Large scale smelting of speiss and arsenical copper at Early Bronze Age Arisman, Iran

Rehren, Thilo; Boscher, Loïc; Pernicka, Ernst

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2012.01.009

Cited by 90 publications

(57 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Another, and the last known method for attaining a silvery surface on copper, is by applying speiss for cementation (Thornton et al, 2009;Rehren et al, 2012), however, no objects made using this method have been identified. It is likely that speiss was used for alloying, having been melted with copper or copper matte under oxidising conditions.…”

Section: Cementation With Cu 3 Asmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The alloys might have been produced by: 1) combining native copper with copper-arsenide minerals (Budd et al, 1992); 2) smelting copper ore rich in arsenic (e.g. Fahlore); 3) the reduction of roasted copper sulfarsenides such as tennantite and enargite, which would have resulted in the production of toxic arsenous oxide fumes and the loss of much of the arsenic present in the ores (Lechtman, 1996); 4) the co-smelting of oxidic and sulphidic ores such as malachite and arsenopyrite (Lechtman and Klein, 1999); or 5) the melting of speisses (iron arsenides) and copper (Thornton et al, 2009;Rehren et al, 2012). There is currently no evidence for the cementing of arsenic vapor with copper, or the intentional addition of arsenic-rich minerals to copper or copper ores (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

A Re-evaluation of inverse segregation in prehistoric As-Cu objects

Mödlinger¹,

Sabatini²

2016

Journal of Archaeological Science

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Section: Cementation With Cu 3 Asmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Re-evaluation of inverse segregation in prehistoric As-Cu objects

Mödlinger¹,

Sabatini²

2016

Journal of Archaeological Science

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“…The shape and the com po si tion of our slag pieces do not support a re la tion to metal smelt ing (see e.g., Serneels, 1995;Serneels and Crew, 1997;Buchwald and Wivel, 1998;An der son et al, 2003;Degryse et al, 2003;Rehren et al, 2007Rehren et al, , 2012Kierczak and Pietranik, 2011;Sharp and Mittwede, 2011). If they would have been re sult of e.g., iron pro cess ing, they should have 35-75 wt.% FeO (Buchwald and Wivel, 1998) and would con tain high amounts of Fe sil i cates.…”

Section: Discussion Nature and Origin Of Slagsmentioning

confidence: 86%

“…"A by prod uct of the fir ing of ores, met als, flux and fuel that con tains non-eco nomic con stit u ents of the fur nace charge" (Neuendorf et al, 2005). In this sense slags are usu ally as so ciated with smelt ing of gold, sil ver, cop per, lead, iron or bronze (e.g., Serneels and Crew, 1997;Buchwald and Wivel, 1998;Degryse et al, 2003;Hein et al, 2007;Blakelock et al, 2009;Heimann et al, 2010;Sharp and Mittwede, 2011;Rehren et al, 2012 and referencees therein). The melted sil i cates, sulphides, car bon ates and/or ox ides which con sti tute the gangue of the ore will sep a rate from the melted metal as "foam".…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mineralogy of the ceramic slags from the Bronze Age funerary site at Lăpuş (NW Romania)

Hoeck

Ionescu

Metzner-Nebelsick

et al. 2012

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A Bronze Age (13-12th cen tury B.C.) ne crop o lis and cult area in Lăpuş (NW Ro ma nia) has been stud ied. The mound in ves ti gated dur ing the pres ent cam paign cov ered a multi-phased wooden cult build ing con tain ing bronze ob jects, ce ramic potshards and slag pieces. The lat ter have a mammillary smooth sur face, ir reg u lar shape and a high po ros ity. Op ti cal mi cros copy re veals a colour less to brown vit re ous mass, full with var i ous-sized pores mak ing up to 40 vol.% of the to tal slag. The glass in cludes relic phases, e.g., quartz, partly melted plagioclase and rutile, rare zir con, il men ite and mag ne tite-rich spinel. Cristobalite and var i ous sil i cates and ox ides were formed within the glass and at the wall of the ves i cles dur ing cool ing. The lat ter in clude faya lite, ferrosilite, mag ne tite-dom i nated spinel, he ma tite, clinopyroxene, mullite and cor di er ite. About 1/3 of the to tal vol ume of the slag con sists of glass with a wide va ri ety of SiO 2 rang ing from 49 to 76 wt.%. It is inhomogeneous, with lo cal en rich ment in Fe, Ca, Mg, Ti and K. The pore struc ture, the par tial melt ing of plagioclase and rutile, the newly formed SiO 2 poly morphs (cristobalite) and the Fe(Al) sil i cates in di cate max i mum tem per a tures of 1100-1200°C for the fire gen er at ing the slags. The slags are not re lated to any met al lur gi cal but to an anthropogenic pyrometamorphic pro cess and formed as a re sult of overfiring some ce ramic ves sels which may have con tained rit ual of fer ings. In ten tion ally ini ti ated fir ing of the wooden struc tures is the most likely the agent of this high tem per a ture. The slags re sem ble buchites and can be termed "ce ramic slags".

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“…This diversity in elemental constituents reflects the dissimilarity in the metallurgical process and in the fabrication of objects, and raises the question of the source of economic ores. Recent analyses on slag remains from Arisman proved the application of arsenic in the smelting process (Kashani et al 2013a;Rehren et al 2012). Arisman is located close to the important site of Sialk (3 rd Millennium BC).…”

Section: Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%