Tracing traditions: patterns of technological innovation and the circulation of copper in Southwest Asia from the 8th to 1st millennia BCE

Abstract

The regions of Southwest Asia during the Late Chalcolithic and Bronze Age were inextricably linked through trade and culture expansion, but also in their technological development. This thesis presents the results of a large-scale synthesis of published chemical data from the region from the beginning of the use of metal in the 8th millennium BCE to the start of the Iron Age in the early 1st millennium BCE. Change and continuity in alloying tradition, copper-composition, and human interaction with the material are analysed by the application of two âOxford Systemâ methodologies and Kuijpersâ Perceptive Categories. The resultant patterns in the copper-base assemblage are visible across space and time, and it is the aim of this thesis to marry these alterations in approach or access to material with the wider archaeological context. This large-scale approach has also drawn out aspects of technology which have, until now, generally been regarded as isolated and sporadic regional finds. A pan-regional approach has revealed they are in fact part of wider phenomena. The study of these outliers opens up the prospect for deeper insight into human interaction with and technological approach to material throughout the development of ancient metallurgy.</p