Fibulae from an Iron Age Site in Portugal

Abstract

Castro de Pragança is located in Estremadura province, on the Portuguese Western coast. Although most of the metal artifacts found in the site can be dated to Copper and Bronze Ages, an unusual set of nine fibulae was recovered. They can be dated to the period from the Iron Age until the Roman conquest. Nondestructive micro-EDXRF elemental analyses showed that five of the fibulae are made of bronze (Cu-Sn alloy), while four fibulae have a polymetallic character and are made both of bronze and iron. This fact indicates exceptionally important archaeological and technological issues.

Technological continuity in Early Iron Age bronze metallurgy at the South-Western Iberian Peninsula – a sight from Castro dos Ratinhos

“…The first two types are frequent in the LBA Portuguese archaeological contexts, whereas the double-spring fibulae present an extensive period of utilization that continues up to the Iron Age (Arruda, 2008). The Bencarró n type seems to be related to the Acebuchal fibulae, quite common in the Iberian Peninsula during the EIA (Melo et al, 2009). There are also two small conical heads that might have served as decorative rivets which belong to more complex artefacts or are part of pins for the fastening of clothes.…”

Inclusions and metal composition of ancient copper‐based artefacts: a diachronic view by micro‐EDXRF and SEM‐EDS

“…Overall, about 300 artefacts of various typologies and from various archaeological sites have been studied using a multiproxy approach that includes diverse analytical techniques. Some of the results have been published1–8 and presented in scientific meetings 9, 10. Given the actual state of knowledge it becomes important to provide some important guidelines on the metallurgy of the Portuguese territory from the Copper Age to the Orientalising period, giving detailed compositional information of particularities such as inclusions besides the general elemental composition of the metals.…”

Atomic spectrometry update-X-ray fluorescence spectrometry

“…The authors supported earlier proposals concerning the exploitation of tin resources in the Late Bronze Age and that bronze was widely produced on a domestic scale in this Western extreme of Europe. Melo et al 392 used m-EDXRF to analyse nine fibulae from the Iron Age Castro de Praganca site on the western Portugal coast. The fact that five of the fibulae were made of bronze with the other four being polymetallic (bronze and iron) had important implications for the very early development of metallurgical technology.…”