gale, N.H. & Annetts, N.. 1997. Lead isotope characteristics of the Cyprus copper ore deposits applied to provenance studies of copper oxhide ingots, Archaeometry 39: 83–125.CrossRefGoogle Scholar