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A great number of ancient bronzes have been recovered in the Near-East, but the source of the tin used for their production remains elusive. This paper proposes new insights into the 'tin problem' by using a 'big data' approach. Chemical analyses of over 5000 Bronze Age and Iron Age copper alloys from Iran and neighbouring regions have been assembled. By interrogating this dataset within a suitable framework we can now show that different systems of exchange existed, where tin was added at different stages in the process, and we highlight the likely importance of tin sources in western Iran during the Iron Age.

This article describes the research questions and presents the initial AMS dates of the Middle Draa Project (southern Morocco), a collaborative field survey project between the University of Leicester and the Institut National des Sciences de l' Archéologie et du Patrimoine (INSAP) of Morocco. Starting from a very low baseline of past archaeological research in this pre-desert valley, the overall objective of the project is to establish the extent, character and chronology of the rich archaeology of the Wadi Draa. The results presented here detail a hitherto unknown phase of major occupation in the Draa in the 4th-6th centuries AD evidenced by complex hilltop settlements and extensive cairn cemeteries (an initial typology is presented). A second medieval phase comprised major urban centres that are contemporary with the Almoravid and Almohad periods of Moroccan history. Alongside these urban centres, there are the remains of substantial mudbrick oasis settlements and irrigation and field-systems of a contemporary date. A key contribution of this paper concerns the construction of an outline chronology based upon initial analysis of the ceramics collected, but crucially supplemented and supported by a major program of AMS dating. The remote sensing and field survey data collected by the project enable us to develop some hypotheses concerning the long-term history of this important oasis valley.

This paper reports on the non-destructive analysis of 42 samples of copper alloy and glass from sites in Libya, using semi-quantitative μXRF, carried out as part of the work of the Trans-Sahara Project funded by the European Research Council. These are among the first chemical analyses to be performed on metals and glasses of any period found in Libya, and the results – though preliminary – raise some interesting possibilities. In particular, we discuss some possible indications with regard to the practice of recycling glasses, as evidenced through heterogeneous, malformed glass beads with variable quantities of lead. A glass mirror from Ghirza was also found to be backed in lead, and was probably the result of a glass-making technique still practised in recent times in India. The metal analysis has revealed evidence of a pre-Islamic trade in brass in the northern Sahara, as well as showing the presence of objects made from the mixing of different types of scrap metal, a process probably taking place at the Garamantian metalworking site of Saniat Jibril among other locations. The importance of further analysis of available Libyan and other North African metal artefacts and glasses for the contextualisation and extension of these findings is emphasised.