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New evidence for the use of cinnabar as a colouring pigment in the Vinčа culture
Abstract
This paper presents the results obtained for red pigments used on ceramics from the Neolithic period,
excavated at three Vin�ca culture archaeological sites on the territory of present day Serbia. Emphasis was
put on cinnabar, a characteristic red pigment, in order to define its possible origin and usage. Several
spectroscopic techniques (EDXRF, PIXE, X-ray powder diffraction) were applied to identify the pigments.
According to the results presented in this paper, the known record regarding the first cinnabar use in the
Balkans can be extended to the end of the sixth millennium BC.
... During antiquity various pigments were used to create wall decorations (Table 1), which decorated public spaces, palaces, houses and tombs (Amadori et al., 2015;Aquilia et al., 2012;Barone et al., 2018;Buzgar et al., 2013;Crupi et al., 2018;Di Stefano and Fuchs, 2011;Delaney et al., 2017;Elias et al., 2006;Fedorov and Samoylov, 2019;Fermo et al., 2013;Fostiridou et al., 2016;Gajić-Kvaščev et al., 2012;Guirdzhiiska et al., 2017;Gutman et al., 2016;Holakooei et al., 2015;Iordanidis et al., 2014;Kakoulli, 2002;Klempan et al., 2017;Linn, 2017;Mateos et al., 2015;Mateos et al., 2018;Mazzocchin et al., 2003;Miriello et al., 2021;Mortimore et al., 2004;Olivares et al., 2013;Piovesan et al., 2016;Radpour et al., 2019;Roebroeks et al., 2012;Rozenberg, 2014;Sabbatini et al. 2000;Szczepaniak, 2014;Van der Weerd et al., 2004;Westlake et al., 2012;Winter, 1983). The term "earth pigments" in the literature commonly refers to inorganic, naturally occurring minerals that are used as colorants, for instance naturally occurring ochres and green earth pigments (Marketou et al., 2019;Radpour et al., 2019). ...
... Cinnabar Mercury(II) sulphide, HgS A bright cherry to brick-red mineral, which is not very abundant in the earth's crust. Fermo et al., 2013;Gajić-Kvaščev et al., 2012;Iordanidis et al., 2014;Kakoulli, 2002;Linn, 2017 Yellowish-reddish to dark brown or black color. Elias et al., 2006;Gutman et al., 2016;Fermo et al., 2013;Kakoulli, 2002;Mazzocchin et al., 2003. ...
... Preliminary identification of the pigments was done based on the VT inspection combined with a comparison of the current pigment catalogue (Fig. 7) and the existing literature. VT inspection of the red color and comparison of the pigment catalogue (Fig. 7a,7c,7j) to the literature show that the red hue is probably related to red ochre (Aquilia et al., 2012, p. 230;Balandier et al., 2017, p. 334;Gajić-Kvaščev et al., 2012;Marketou et al., 2019;Mateos et al., 2018, pp. 16-17;Miriello et al., 2018;Roebroeks et al., 2012Roebroeks et al., , p. 1890Sajó et al., 2015, p. 5). ...
Fragments of wall paintings retrieved from Hellenistic Tell Iẓṭabba (Nysa-Scythopolis), an archaeological site located in the area of the Beth She'an Valley (Israel), are the subject of this study. This research aims to characterize the plaster and color pigments of wall paintings retrieved from the site in order to gain new information concerning their nature, their origin and the technologies that were used to paint the walls of a Hellenistic settlement in the Near East. For that purpose, visual testing inspection, XRF, SEM-EDS, and XRD analyses were applied combined with archaeological and geographical data. As the site was founded in the 160s BCE and destructed in 108/07 BCE, the material analyzed is not only stratigraphically well-secured but also well-dated to the mid-second century BCE. The walls of the dwellings under discussion were painted by the fresco method and the white-hued plaster was made of calcium carbonate matrix with embedded aggregates. The red and yellow paints were identified as red and yellow ochre pigments, respectively. The brown paint was a mixture of red ochre, yellow ochre, magnetite mineral and carbon black-based pigments. The black paint was identified as carbon black-based pigment. The pigments were mixed with fine plaster powder. The plaster and pigments were most likely regionally (if not locally) produced and supplied and provide us with information about the technical knowledge of the inhabitants of the Seleucid settlement.
... Éluère and Raub (1991: 19) speculated that washed (alluvial) gold dust was applied onto a plant glue which covered a ceramic surface in a process called sintering, which welded together particles without requiring a liquid stage (Raub 1995: 247-248). The tradition of decorating pottery with gold extends into the Krivodol-Salcuţa-Bubanj Hum complex in southwestern Bulgaria / southeastern Serbia, continuing well into the first centuries of the 4th millennium BC Gajić-Kvaščev et al. 2012). ...
... dwell on the possibility of manufacturing a colouring agent, a yellow or red lead oxide, which would fit with the earlier practice of painting pottery in the Vinča culture (e.g. Gajić-Kvaščev et al. 2012;Mioč et al. 2004). ...
