Table 17 - uploaded by Thomas Birch
Content may be subject to copyright.
3 with accompanying BSE images in Appendix 17.1 (on CD). LA-ICPMS analyses were performed at the Curt-Engelhorn-Zentrum Archäometrie
Source publication
The metallic artifacts from Çatalhöyük are of particular importance as they constitute some of the earliest examples known. Metal inds have been recovered from as early as Level IX (South K), spanning to Level II, with VII and VI (South M-O) being the most productive (Mellaart 1964, 111). Radiocarbon dating of the archaeological sequence at Çatal-h...
Citations
... Until very recently, the assumed metallurgical activities at Çatalhöyük had stimulated scholarly debate due to an unusually early date, set at c. 6500 BC, for a find that appeared to display features of a metallurgical 'slag' (Cessford, 2005;Mellaart, 1964;Neuninger et al. 1964). The argument that the Neolithic Çatalhöyük communities were possibly smelting metal has since been discussed in the literature, and been both supported (Hauptmann, 2000;Hauptmann et al. 1993;Strahm, 1984) and called into significant question (Birch et al. 2013;Craddock, 2001;Muhly, 1989;Pernicka, 1990;Radivojević et al. 2010b;Roberts et al. 2009;Tylecote, 1976). A full re-analysis of the original metallurgical 'slag' from Çatalhöyük and revised contextualisation showed that this sample was a burnt copper mineral, probably deposited as a green pigment in a burial and subsequently baked during a destructive fire event in the dwelling in which it was discovered ). ...
This paper analyses and re-evaluates current explanations and interpretations of the origins, development and societal context of metallurgy in the Balkans (c. 6200–3700 BC). The early metallurgy in this region encompasses the production, distribution and consumption of copper, gold, tin bronze, lead and silver. The paper draws upon a wide range of existing archaeometallurgical and archaeological data, the diversity and depth of which make the Balkans one of the most intensively investigated of all early metallurgical heartlands across the world. We focus specifically on the ongoing debates relating to (1) the independent invention and innovation of different metals and metal production techniques; (2) the analysis and interpretation of early metallurgical production cores and peripheries, and their collapses; and (3) the relationships between metals, metallurgy and society. We argue that metal production in the Balkans throughout this period reflects changes in the organisation of communities and their patterns of cooperation, rather than being the fundamental basis for the emergence of elites in an increasingly hierarchical society.
... Globally, copper is the first metal manipulated by humans (Killick and Fenn 2012;La Niece et al. 2007;Martin 1999;Pigott 1999;Roberts and Thornton 2014;Tylecote 1992). In Old World contexts, the "Copper Age" begins in a manner similar to that seen in the New World-naturally occurring raw copper nuggets were cold hammered into small implements such as awls or beads (Pigott 1999;Rehren et al. 2013;Stech 1999). However, in contrast to the massive copper deposits found in Lake Superior region of North America, pure copper deposits were less abundant elsewhere, although small amounts of pure copper ore were available in all areas of the world where metallurgy developed (Patterson 1971). ...
The copper-using cultures of North America’s Archaic Period (10,000–3000 BP) have long been an archaeological enigma. For millennia, Middle and Late Archaic hunter-gatherers (8000–3000 BP) around the Upper Great Lakes region made utilitarian implements out of copper, only for these items to decline in prominence and frequency as populations grew and social complexity increased during the Archaic to Woodland Transition. From a cultural evolutionary perspective, the trajectory of North America’s copper usage presents a conundrum, as it is generally assumed that “superior” tools, i.e., metals, will replace inferior ones, i.e., stone. For well over a century, scholars have pondered the reason for the demise of copper technology that was once a wide-spread phenomenon. To address this question, an extensive archaeological experimental program was conducted which compared replica copper tools (spear points, knife blades, and awls) to analogous ones made of stone or bone to assess whether relative functional efficiency contributed to the decline of utilitarian copper implements. Here, the results of this three-part research program are presented in concert with population dynamics and ecological change to paint a broader picture of the complex interrelationships between the social, ecological, and technological spheres of past human behaviors. The synthesis of these approaches reveals that functional explanations—derived from experimental archaeology placed in an evolutionary framework—can shed much light on the trajectory of metal use in the North American Great Lakes.
