The invisible movements of metallurgy: the interactions between nomads and metal

The View from the North

“…Whatever the link between metallic and ceramic vessels may be, my present attempt to explain the striking similarities between the Majkop, Leyla Tepe and Amuq F repertoires posits the existence of shared interests, probably in connection with the mastering of extractive metallurgy displayed by Caucasian communities as early as the second half of the 5th millennium BCE (Gailhard et al 2017), which eventually led to the formation of an interaction sphere: the CFW oikumenè.…”

“…4600 BCE onwards are indeed difficult to ascertain, but a few hypotheses may nonetheless be put forward. It is most probable that the formation of the CFW oikumenè corresponds to a time period when highland cultures, in spite of their humble lifeways, were invested with some form of prestige, since ahead of Mesopotamian communities, they had mastered highly valued technological innovations such as extractive copper metallurgy (Gailhard et al 2017). Even if the Majkop culture cannot be considered as a highland culture, the metal riches that accompanied the paramount chief buried in the gigantic tumulus of Oshad certainly reflect the ostentation typical of the Caucasian Late Chalcolithic elite, a behaviour that is not perceptible in the Majkop settlements themselves.…”

The earliest traces of metallurgy in Greater Poland

“…Finds interpreted to be ceramic tuyères are known from Eneolithic sites stretching from the Caucasus to Iberia (Gailhard et al 2021;Murillo-Barroso et al 2017). However, it must be noted that on the oldest European site, where all the major elements of the metallurgical chaîne opératoire are recorded at Belovode, Petrovac county, Serbia, dated to 5000-4600 BC, the remains of ceramic tuyères have not been found yet.…”