This chapter reviews the pre-existing evidence and interpretations for early mineral use and metallurgy in the Balkans from the earliest use of copper minerals at c. 6200 BC (Late Mesolithic-Early Neolithic) to c. 3700 BC (end of the Chalcolithic). It presents the empirical and intellectual foundations upon which the data, analyses and interpretations of The Rise of Metallurgy in Eurasia project builds. The early metallurgy in this region encompasses the production, distribution and consumption of copper, gold, bronze, lead and silver, all being either pure metals or a natural alloy (tin bronze)1. The chapter initially defines the geographical and temporal scope under consideration before evaluating the archaeological and metallurgical evidence in relation to: mineral exploitation; mining; smelting, metals and metal artefacts; and metal circulation. Following each of these sub-sections is a summary of how The Rise of Metallurgy in Eurasia project oughtto contribute to this aspect of metallurgical activity, setting this in relation to the project’s six research questions as presented in Chapter 2. The chapter concludes by highlighting the dominant interpretative narratives relating to early metallurgy, metallurgists and societies in the Balkans that The Rise of Metallurgy in Eurasia project will evaluate, against all the available and relevant archaeological and metallurgical data.
... The Vinča settlement provides another example. Cinnabar appeared ubiquitous in layers dated from the mid-6 th to the mid-5 th millennium BC (Vasić 1932(Vasić -1936, I as quoted by Gajić-Kvaščev et al. 2012). A cinnabar powder was also stored inside Neolithic pottery (inventory no. ...
... C-417, dated to 5200-4200 BC) (Mioč et al. 2004). Similarly, at Pločnik, a Gradac sub-phase ceramic vessel (end of the 6 th -early 5 th millennium BC) was found to contain a cinnabar powder (cinnabar mixed with quartz, illite, kaolinite and other clay minerals); moreover, cinnabar was also used to decorate figurines (Gajić-Kvaščev et al. 2012). ...
This article summarises the history of cinnabar, from its first uses in burials to modern oils on canvas. After a brief introduction on mercury and contamination issues, the article gets to the heart of the topic. First, mercury-based minerals significant for studying pigments, i.e. cinnabar, metacinnabar, hypercinnabar and calomel, are presented. Structural information and properties precede an overview of the geographic distribution of cinnabar deposits. The following section addresses the multiple uses of cinnabar, divided into funerary use, decorative use, lustre and Chinese lacquer production. The use of cinnabar for writing (ink), medicine and cosmetics is briefly described, and a shortlist of uncommon finds is further provided. The following section approaches inherent but less known topics such as cinnabar procurement, trade, production technology, application and alteration. An entire section is dedicated to calomel before concluding with an overview of the analytical methods for the characterisation and provenance investigation of cinnabar.
... 247-248). The tradition of decorating pottery with gold extends into the Krivodol-Salcuţa-Bubanj Hum complex in southwestern Bulgaria/southeastern Serbia, continuing well into the first centuries of the 4th millennium BC (Bulatović et al. 2018;Gajić-Kvaščev et al. 2012). ...
... This would fit with the known practice of painting pottery in the Vinča culture (e.g. Gajić-Kvaščev et al. 2012;Mioč et al. 2004). ...
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.
... Cinnabar could also have been procured from somewhere further afield, perhaps in the west where there are several known cinnabar mines in the Balkans (e.g. Gajić-Kvaščev et al. 2012), or the east, for example in the Caucasian region, Turkey, Central Asia or even China. ...
Using the organic artefacts from the fourth-century BC grave at Bulhakovo in southern Ukraine, this article discusses the economics of the perishable material culture of the Scythians of the Pontic Steppe region. Thanks to the survival of organic materials (wood, leather, textiles), the burial provides important information about the complex networks of production and exchange that existed in European Scythia. Scientific analyses produced new data regarding materials and techniques used for the production of wooden, leather and textile objects, providing an opportunity for a more nuanced discussion of their production and consumption.
... In addition to copper minerals, the use of cinnabar has also been recently confirmed (Gajić-Kvaščev et al. 2012), although used in the 'cold' process, that is without high temperature treatment like copper. ...
... The widespread and pervasive value of cinnabar as a crosscultural phenomenon is revealed by its geographic distribution. As well as in Europe, this raw material has also been found in association with human burials in Mexico, Chile, Peru, and Japan, while at the same time it was highly appreciated by early alchemists in ancient China (Needham, 1976;Yamada et al., 1995;Martín Gil et al., 1995;Cooke et al., 2009Cooke et al., , 2013Hunt-Ortiz et al., 2011;Bolio Zapata et al., 2012;Domingo et al., 2012;Gajić-Kvaščev et al., 2012;Trifonov et al., 2012;Rogerio-Candelera et al., 2013;Ávila et al., 2014;García Sanjuán et al., 2016;Ochoa-Lugo et al., 2017;Arriaza et al., 2018;Cervini-Silva et al., 2013Bueno-Ramírez et al., 2019;Zarzalejos Prieto et al., 2020;López-Costas et al., 2020; for a more complete review on cultural uses of cinnabar see Emslie et al., 2019). Mercury has also been studied in connection with specific social groups in Medieval Europe (Rasmussen et al., 2008(Rasmussen et al., , 2013a(Rasmussen et al., , 2013b. ...