... Birch et al. 2013;Lehner and Yener 2014;Yalçın 2016;Erdoğu 2017. 2 Roberts et al. 2009, 1013 ...
The earliest metal finds in central and eastern Anatolia are small copper and malachite beads dating from the 9th millennium BC onwards. However, the presence of metallic finds in Neolithic contexts from western Anatolia are rarely known. An analysis of metallic finds from Ulucak Höyük shows that galena was used at the site from the early 7th millennium BC to the early 6th millennium BC. Objects made of galena from initial phases at the site are considered personal ornaments, while an increasing number of galena lumps in relation to ovens were found in later phases. Thus, galena finds from Ulucak Höyük suggest that at first this raw material seemed to have been perceived as an exotic “stone”, while a full understanding of its properties may have been developed later.
... Annealing leads to recrystallization of the metal and thus removes the stacking faults that make it brittle and the renders it ductile again. Such practice has been observed at several sites like Çayönü Tepesi, Aşıklı Höyük, Nevalı Çori, which date into the first half of the eighth millennium BCE, later also at Çatal Höyük (Birch et al., 2013;Özdoğan and Özdoğan, 1999;Yalçın and Pernicka, 1999;Esin, 1995). In the late eighth millennium BCE similar finds appear outside this core region from central to eastern Anatolia, like in Tell Ramad in southwest Syria (Golden, 2009) and in Ali Kosh in southwestern Iran (Pigott, 1999;Hole, 2000) and reach around 6000 BCE Mehrgarh in southwestern Pakistan (Kenoyer and Miller, 1999;Moulherat et al., 2002). ...
... The report of the first scientific investigation of this material was cautious and identified copper containing materials that indicated exposure to strong heat but nevertheless described it as metallurgical slag (Neuninger et al., 1964). In the following this find was discussed controversially in the literature, from ardent support (Hauptmann, 2000), via plain acceptance (Strahm 1984) and more cautious reception (Muhly, 1989;Pernicka, 1990;Craddock, 2001;Roberts et al., 2009;Birch et al., 2013) to open scepticism (Tylecote, 1976). Only recently new analyses have clarified the situation in that it was found that the small amount of 'slag' indeed matches the chemical and microstructural features known from very early smelting slag, including the formation of small prills of antimonial copper and of a range of copper and iron oxides in a semimolten and compositionally heterogeneous siliceous matrix. ...
... 1 1 The invention of metallurgy is not the subject of this paper. However, it is important to stress that their cutting-edge properties were not discovered with the first manipulation of metals, mainly used for the production of beads and pendants (e.g., Birch et al. 2013), but were exploited only after the development of smelting, melting, and casting. At the beginning of its history, metallurgy was not comparable with the lithic system, and their "antagonism" emerged only after a functional convergence. ...
The shift from stone to metal has been considered one of the main technological transformations in the history of humankind. In order to observe the dynamics underlying the disappearance of chipped stone tools and their replacement with metal implements, we adopt an approach which combines two different levels of analysis. At the first, by focusing on the Southern Levant as a case study, we consider the developmental forces internal to the technology itself and the conditions favorable to the invention, spread, continuation, or disappearance of technical traits. At the second, by considering specific historical scenarios, we test the existence of general principles which guide technological changes. Flint knapping and metallurgy, and notably their relationship, are particularly appropriate to observe regularities which operate at different scales, the first one within the developmental lines of objects, techniques and technologies, and the second one within the conditions of actualization of technological facts. On the one hand, following the “rules” of technical tendencies, a techno-logic perspective allows observation of how metal cutting objects, overcoming the “limits” of knapping technology, represent the logical development of flint tools. On the other hand, the analysis of the socioeconomic contexts in which chipped stone tools were produced permits identification of regularities which conditioned changes in lithic production systems, their decline, and the final replacement with metal tools.
