The production of metal artefacts in Southern Etruria (Central Italy): case studies from copper to Iron Age

An analytical study is presented, aimed to determine the elemental composition of copper-based artefacts dated back from Copper Age to Early Iron Age (mid-fourth millennium to the VIIIth century B.C.), found on the Tyrrhenian side of the peninsula, corresponding to the Lazio region. The objects belong to different archaeological contexts and had various functions. They were analysed by the X-ray fluorescence technique. The results highlight the experimental character of Copper Age metallurgy, which will later evolve in the established use of copper-tin alloys. Regarding the Bronze Age, despite the typological and functional heterogeneity of the artefacts and the wide chronological range, the alloys are relatively homogeneous in composition, with regular changes that appear related to chronology, according to what is already known for the Italian peninsula. Such changes are supposedly due to variations in the availability of tin, which was not locally mined. Early Iron Age metallurgy is represented by the Selvicciola Hoard solely, which restricts the possibility of generalizing the conclusions. A striking feature of the alloys is the great compositional difference between the complete and the fragmented artefacts. The formers are made of tin bronze, whereas in the latter tin is replaced by antimony and/or lead. The use of such unusual alloys is unlikely due to lack of metallurgical knowledge. Considering the urbanized communities that arose in the Middle-Tyrrhenian area during the Early Iron Age, we suppose that such variability in a single context might be related to a production system capable of using alloys of different quality and value to satisfy a diversified demand

La spada dell’ipogeo R. Analisi archeometriche

Il n. 20 della collana Quaderni del Sistema museale del Lago di Bolsena è il terzo volume pubblicato in questa serie dal Museo della preistoria della Tuscia e della Rocca Farnese di Valentano. Il Naviglione di Farnese. Dall’Età del Rame all’Età etrusco-arcaica è frutto di un lavoro corale di ricerca che, sotto il coordinamento di Patrizia Petitti, Carlo Persiani e Fabio Rossi, ha coinvolto numerosi specialisti. Non deve stupire che il sito oggetto di questa pubblicazione sia posto al di fuori dei confini del Comune di Valentano. Questo per due motivi. Da una parte il Museo della preistoria, per sua stessa denominazione e missione, si pone come centro di riferimento per la preistoria di tutta la Tuscia. Inoltre, Farnese è uno dei comuni che risulta tra quelli fondatori del Sistema museale. L’incursione del Museo della preistoria di Valentano in territorio farnesano, pertanto, va letta non soltanto come legittima, ma come esempio di vera e propria buona pratica di natura sistemica. Ciascun museo del Sistema infatti, caratterizzato da una propria tematica e da una propria chiave di lettura legata alla disciplina della quale è espressione, oltre a svolgere la funzione di centro interpretativo in relazione alle emergenze patrimoniali di più immediata pertinenza, può e deve dare un proprio contributo alla lettura del territorio abbracciato dall’intera rete. Agli occhi di un non-addetto-ai-lavori, di un lettore cioè che può soltanto in parte comprendere ed apprezzare lo sforzo analitico e il rigore interpretativo riversati nella scrittura dei contributi che costituiscono il presente lavoro, il Quaderno 20 ha un suo specifico fascino. Fascino legato all’idea di scavo, e all’immaginario che questa pratica è in grado di attivare, di solleticare. Lo scavo inaugurale di cui fu protagonista Rittatore Vonwiller, a cui si deve l’individuazione della Necropoli del Naviglione sul finire degli anni Sessanta del Novecento. Quelli realizzati un ventennio dopo, con la ripresa dell’interesse nei confronti del sito. Quello che i curatori hanno promosso tra le carte ed i documenti prodotti in vari decenni di studi, di relazioni, di documenti prodotti dalle competenti autorità preposte alla conoscenza ed alla tutela del patrimonio archeologico. Rimane il rammarico, questo sì, per l’interruzione – dopo il 1997 – degli scavi, interruzione dovuta al taglio, operato a livello centrale, dei fondi necessari a questo tipo di impresa. Nonché per il danno apportato al sito dagli scavi clandestini. Ma tutto ciò non può far perdere di vista il grande merito che va attribuito a questa pubblicazione, quello di operare un primo importante passo verso la pubblica restituzione delle conoscenze circa questo importante capitolo della storia e dell’archeologia del paesaggio del Sistema museale del Lago di Bolsena