In this study, total mercury (THg) was analyzed in archaeological human bone from 23 sites dating to between the Middle Neolithic and the Antiquity. A total of 370 individuals from individual or collective burials were sampled, mostly using cortical bone from the humerus. These individuals were recovered from over 50 different funerary structures ranging from tholoi, pits, caves and hypogea. Although cinnabar (HgS) is a likely cause of mercury poisoning and toxicity for people exposed to this mineral from mining or use as a paint or pigment, not all sites investigated here had cinnabar associated with the burials or other excavated areas. We found unusual levels of THg in many of the sampled individuals that we assume were caused by exposure to cinnabar in life, and not by diagenetic processes or other exposures to mercury such as through diet which would only cause negligible accumulation of THg in bone. Our data, based on the largest sampling ever undertaken on contamination of human bone through archaeological evidence, provide a baseline for additional research on cinnabar and its use in Prehistory. Moderate to high levels of THg in human bone are mainly associated with societies dating from the second half of the 4th to late 3rd millennia B.C. (Late Neolithic to Middle Chalcolithic) in southern Iberia. By the Late Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age the use of cinnabar decreased significantly and became minimal or absent. The use and abuse of cinnabar appears to have been pervasive throughout the above‐mentioned period, and particularly between c. 2900‐2300 B.C. This occurred in connection with the high symbolic and probably sacred value of the substance, which was sought after, traded and extensively used in a variety of rituals and social practices.
... An important pigment for anthropologist and archaeologist, cinnabar has been mined and used as a precious pigment by many cultures since prehistory for ritual/religious blessing, burial ceremony, magic, medical therapy, cave and body painting, artefacts decorating, cosmetic, etc. (Gajić-Kvaščev et al., 2012;Martín-Gil et al., 1995). Cinnabar is often accompanied in nature with native mercury. ...
The study was undertaken to explore the widespread use of colourants, raw materials and technology of colour production to illuminate Qur’ān manuscripts in the Qājār period, Iran (1789–1925 C.E.). SEM-EDX and µ-Raman spectroscopy were employed as non-invasive/non-destructive complementary techniques. The SEM-BSE images contribute to distinguishing between organic/inorganic origin of colourants and the EDX to identify gilding composition as well as providing a short-list of potential colourants to be confirmed by µ-Raman spectroscopy as a compound-specific technique. The results show the most identified colourants are mineral-based pigment; these include carbon black, ultramarine, Prussian blue, vermillion, and red lead. Brass, pure gold, and a gold-silver alloy were detected as metallic ink/paint as gilding. We hypothesise the red diacritic in S01 have organic nature with an anthraquinone derivative structure, but we were unable to specifically identify it. We also hypothesise the yellow constituents in S02 might contain saffron and lead-containing compound(s) as a thickening agent and/or chemical drier. Our findings were in agreement with information available in Persian and English bibliographical sources on Iranian painting and illuminated manuscripts of the Qājār period. Further analysis by SR-µFTIR, FORS, SERS and HPLC is required to confirm our assumption and to complete colourant identification.
... The widespread prehistoric use of cinnabar-based pigments opens new questions and concerns, as cinnabar and its derivatives are highly toxic (Liu et al., 2008). While ferrous pigments (like ochres) usually indicate a locally-obtained raw material, the far less abundant cinnabar can be used as a marker for long distance exchange networks (Rogerio-Candelera et al. 2013;Hunt Ortiz et al., 2011;Spangenberg et al., 2011;Mioč et al.2004;Gajić-Kvaščev et al., 2011;Emslie et al., 2015). ...
Cultural and funerary uses of red pigments are frequently discovered in Neolithic and Chalcolithic contexts across the Iberian Peninsula. While ferric pigments (like ochre) usually indicate a locally-obtained raw material, the far less abundant cinnabar (mercury sulfide) can be used as a marker for long-distance exchange networks. Reported uses of cinnabar include metallurgy, medicine, preservative, body painting and ceramic decoration. In this study, a multi-analytical approach was taken to investigate red pigments discovered in funerary and ritual contexts from two Late Neolithic sites in the Alentejo region of Portugal - Vale de Barrancas hypogeum cemetery and the Perdigoes circular enclosure.
... The widespread prehistoric use of cinnabar-based pigments opens new questions and concerns, as cinnabar and its derivatives are highly toxic (Liu et al., 2008). While ferrous pigments (like ochres) usually indicate a locally-obtained raw material, the far less abundant cinnabar can be used as a marker for long distance exchange networks (Rogerio-Candelera et al. 2013;Hunt Ortiz et al., 2011;Spangenberg et al., 2011;Mioč et al.2004;Gajić-Kvaščev et al., 2011;Emslie et al., 2015). ...
