The Metallurgy of the Sicilian Final Bronze Age/Early Iron Age necropolis of Madonna del Piano (Catania, Sicily)

Abstract

This paper presents the analysis results of the copper-based finds, from the important Sicilian necropolis of Madonna del Piano, near Grammichele (Catania), dated between the local Final Bronze Age 2 and the Early Iron Age IA. 122 copper-based finds from the 273 graves of the large cemetery have been analysed. The sampled objects belong to different classes, there are for instance weapons of offence and defence, such as swords and greaves, small decorative objects for personal use, such as rings, fibulae, belt hooks, belt decorations, and small tools, such as the knives used by women, reels, needles and razors, but also small functional parts, such as rivets and nails, repairs and even a kind of musical instrument, such as the tintinnabula.The methods employed were AAS and SEM, where possible, and XRF in all cases.The aim of the research was that of evaluating the skill of the local artisans, of determining the most common copper-based alloys in use in Sicily in this period and comparing the data with the analysis results of contemporary groups of finds from other areas of the Italian peninsula and from other European regions. RESUMEN

Handheld methods in archaeological research on large copper alloy assemblages: HH‐XRF against HH‐LIBS

“…For LBA–EIA Madonna del Piano, Sicily, Giumlia‐Mair et al . (2010) give a 4–14% Sn range across all artefacts, corrosion not described; for Scoglio del Tonno, 10.9% is the average on drill‐cleaned items (Bietti Sestieri et al . 2010).…”

“…The size of the irradiated area varies: the Demokritos machine and the benchtop used by Giumlia‐Mair et al . (2010) used a 3 mm beam—the Bruker Tracer III SD used here had a 5 × 7 mm beam and 10 mm aperture. Constantinides et al .…”

“…(2017); selection of only uncorroded artefacts and supplementation with destructive atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) on selected samples by Giumlia‐Mair et al . (2010); use of drill cleaning on all sampled objects by Bietti Sestieri et al . (2010).…”

Bronze Age Metal Objects from East Crete, Greece

“…15) During the Late Bronze Age, tin was a rare and expensive commodity that had to be imported from still unknown distant lands. 23) This special deposit at Mochlos emphasizes the extraordinary character of tin, which was worthy of being an offering to the divinity. Further-more, a large copper-based sistrum was also uncovered at Mochlos in the so-called Merchant's Hoard, 15,24) which appeared to be a cache of artifacts ready for trade.…”

¿Fíbulas peninsulares de codo «sículas» o de tipo «Monachil»? Novedades y revisión

“…2: 8). No es la primera vez que nos ocupamos de este sitio arqueológico, por lo que su bibliografía puede seguirse en los estudios previos del yacimiento (Pachón et alii, 1979;Pachón y Carrasco, 2009y 2010Carrasco et alii, 2012). El Cerro de las Agujetas conforma un pequeño enclave con funcionalidad complementaria respecto del Cerro de Los Infantes, probablemente frecuentado a fines de la Edad del Bronce, que prolongaría su uso hasta tiempos romanos.…”