The examination of archaeometallurgical remains; some recent examples and conclusions

This paper starts with a description of the investigational techniques now being used and goes on to discuss some of the problems and results. Examples have been taken from such finds as mattes and slags, litharge and speiss, native copper and crucible melting, edge tools, copper and bronze ingots, and oxidation enrichment in wrought iron

State ownership and innovation : the relative merits of local and central state judged by innovation performance

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Moldes para puñales en la Península Ibérica durante la Edad del Bronce. El caso de Camp Cinzano (Vilafranca del Penedès, Alt Penedès, Barcelona)

The Bronze Age settlement of Camp Cinzano (Vilafranca del Penedès, Alt Penedès, Barcelona province) yielded a riveted dagger stone mould in a funerary context C14 dated to c. 1850 cal BC. We examine the characteristics of the mould (typology and raw material) and the metal artifact found at the site and relate them to the metallurgy of the 2^nd Millennium BC in the Northeastern Iberian Peninsula. We present the few comparable dagger moulds existing in the Iberian Peninsula and the Western Mediterranean and discuss the possible reasons for their rarity in the archaeological record. The data indicate two possible places of origin for the mould studied: the East coast of the Iberian Peninsula and Northern Italy (the Polada group). The latter is an area which exhibits greater interaction and relationships with the Northeastern Iberian Peninsula in the metallurgic sphere.<br><br>Un molde lítico para puñales fue localizado en un contexto funerario fechado mediante C14 en c. 1850 cal ANE en el asentamiento de la Edad del Bronce de Camp Cinzano (Vilafranca del Penedès, Alt Penedès, Barcelona). Se estudian la tipología y materia prima del molde y las características del artefacto metálico moldeado en el, relacionándolas con la metalurgia del II milenio del nordeste de la Península Ibérica. Se exponen los escasos paralelos de moldes para puñales existentes en la Península Ibérica y en el Mediterráneo Occidental, así como las posibles razones de su ausencia en el registro arqueológico. Los datos sugieren dos lugares de origen para el molde estudiado, el Levante ibérico y el norte de Italia (grupos de Polada). Esta última zona mantiene mayores relaciones e interacciones en el ámbito metalúrgico con el nordeste de la Península Ibérica

Metal for Zambujal: experimentally reconstructing a 5000-year-old technology

A series of 17 crucible smelting experiments were carried out as part of an interdisciplinary research project initiated to understand the innovation of copper metallurgy in the central and southern Portuguese Copper Age. The reconstructed smelting technology was based on information gathered from archaeological contexts, with emphasis on artifacts found at Zambujal and other sites in the Portuguese Estremadura, and ores collected from five different ore deposits in Portugal. Both the ore and smelting products were analysed using mineralogical and geochemical analyses, and compared with archaeological remains. Results of this comparative study are presented, and in light of technological observations made during the experiments, the role of copper production within the Chalcolithic society in southern and central Portugal is also discussed.Una serie de 17 experimentos de fundición fueron llevados a cabo como parte de un proyecto de investigación interdisciplinar, que fue iniciado con el propósito de entender las innovaciones en el ámbito de la metalurgia del cobre que se dieron en el centro y el sur de Portugal durante la Edad de Cobre. La tecnología de fundición utilizada en los experimentos fue recreada conforme a información recopilada y a artefactos encontrados en sitios arqueológicos, principalmente en Zambujal y otros lugares pertenecientes a la Estremadura Portuguesa. Asimismo, los minerales de cobre usados durante la fase experimental fueron recolectados en cinco yacimientos minerales de Portugal. El mineral y los productos finales del proceso de fundición fueron analizados mineralógica y geoquímicamente, para después ser comparados con el resto de las muestras arqueológicas. En el presente documento se discuten los resultados del estudio comparativo. Por último, se presenta una discusión del papel que tiene la producción de cobre en la sociedad del centro y del sur de Portugal durante el Calcolítico, basado en observaciones realizadas durante los experimentos

Prices in Motion: Towards a Schumpeterian Price Theory

To Schumpeter, endogenous development is an essential characteristic of capitalism that disrupts the equilibrium of the circular flow of the economy. Price equilibrium in the circular flow is displaced by an analysis of prices in motion. The diversion of productive inputs from their existing employment through competition from entrepreneurs and the process of creative destruction both impact on prices throughout the economy and generate business cycles. While Schumpeter's theory of the business cycle and, implicitly, his price theory, have been heavily criticized, this article suggests a way forward to a revised theory of prices in motion