Located next to the village of Beringel, but belonging to the parish of Mombeja, municipality of Beja, the Vale de Barrancas 1 site was surveyed in the context of the construction of the Baixo Alentejo Highway - Lanço C. Between dated contexts from various periods (Final Bronze Age, Roman, Late Roman / Visigoth Periods, Contemporary), a necropolis of nine hypogea of Neolithic chronology (mid / third quarter of the 4th millennium BC) was excavated.
This monograph focuses exclusively on the hypogea dating from the Neolithic period, presenting their funerary architectures and contexts (Chap. 2), their absolute chronologies addressed within the scope of the chronometric analysis of the emergence of collective burials in the region (Chap. 3), the bioanthropological study of exhumed human remains (Chap. 4), the study of paleodiet through isotopic signatures of the population buried there (Chap. 5), the investigation of the nature of the pigments used in funerary rituals (Chap. 6) and, finally, the regional framework of the Neolithic necropolis of Vale de Barrancas 1 in the context of a review of the synthesis of Neolithic burials in hypogea in the interior of the Alentejo region (Chap.7).
... Mercury has been mined for about 7000 years (Hernández et al., 1999;Gajic-Kvašcev et al., 2012). It can be a local, regional and global pollutant and is toxic to most animals. ...
Stable isotope and elemental analyses of the Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) and harp seal (Phoca groenlandica) bone component of the marine food that dominated the Younger Stone Age (c. 6.1–3.5 ka BP) diet in Varanger, Arctic northern Norway, indicate, at times, climate change induced highly elevated levels of the heavy metals cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb), and elevated levels of mercury (Hg). On average, the levels of cadmium and lead contamination in cod were up to 22 and 3–4 times, respectively, higher than today's recommended limits in soft tissue. The corresponding figures for seal were 15 and 3–4 times, respectively. The levels of Hg were generally below today's recommended limit in soft tissue, but still of considerable magnitude, almost similar to the measured values in modern fish in the Arctic. This shows that marine food in the Younger Stone Age was unhealthy, if not unsafe. We discuss this unexpected knock-on effect in terms of sea surface temperatures and sea level change. The elevated values may have been detrimental for humans, if not for society; a balancing factor may have been a larger component of terrestrial resources than previously assumed. Concomitantly, this contribution to the paleo base-line record of toxicity may lead to predictions for seafood contamination in the future.
... Djordjević 2007;Carlton 2014). The knowledge of prehistoric pottery manufacture and circulation has also benefitted from the use of material science, with notable projects including those of Kreiter (Kreiter 2010;Kreiter et al. 2017), Spataro (2014;, Szakmány et al. (2011), andGajić-Kvaščev (Gajić-Kvaščev et al. 2012a;2012b). These studies and several other on-going projects on pottery technology are demonstrating the enormous potential that this approach has for furthering our understanding of ancient ceramic technology as archaeometric analysis can be used to detect patterns associated with the selection and provenance of raw materials and important aspects related to manufacturing processes such as pyrotechnology. ...
... From its beginning in the 1970s, ion beam analysis (IBA) techniques have been successfully applied to study historical and cultural objects; and since the 1990s they have been systematically used for material analysis (e.g., Ruvalcaba-Sil and Demortier 1997;Neelmeijer et al. 2000;Olsson et al. 2001;Ruvalcaba-Sil 2005;Hall 2006;Rizzuto et al. 2007Rizzuto et al. , 2014Rivero-Torres et al. 2008;Abd El Aal et al. 2009;Grassi et al. 2009;Poupeau et al. 2010;Lima et al. 2011;Gajić-Kvaščev et al. 2012;Ikeoka et al. 2013;Šmit et al. 2013;Calligaro et al. 2015;Pappalardo et al. 2015Pappalardo et al. , 2016Santos et al. 2015;Dasari et al. 2017). Nowadays, the advances in the characterization methodologies are centred in their application to areas with specific limitations, such as archaeometry. ...
Particle induced X‐ray emission (PIXE), X‐ray diffraction (XRD), electron microprobe analysis (EDS), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analytical techniques have been used to characterize surface paints in pre‐ and post fired Aguada Portezuelo decorated pottery. Surface paintings in black, white, red, brown, burgundy, and ocher colours were analysed. Major, minor, and trace elements were detected by PIXE, whereas XRD and SEM‐EDS gave information on the main mineral phases and the characteristic morphology for each analysed pigment. Results obtained indicate that the main colour groups can be easily discriminated by PIXE, and they are characterized by only one pigment for each colour, hematite (red) and Mn mineral oxides (black), respectively; whereas white pigments are characterized by calcite, ghelenite, and gypsum.
... A red filling precipitate with a ceramic container could be exposed in 1927 at Plocnik. It is also originated in the direction of high cinnabar percentage, likely but not conclusively mine from Sulpha Sterna [40]. ...
Cinnabar is an attractive mineral with many different uses. It is reported that cinnabar is one of the traditional Chinese’s medicines extensively use. The main objective of this critical review is to identify the current overview, concept and chemistry of cinnabar, which includes the process developments, challenges, and diverse options for pharmacology research. It is used as a medicine through probable toxicity, especially when taking overdoes. This review is the first to describe the toxicological effects of cinnabar and its associated compounds. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) dependent metabolomics could be useful for examination of the pharmaceutical consequence. The analysis indicated that the accurate preparation methods, appropriate doses, disease status, ages with drug combinations are significant factors for impacting the cinnabar toxicity. Toxicologically, synthetic mercury sulfide or cinnabar should be notable for mercuric chloride, mercury vapor and methyl mercury for future protection and need several prominent advancements in cinnabar research.
