Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-14T06:07:16.342Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Variability in Copper and Bronze Casting Technology as Seen at Bronze Age Godin Tepe, Iran

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Lesley Frame  and
Pamela B. Vandiver
Lesley Frame
Affiliation:
lesleydf@email.arizona.edu, University of Arizona, Materials Science and Engineering, 1235 East James E. Rogers Way, Tucson, AZ, 85721, United States, 617-519-0802
Pamela B. Vandiver
Affiliation:
vandiver@mse.arizona.edu, University of Arizona, Materials Science and Engineering, 1235 East James E. Rogers Way, Tucson, AZ, 85721, United States
Get access

Abstract

Godin Tepe lies along the “High Road” leading from the Mesopotamian lowlands to the northern Iranian Plateau and beyond. This site acted as a center for the exchange of goods, transmission of ideas, and spread of technology; therefore the technology and manufacturing methods represented by the artifacts at this site provide information regarding the technology in use across the Iranian Plateau. Materials analyzed from Godin Tepe include crucibles, furnace and tuyere fragments, ore, and metal artifacts dating to the early third through late second millennium B.C.E. The production materials were concentrated in only a few locations throughout the site, and they are indicative of small scale production. SEM and microprobe analyses have allowed the determination of cooling rates and temperatures attained during smelting and casting operations in antiquity. In addition, the analysis of approximately 60 metal artifacts (out of the two-hundred plus that were excavated) have contributed greatly to understanding the variability in manufacture methods present during this time period. The results of this investigation support two significant conclusions. First, the measurement and evaluation of secondary dendrite arm spacing of cast artifacts and crucible prills provides insight to the processes and cooling methods employed by ancient craftsmen. Second, the wide range in manufacturing methods shown by the microstructures of non-utilitarian artifacts, offers strong evidence for the presence of multiple producers who copied styles and typology, but not technological methods from their contemporary craftsmen.

Keywords

archaeologymetalCu
Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 1047: Symposium Y – Materials Issues in Art and Archaeology VIII , 2007 , 1047-Y01-01
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2008

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

1. Frame, L. D, Thesis, M.S., University of Arizona (2007).Google Scholar
2. Askeland, D. R, The Science and Engineering of Materials (PWS Publishers, Boston, 1984).Google Scholar
3. Miettinen, J., Computational Materials Science 22, 240–260 (2001).Google Scholar
4. Bardes, B. P, Flemings, M. C, Modern Casting 50, 100–106 (1966).Google Scholar
5. Flemings, M. C, Kattamis, T. Z, Bardes, B. P, Transactions of the American Foundrymen's Society 99, 501–506 (1991).Google Scholar
6. Glicksman, M. E, Smith, R. N, Marsh, S. P, Kuklinski, R., Metallurgical Transactions A 23A, 659–667 (1992).Google Scholar
7. Kattamis, T. Z, Coughlin, J. C, Flemings, M. C, Metallurgical Society of AIME – Transactions 239, 1504–1511 (1967).Google Scholar
8. Miettinen, J., Computational Materials Science 36, 367–380 (2006).Google Scholar
9. Miettinen, J., (Personal Communication, September 2007).Google Scholar
10. Sinha, A.K., Physical Metallurgy Handbook (McGraw-Hill, New York, 2003), p.13.11.Google Scholar
11. Anastasiadi, G. P, Kolchina, R. V, Smirnova, L. N, Metallovedenie i Termicheskaya Obrabotka Metaliov 9, 35–37 (1985).Google Scholar
12. Kurz, W., Fisher, D. J, Fundamentals of Solidification (Trans Tech Publications, Rockport, MA, 1984), pp.65–96.Google Scholar
13. Kongoli, F., in Yazawa International Symposium: Metallurgical and Materials Processing: Principles and Technologies, Kongoli, Florian, Itagaki, K., Yamauchi, C., Sohn, H.Y., Eds. (The Minerals, Metals, and Materials Society, Warrendale, PA, 2003), pp.199–210.Google Scholar
14. Chakrabarti, D.J., Laughlin, D.E., in Binary Alloy Phase Diagrams Vol. 2, Massalski, T.B., Okamoto, H., Eds. (ASM International, Materials Park, OH, 1990), pp.1467–1471.Google Scholar
15. Prince, A., Okamoto, H., Ternary Alloy Phase Diagrams 7 4577, 9408 (1995).Google Scholar
16. Swartzendruber, L.J., in Binary Alloy Phase Diagrams Volume 2, Massalski, T.B., Okamoto, H., Eds. (ASM International, Materials Park, OH, 1990). pp.1408–1410.Google Scholar
17. Subramanian, P.R., Laughlin, D.E., in Binary Alloy Phase Diagrams Volume 1, Massalski, T.B., Okamoto, H., Eds. (ASM International, Materials Park, OH, 1990). pp.271–275.Google Scholar