THE ARCHAEOMETALLURGY OF COPPER
CONTENTS INTRODUCTION PROBLEMS AND METHODS OF ARCHAEOMETALLURGY Y 2 1 FIELDWORK – THE INVESTIGATION OF ‘ANCIENT’ ORE DEPOSITS – THE DOCUMENTATION OF ANCIENT SMELTING SITES 2 2 ANALYTICAL METHODS – PHYSICAL DATING – THE INVESTIGATION OF ANCIENT SLAG – CHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF ORES AND METALS – LEAD ISOTOPE ANALYSIS NATURE AND GEOLOGY IN FAYNAN – TOPONYMY – GEOGRAPHY – TOPOGRAPHY – CLIMATE – WATER, IRRIGATION SYSTEMS AND AGRICULTURE – WIND PATTERNS – VEGETATION AND FUEL SUPPLY FOR THE ANCIENT COPPER SMELTERS THE RAW MATERIAL SOURCES 4 1 GEOLOGICAL OVERVIEW OF THE NEAR EAST T 4 2 ANCIENT ORE DEPOSITS IN THE NEAR EAST T 4 3 THE COPPER DEPOSIT OF FAYNAN AND ITS RELATION TO TIMNA – GEOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK AND GENESIS – THE ORES – GEOCHEMISTRY FIELD EVIDENCE AND DATING OF EARLY MINING AND SMELTING IN THE FAYNAN DISTRICT 5 1 LANDSCAPE AND DATING 5 2 SITE CATALOGUE AND ARCHAEOMETALLURGICAL FINDS I KHIRBET FAYNAN AND VICINITY II FIND SPOTS IN WADI GHWAIR R III THE MINING DISTRICT OF QALB RATIYE (JD-25, JD-GR) IV THE MINING DISTRICT IN WADI ABIAD (JD-26, JD-WA) V THE MINING DISTRICT OF WADI KHALID (JD-3, JD-II) 6 1 SLAGS OF THE 4TH MILLENNIUM BCE – THE ‘MOST ANCIENT’ SLAGS – THE MATERIAL FROM THE FAYNAN DISTRICT T – CHEMISTRY AND MELTING BEHAVIOR R – ‘FREE SILICA SLAGS’ – THE DEVELOPMENT OF MINERALOGICAL PHASES 6 2 MANGANESE-RICH SILICATE SLAG FROM THE EARLY BRONZE AGE TO THE MAMELUK PERIOD 6 3 THE COMPOSITION OF COPPER R – TRACE ELEMENT CONTENT T – CHEMICAL COMPOSITION – THE HOMOGENEITY OF COPPER R – PARTITIONING OF TRACE ELEMENTS BETWEEN METAL AND SLAG – LEAD ISTOTOPY 7 1 THE EARLIEST STAGE: CRUCIBLE SMELTING – THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE – PREVIOUS EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES AND THERMODYNAMICS OF CRUCIBLE SMELTING – RECONSTRUCTION OF CRUCIBLE SMELTING BASED ON ARCHAEOLOGICAL FINDS – MODELING OTHER POSSIBILITIES – FIND-BASED RECONSTRUCTION OF METALLURGICAL PROCESSES – THE INFLUENCE OF MANGANESE-RICH SLAG ON SMELTING PROCESSES 7 3 TECHNOLOGICALLY CONTROLLABLE SMELTING: IRON AGE TO MAMELUK PERIOD D – RECONSTRUCTION OF SMELTING PROCESSES BY IRON AGE FINDS – ORES FROM FAYNAN IN SETTLEMENTS OF THE SOUTHERN LEVANT T – ARCHAEOLOGICAL OVERVIEW – METAL PRODUCTION IN SETTLEMENTS: DOMESTIC METALLURGY – CHEMICAL AND LEAD ISOTOPE ANALYSES – BIR SAFADI – TULEILAT GHASSUL – TELL ABU HAMID D 8 3 METAL TRADE IN THE EARLY BRONZE AGE II–IV – ARCHAEOLOGICAL ASPECTS – CHEMICAL AND LEAD-ISOTOPE ANALYSES – CRESCENT-SHAPED INGOTS FROM FAYNAN – ORE – ARSENIC-ANTIMONY-COPPER-ALLOYS – ARSENICAL COPPER R – COPPER-ARSENIC-NICKEL-ALLOYS – TIN BRONZES – FAYNAN AND TIMNA