... Djordjević 2007;Carlton 2014). The knowledge of prehistoric pottery manufacture and circulation has also benefitted from the use of material science, with notable projects including those of Kreiter (Kreiter 2010;Kreiter et al. 2017), Spataro (2014;, Szakmány et al. (2011), andGajić-Kvaščev (Gajić-Kvaščev et al. 2012a;2012b). These studies and several other on-going projects on pottery technology are demonstrating the enormous potential that this approach has for furthering our understanding of ancient ceramic technology as archaeometric analysis can be used to detect patterns associated with the selection and provenance of raw materials and important aspects related to manufacturing processes such as pyrotechnology. ...
Today, mercury is a matter of concern for health and environmental authorities across western countries, and legislation has been passed and programs have been implemented for its total elimination from human activity. But this was not always the case: mercury and its compounds have been highly appreciated and used since remote times all over the world with very diverse purposes ranging from decorative, medicinal, metallurgical and symbolic. In particular, cinnabar (HgS, mercury sulfide), a mineral of an intense red color, has been considered in many cultures as an exotic raw material, highly valued and associated with the elites and sacred practice. In this paper, we examine one such case, set almost 5000 years ago, in Copper Age Iberia, by investigating mercury exposure through human bone. The study presented here includes a total of 170 samples from 70 different human individuals and 22 animals (plus one soil sample) from the Copper Age mega-site of Valencina, south-western Spain. It is the largest ever single-site study of exposure to mercury based on human bone in combination with cinnabar use. Abnormally high values are recorded in some individuals dating between 2900 and 2650 BC, especially in those buried in remarkable tombs belonging to the social elite of this period, but high levels of mercury are also recorded in the rest of the population. Three lines of interpretation are used to explain these results, including the manipulation of cinnabar (grinding it into powder, mixing it with other substances, using it for the decoration of objects, buildings and the human body), its direct consumption through ingestion or inhalation by a ‘special’ social group and the contribution of environmental factors. Based on the currently available evidence, which is carefully reviewed, Valencina represents the most intense and prolonged case of exposure to mercury recorded in human history, which makes it an important site to assess the long and complex history of use of this substance.
The element mercury (Hg) is a key pollutant, and much insight has been gained by studying the present-day Hg cycle. However, many important processes within this cycle operate on timescales responsive to centennial to millennial-scale environmental variability, highlighting the importance of also investigating the longer-term Hg records in sedimentary archives. To this end, we here explore the timing, magnitude, and expression of Hg signals retained in sediments over the past ~90 ka from two lakes, linked by a subterranean karst system: Lake Prespa (Greece/North Macedonia/Albania) and Lake Ohrid (North Macedonia/Albania). Results suggest that Hg fluctuates largely independent of variability in common host phases in each lake, and the recorded sedimentary Hg signals show distinct differences first during the late Pleistocene (Marine Isotope Stages 2–5). The Hg signals in Lake Prespa sediments highlights an abrupt, short-lived, peak in Hg accumulation coinciding with local deglaciation. In contrast, Lake Ohrid shows a broader interval with enhanced Hg accumulation, and, superimposed, a series of low-amplitude oscillations in Hg concentration peaking during the Last Glacial Maximum, that may result from elevated clastic inputs. Divergent Hg signals are also recorded during the early and middle Holocene (Marine Isotope Stage 1). Here, Lake Prespa sediments show a series of large Hg peaks; while Lake Ohrid sediments show a progression to lower Hg values. Around 3 ka, anthropogenic influences overwhelm local fluxes in both lakes. The lack of coherence in Hg accumulation between the two lakes suggests that, in the absence of an exceptional perturbation, local differences in sediment composition, lake structure, and water balance all influence the local Hg cycle, and determine the extent to which Hg signals reflect local or global-scale environmental changes.
In this paper are presented the techniques of the
gilding practice recorded on the fresco fragments found in several
Late-Byzantine churches – monasteries from Serbia. The
fresco fragments with gilding analyzed here were found during
archaeological investigations in the monasteries Žiča, Mileševa
and Banjska. They all belong to the time when these churches
were built by Serbian kings, between the 13th and 14th centuries.
On the cross-sections of the samples, observed with the optic
microscope under normal and UV light, the gilding techniques
with multi-layered preparations were revealed. Also, observations
and measurements of each cross-section were made using
scanning electron microscopy, coupled with energy dispersive
X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (EDX). The results showed
that for the sample from Žiča we have the oldest proven occurrence
of gilding with gilded tin, where the gold leaf is attached
to the tin foil most probably with some kind of pre-treated oil.