Data from Multiple Portable XRF Units and Their Significance for Ancient Glass Studies

X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy is a non-destructive technique employed for elemental analysis of a wide range of materials. Its advantages are especially valued in archaeometry, where portable instruments are available. Considering ancient glass, such instruments allow for the detection of some major, minor, and trace elements linked to the deliberate addition of specific components or to impurities in the raw materials of the glass batch. Besides some undoubted advantages, portable XRF (p-XRF) has some limitations that are addressed in this study. The performance assessment of four different p-XRF units and the reconciling of their output were conducted. The results show the limitations in cross-referencing the data obtained from each unit and suggest procedures to overcome the issues. The p-XRF units were tested on the set of Corning reference glasses and on a small set of archaeological glasses with known composition. The compatibility of the output was assessed using multivariate statistical tools. Such a workflow allows us to consider data from multiple sources in the same frame of reference

Ring-eye blue beads in Iron Age central Italy - Preliminary discussion of technology and possible trade connections

The Iron Age was a remarkable period in glass technology development and its spread across the Mediterranean. Communities that populated what is nowadays Central Italy underwent profound changes during this period forming more complex societies, developing proto-urban and urban centres, and incorporating into a wide trade network of the Mediterranean Sea and beyond. Glass objects in that small region are frequently found in burial sites dated to the first half of the first millennium BCE, with small blue beads with simple ring eyes being among the most abundant types. Fifty-six objects of this type (both whole beads and fragments) were studied with a non-invasive approach by means of Optical Microscopy, Fibre Optics Reflectance Spectroscopy, and portable X-ray Fluorescence spectroscopy. The analyses were conducted at the Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Villa Giulia and at the Museo delle Civilt`a (both in Rome, Italy). Five samples from the main set were also analysed with a Scanning Electron Microscope coupled to an Energy Dispersive Spectrometer. The data gave preliminary information on the raw materials used to prepare the glass, the manufacturing techniques, and offered some hints to (tentatively) locate the region of provenance. In particular, the analyses established that the beads are soda-lime-silica glass and the source of cobalt, used as the blue colorant, could be an ore from Egypt. Within this general frame, a smaller group showed a different compositional pattern. These preliminary results contribute new knowledge for tracing exchange routes within the Mediterranean during the Iron Age

Raw materials for copper-coloured glass beads: a contribution to our knowledge of their circulation and production in iron age Italy

Several types of (mostly) blue-green glass beads from Iron-Age archaeological sites in Central Italy were studied using a range of spectroscopic techniques: portable X-Ray Fluorescence spectrometry, Fibre Optics Reflectance Spectroscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy coupled with Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectrometry, micro-Raman spectroscopy and Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry. Complementary information was gathered from each technique and discussed in the frame of the archaeological typology of the objects. The systematic evaluation of the results allowed us to draw some conclusions on the raw materials employed for primary production and to highlight some provenance indicators in the glass. Some of the beads found in the Iron Age (IA) contexts were preliminarily attributed to the Final Bronze Age (FBA) production based on their typology, and the compositional data obtained in this work confirmed that they were low magnesium high potassium (LMHK) glass, typical of FBA in the Italian peninsula. Other beads were assigned to low magnesium glass (LMG) or high magnesium glass (HMG), thus giving further information on the fluxing agents employed in the Early Iron Age (EIA) and beyond. Colour variations among the beads reflected their chemical composition, with different bead typologies coloured in a specific way. In some instances, it was possible to establish different origins for the colouring raw materials. The provenance of the samples was difficult to place, but the chemical evidence suggested a subdivision within the raw glass used to produce the beads: for one set of samples, a local origin of the glass could be hypothesised, whereas several production sites in the Near East were suggested for most of the beads considered in this study. Some preliminary clues for the local working of imported glass were also highlighted for one typological group