... However, these materials have never been fully assessed within their archaeological and technological context. The argument that the Neolithic Çatalh€ oyük communities were possibly smelting metal has, since then, been discussed controversially in the literature, from ardent support (Hauptmann et al., 1993;Hauptmann, 2000) to plain acceptance (Strahm, 1984) and more cautious reception (Muhly, 1989;Pernicka, 1990;Craddock, 2001;Roberts et al., 2009;Birch et al., 2013) to open scepticism (Tylecote, 1976;Radivojevi c et al., 2010). Against such a backdrop, a full re-analysis of the original metallurgical 'slag' from Çatalh€ oyük was the only way to resolve this enigma. ...
... The most recent analyses of three Neolithic copper beads from the East Mound by Birch et al. (2013) further attest the presence of copper metal artefacts on this site from levels II to VI, with a greater contextual precision (see Table S4 in Supplementary Materials). Five pieces of metal were analysed, belonging to three distinctive groups of fragmented beads and rings from both burial and infill/ dump deposit layers. ...
... 17.2). Given the low concentrations of trace elements such as cobalt, nickel, antimony and lead in these objects, it is argued that they were most likely made from native copper (Birch et al., 2013;cf. Pernicka et al., 1997). ...
The scholarly quest for the origins of metallurgy has focused on a broad region from the Balkans to Central Asia, with different scholars advocating a single origin and multiple origins, respectively. One particular find has been controversially discussed as the potentially earliest known example of copper smelting in western Eurasia, a copper ‘slag’ piece from the Late Neolithic to Chalcolithic site of Çatalhöyük in central Turkey. Here we present a new assessment of metal making at Çatalhöyük based on the re-analysis of minerals, mineral artefacts and high-temperature materials excavated in the 1960s by J. Mellaart and first analysed by Neuninger, Pittioni and Siegl in 1964. This paper focuses on copper-based minerals, the alleged piece of metallurgical slag, and copper metal beads, and their contextual relationship to each other. It is based on new microstructural, compositional and isotopic analyses, and a careful re-examination of the fieldwork documentation and analytical data related to the c. 8500 years old high-temperature debris at Çatalhöyük. We re-interpret the sample identified earlier as metallurgical slag as incidentally fired green pigment, which was originally deposited in a burial and later affected by a destructive fire that also charred the bones of the interred body. We also re-confirm the contemporary metal beads as made from native metal. Our results provide a new and conclusive explanation of the previously contentious find, and reposition Çatalhöyük in a new narrative of the multiple origins of metallurgy in the Old World.
... The occurrence of these beads as part of a stringed necklace of various materials had quite sensibly been always taken as evidence for their tubular nature, but the complete corrosion state had made it impossible to demonstrate whether they were made by drilling, as with the accompanying stone beads, or from sheet metal, as with the gold beads. Rolling thin metal sheet into tubular beads, including intermittent annealing, is a well-established practice for the early prehistoric production of native metal beads, going back to the ninth millennium BC in Neolithic Anatolia (Maddin et al., 1999;Yalçın and Pernicka, 1999;Birch et al., 2013). However, forming such rolled sheet beads out of coarse-grained and rather hard and brittle meteoritic iron would have required very careful hammering of the metal, most likely with intermittent annealing to first create and then roll the sheet without cracking it. ...
The earliest known iron artefacts are nine small beads securely dated to circa 3200 BC, from two burials in Gerzeh, northern Egypt. We show that these beads were made from meteoritic iron, and shaped by careful hammering the metal into thin sheets before rolling them into tubes. The study demonstrates the ability of neutron and X-ray methods to determine the nature of the material even after complete corrosion of the iron metal. The iron beads were strung into a necklace together with other exotic minerals such as lapis lazuli, gold and carnelian, revealing the status of meteoritic iron as a special material on a par with precious metal and gem stones. The results confirm that already in the fourth millennium BC metalworkers had mastered the smithing of meteoritic iron, an iron–nickel alloy much harder and more brittle than the more commonly worked copper. This is of wider significance as it demonstrates that metalworkers had already nearly two millennia of experience to hot-work meteoritic iron when iron smelting was introduced. This knowledge was essential for the development of iron smelting, which produced metal in a solid state process and hence depended on this ability in order to replace copper and bronze as the main utilitarian metals.