Also, an oil-based binder was used to attach the gilded tin foil
to the bole ground. Until now the oldest known example has
been found on the painting and wall decorations by Giotto di
Bondone from the early 14th century. Samples from the Žiča
monastery are dated to the early 13th century. In the other two
churches, water gilding with gold leaves on bole grounds was
detected. The quality of gold from which the leaves are made
does not correspond to any contemporary coinage. Here we will
discuss the possible origin of the gold for their production and
show that they were made in goldsmith workshops, possibly
from the Balkan region, since those were the places where the
gold was refined, alloyed and could be obtained directly from
the nearby mining sites.
Keywords: fresco, gilding, Byzantine, art, Serbia
The analysed samples come from the archaeological rescue digs undertaken on the Iernut-Chețani segment from the Transilvania Highway (Sector 2A Ogra-Câmpia Turzii). The samples were taken from 7 pottery sherds, as well as clay taken from within the dig site. The 7 sherds, dated to the Neolithic period, are different and consist of 4 fine pottery sherds, 1 semifine pottery sherd and 2 coarse. Complementary techniques were used in the analysis, namely TG/HF, FTIR, SEM, EDX and XRD. The purpose of the analysis was to determine similarities between the composition of the pottery sherds, as well as similarities between the pottery composition and the soil samples, in order to determine whether the raw materials used had a local origin. Furthermore, the techniques employed were selected to also help identify the pottery technology (estimating the firing temperatures).
The Neolithic–Chalcolithic site of Belovode covers approximately 40 ha (Figure 1). In the two fieldwork campaigns of 2012 and 2013, only 31.5 m2 was excavated due to the archaeometallurgical focus of the project. The trench was positioned on the eastern platform of the settlement, where previous excavations had uncovered significant metallurgical evidence in Trenches 3 (Šljivar and Jacanović 1997c, Radivojević et al. 2010a) and 17, which are located to the north and the south of Trench 18 respectively. A 5 x 5 m area was opened in the 2012 season and then, based on the preliminary spatial analysis of metallurgical finds, in 2013 the trench was slightly expanded with a 2 x 3 m extension on the eastern side.
This chapter summarises the macroscopic and microscopic analyses of pottery sherds from the sites of Belovode and Pločnik, presented in Chapters 14 and 31, and provides insight into different technological traits in order to aid reconstruction of pottery making recipes in these two Vinča culture communities. Using a multi- pronged scientific approach, we reconstructed routines of raw material acquisition and processing, techniques of forming and finishing vessels, firing conditions and organisational aspects of pottery production. The possible non-local production identified in this research is also considered in order to understand the dynamics that shaped pottery circulation in these prehistoric communities (e.g. Quinn et al. 2010). These results also contribute significantly to the previous technological studies carried out on Neolithic pottery from sites in the central Balkans (Figure 1) (e.g. Dammers et al. 2012; Kaiser 1984, 1989, 1990; Kaiser et al. 1986; Kreiter et al. 2009, 2011, 2013, 2017a, 2017b, 2019; Spataro 2014, 2017, 2018; Szakmány et al. 2019).
The 2012 and 2013 excavations and subsequent post- excavation analyses by The Rise of Metallurgy in Eurasia project team at the site of Belovode built upon two decades of earlier work led by the National Museum of Belgrade and the Museum in Požarevac (Jacanović and Šljivar 2003; Šljivar 2006; Šljivar and Jacanović 1996b, 1996c, 1997c; Šljivar et al. 2006). This earlier work across 17 trenches had identified four building horizons (Belovode A–D), the presence of the entire Vinča culture ceramic sequence from Vinča Tordoš (A–B1) to the Gradac Phase (I–III) as well as stone tools, figurines, obsidian blades, animal bone and, most importantly for the current research, evidence for the smelting of copper ores. As detailed in Chapter 5, it was the archaeometallurgical analysis of five small copper slags from Trench 3 together with the radiocarbon dating of the excavated horizon in which they were found that provided evidence for copper smelting at c. 5000 BC (Radivojević et al. 2010a) and the foundation for The Rise of Metallurgy in Eurasia project. However, in the absence of any detailed publication on these earlier excavations at Belovode, further questions relating to broader context of the earliest evidence for copper smelting could not be explored.
This chapter reviews the archaeological evidence for the Vinča culture, the broader archaeological context for the majority of the metal production and metal artefacts extensively explored in Chapter 3, as well as for the sites of Belovode and Pločnik, whose investigation forms the core of The Rise of Metallurgy in Eurasia project. The chapter will provide a lengthy introduction to the current data and interpretations of the Vinča culture that are subsequently developed in far greater detail in the thematic overviews by many of the leading specialists in later chapters (Chapters 39–52). This monograph seeks to address, at least in part, the absence of a dedicated synthesis of the Vinča culture since Chapman’s (1981) monograph (see Chapman 2020b for a critical reflection). The concept of archaeological cultures remains problematic in European prehistory in terms of definition and interpretation, yet extremely resilient in the absence of comparable empirically orientated alternatives (Roberts and Vander Linden 2011). Due to competing national traditions of scholarship, the culture history groupings and terminologies are strikingly complex in the later prehistoric Balkans (Gori and Ivanova 2017; Tsirtsoni 2016a). As such, the chapter explores the historiography and complex debates that surround the archaeological and temporal definitions of the Vinča culture. The importance of the Vinča culture lies not only in the evidence of early metallurgy but also in the evidence for the expansion of material culture production and circulation, the intensification of agriculture and increase in sedentism and settlement growth, which are all subsequently reviewed. The chapter concludes by examining past and present interpretations of the communities who lived and died within what we now term the Vinča culture.
The chronology of the sites of Belovode and Pločnik has been discussed several times in the past two decades since excavations were renewed at each site (Arsenijević and Živković 1998; Šljivar 1996; Šljivar and Jacanović 1996a; Šljivar and Kuzmanović Cvetković 1997a), though not in detail and rarely integrating the relative and the absolute chronological sequences. Chronologies from both sites have been published (Whittle et al. 2016), drawing upon eight radiocarbon dates from the two trenches then existing for Belovode (Trenches 7 and 8) and nine radiocarbon dates from three trenches for Pločnik (Trenches 14, 15 and 16). These dates were allegedly focussing on the dating of metallurgical finds, however, the nature of those finds was not known at the time, so the best guess was to date materials from the spits, which only adds to the doubt on the chronological precision achieved. The seriation and ceramic sequences of both sites resulting from this project are discussed in detail elsewhere in this volume (see Chapters 12, 13, 27 and 28) and in this chapter will be used only to illustrate relative chronology compared to other chronologies used for Vinča culture (see Chapter 4). The identical spit and context excavation methodology employed on both sites enables us to compare chronologically sensitive pottery forms to other relevant sites of the period. This chapter presents 29 new radiocarbon dates from throughout the excavated sequences: 17 from Trench 18 at Belovode and 12 from Trench 24 at Pločnik. The systematic excavations, relative ceramic sequences and the intensity of radiocarbon dating enables a far more precise modelling of dates for the identifiable activity horizons at both sites.
The study of early metallurgy has many aspects and has, accordingly, taken many forms and foci (Rehren and Pernicka 2008 and literature therein). Some scholars have documented the morpho-typological evolution of artefact types and some have explored the role of metals in creating social hierarchies, in storing and displaying wealth, or the more transcendent role of metals in a variety of rituals. Other researchers are fascinated by the skills and technical achievements of the metalworkers and their intangible heritage as expressed in intricate castings, ingenious manufacturing methods and elaborate surface decorations. Yet others study the transformation of rocks and ores to metal as documented in the slags and furnace fragments or try to trace the geological origins of metal objects, as a proxy for the movement of people, materials, and ideas. The investigation of ancient mining extends well beyond the field of archaeometallurgy, with mines for flint, pigments, precious stones and salt all pre-dating metal smelting, and quarrying for building stone exceeding metal mining both in scale and value generation (e.g. Schauer et al. 2020). This range of interests inevitably implies the application of a multitude of methods, borrowed from a host of mother disciplines, adjusted and refined to form the interdisciplinary field of archaeometallurgy. It also makes any holistic project both a daunting prospect and an exercise in interdisciplinary diplomacy.
Metallurgical materials recovered during the excavation campaigns of 2012 and 2013 in Pločnik show similar characteristics to samples already studied and published previously (Radivojević 2012, 2015; Radivojević and Kuzmanović Cvetković 2014; Radivojević and Rehren 2016; Radivojević et al. 2013). They include, as for Belovode (Chapter 11), predominantly malachite minerals and ores (Table 1), that occur as roughly beneficiated pieces and without a distinct spatial patterning in Trench 24. In comparison to Belovode, they occur less frequently across all five horizons, partially explained by the fact that most of Trench 24 is a large rectangular feature – a house (F1=F2=F4=F5=F6=F10), and there is very little economic area surrounding it.
The results and experiences gained from the multidisciplinary and holistic approaches underlying the Rise of Metallurgy in Eurasia project provide an opportunity, not only to reflect on programmes of further research in the Balkans, but also on scholarship in early metallurgy across the world. This chapter outlines what might be usefully taken forward from this project, but also seeks to highlight gaps in our understandings that could be addressed. It is by no means a comprehensive agenda for global early metallurgy studies but is instead intended to stimulate further debate and discussions that lead to new programmes of research.
As outlined in Chapter 2, three key lines of enquiry shaped The Rise of Metallurgy in Eurasia project and underpinned the research questions. Firstly, there are competing views about whether metallurgy in Eurasia had a single origin or arose in multiple places. There are also different perspectives regarding the ways in which pre-existing technical knowledge influenced and inspired the emergence of this new technology. Further discourse relates to the manner in which this early metallurgy was organised across the chaîne opératoire of metal production and use and developed across a range of metals and alloys. Each of these three themes are fundamental to early metallurgy across the world (see papers in Roberts and Thornton 2014). These are areas of investigation with a deep history of scholarship and a wide range of competing explanatory models.