... Parallel traditions in working lithic and metal minerals include the production of perforated stone beads and cold-hammered and annealed metal beads rolled into small tubes (Maddin et al. 1999). Similar use of metal minerals and annealed and hammered native copper beads has been noted in central Anatolia at the sites of Aşıklı Höyük (Esin 1995(Esin , 1999Yalçın and Pernicka 1999) and Çatalhöyük (Mellaart 1964;Birch et al. 2013). Two native silver tube beads from Domuztepe in modern Kahramanmaraş date to the mid-sixth millennium BC and show evidence of annealing and hammering (Carter et al. 2003;Yener et al. in prep.). ...
The development of metallurgy in Anatolia is argued to be the result of complex long-term engagements and interactions among diversified highland and lowland communities. We focus on the various ways people acquired, produced, traded, and consumed metals in this review of recent advancements in the study of Anatolian metalwork. Here, we draw attention to research conducted primarily in the Taurus Mountains and central Anatolia during the last decade that examines the changing relationship between society and technology during the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. Specifically, we examine institutions of metal production and trade using archaeological evidence to highlight the existence of a complex sociopolitical environment rich in regional technological traditions well before major political and economic interaction with Syro-Mesopotamia. We stress two conclusions: first, the development of indigenous metal production institutions was linked to localized social arrangements in Anatolia. Second, the development of a hierarchy of production sites occurred to mitigate uncertainty in access to necessary metal resources. © 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York. All rights are reserved.
... The occurrence of these beads as part of a stringed necklace of various materials had quite sensibly been al- ways taken as evidence for their tubular nature, but the complete corrosion state had made it impossible to demonstrate whether they were made by drilling, as with the accompanying stone beads, or from sheet metal, as with the gold beads. Rolling thin metal sheet into tubular beads, including intermittent annealing, is a well-established practice for the early prehistoric production of native metal beads, going back to the ninth millennium BC in Neolithic Anatolia ( Maddin et al., 1999;Yalçın and Pernicka, 1999;Birch et al., 2013). However, forming such rolled sheet beads out of coarse-grained and rather hard and brittle meteoritic iron would have required very careful hammering of the metal, most likely with intermittent annealing to first create and then roll the sheet without cracking it. ...
It has long been known that leaded bronze, an alloy consisting primarily of copper with the addition of tin and lead, was widely used in early China, starting from around the second millennium BC. The additional lead distinguishes this metal from common bronze, the copper-tin binary alloy, used by most other Early Metal Age civilisations in Eurasia. The reasons behind the use of leaded bronze have not been fully examined in previous literature.
In this thesis, the discussion of metallurgical technologies and the studies on material properties are combined with four case studies of early metal-using communities to reinvestigate the use of leaded bronze in early China. With this approach, the thesis challenges the wide held notion that lead was consciously added by the craftspeople, mainly to facilitate the casting. Instead, I argue that the widespread of leaded bronze objects was mainly due to both the socio-economic concerns in making bronze ritual vessels in Central China and the recycling and reuse of the metals by other communities around Central China. Moreover, the seemingly common use of leaded bronze does not reflect a uniform acceptance of a single set of knowledge and know-how. Rather, people in different communities responded differently to this new material and chose to engage it in different ways.
This study on leaded bronze provides us with a new perspective to recognise the complexity and diversity of technology and material culture in early Chinese communities. Meanwhile, through the active discussion on the theoretical frameworks and research methods for archaeometallurgy and material culture studies, I also suggest approaches which may be useful in future studies of early metallurgy and other craft production.