Metal production evidence yielded during the excavation campaigns 2012 and 2013 in Belovode shows similar characteristic to the samples from the site studied and published previously (Radivojević 2012, 2013, 2015; Radivojević and Kuzmanović Cvetković 2014; Radivojević and Rehren 2016; Radivojević et al. 2010a). These are predominantly malachite mineral and ore samples, most likely roughly beneficiated (no samples larger than 2–3 cm in length, see Appendix B_Ch11), and very importantly, without any significant spatial pattern in the excavated area of Trench 18 or its extension (T18ext henceforth). These minerals were discovered in all areas, whether in living or economic spaces, inside the dwellings and other features, and across the excavation spits, which is why they have also been found by previous excavation campaigns (Šljivar 1993–2009).
'The Rise of Metallurgy in Eurasia' is a landmark study in the origins of metallurgy. The project aimed to trace the invention and innovation of metallurgy in the Balkans. It combined targeted excavations and surveys with extensive scientific analyses at two Neolithic-Chalcolithic copper production and consumption sites, Belovode and Pločnik, in Serbia. At Belovode, the project revealed chronologically and contextually secure evidence for copper smelting in the 49th century BC. This confirms the earlier interpretation of c. 7000-year-old metallurgy at the site, making it the earliest record of fully developed metallurgical activity in the world. However, far from being a rare and elite practice, metallurgy at both Belovode and Pločnik is demonstrated to have been a common and communal craft activity. This monograph reviews the pre-existing scholarship on early metallurgy in the Balkans. It subsequently presents detailed results from the excavations, surveys and scientific analyses conducted at Belovode and Pločnik. These are followed by new and up-to-date regional syntheses by leading specialists on the Neolithic-Chalcolithic material culture, technologies, settlement and subsistence practices in the Central Balkans. Finally, the monograph places the project results in the context of major debates surrounding early metallurgy in Eurasia before proposing a new agenda for global early metallurgy studies.
Cette thèse est une tentative de monographie sur les Dardaniens, peuple indigène du centre des Balkans, dont le territoire recouvre la totalité de l’actuel Kosovo et une partie des États voisins, l’Albanie, la Macédoine du nord, le Monténégro, la Serbie, sur une période allant du VIe au Ier siècle av. J.-C. Après une introduction précisant le cadre géographique et ethnique et abordant le problème de l’ethnogenèse de ce peuple, le travail est organisé en quatre parties. La première traite de l'histoire politique des Dardaniens à partir d’un catalogue exhaustif des sources littéraires et épigraphiques qui mentionnent ce peuple. Cette histoire n’émerge qu’à partir de Philippe II de Macédoine jusqu’à la conquête romaine. La deuxième partie s’intéresse à l’organisation politique et sociale et repose sur le témoignage de sources littéraires mais surtout sur un catalogue des habitats connus. On y décrit une société tribale à forte composante militaire. Dans la troisième partie, on a dressé un tableau des ressources et des principales activités économiques. Les mines de métaux précieux et de cinabre constituent la principale source de richesse du pays, à côté des activités traditionnelles dans l’Antiquité que sont l’agriculture et l’élevage. Un catalogue numismatique clôture ce chapitre. La quatrième partie est consacrée à la religion. L’étude des rites funéraires y occupe une grande place car les archéologues locaux ont fouillé un nombre important de nécropoles tumulaires recensées dans un catalogue. La présence de quatre rites, inhumation, crémation, usage d’urnes cinéraires, cénotaphes, indique une variété de coutumes funéraires qui pose le problème de l’existence de plusieurs groupes ethniques ou de changements sociaux et religieux. L’usage unique de nécropoles tumulaires tout au long de la période rattache clairement les Dardaniens au groupe ethnique illyrien. Prenant en compte toutes les découvertes accumulées au cours des trente dernières années, ce travail complète utilement les anciennes monographies en langue serbe ou albanaise.
In 2012, an undisturbed grave was discovered in the Taksai-1 kurgan cemetery in western Kazakhstan. It belonged to a woman
who is popularly referred to as altun hanum (‘golden lady’) and believed to have been of elite status because of the rich gold
grave goods she was buried with. The tomb is dated to the late 6th or early 5th century BC by radiocarbon dates on wood
and bone. Among the Achaemenid-inspired grave goods, gold jewellery, vessels of glass and stone, a wooden comb with
carved figurative decoration is the most outstanding piece on account of its narrative battle scene and war chariot. This
paper provides a full description and discussion of the iconography of this contest which shows victorious Persians and the
vanquished enemy and compares it with that on a painted tomb chamber near Tatarlı in Phrygia. Finally, it contextualises this
battle scene by comparing with representations of similar compositions in Achaemenid art and discussing their historical
context.
Wall paintings have become one of the most relevant, complex and challenging research subjects in Archaeometry. Minimally- or non-invasive, accurate and multidisciplinary methods are needed to successfully address the problems posed by their physical and chemical properties and by their analysis techniques. Specifically, the analytical method implemented for the study of this type of samples must enable a precise separation of the chemical information from backgrounds and scenes, allowing the identification of pigment’s components in overlapping layers, the detection of minority components and the elucidation of pigment mixtures. Thus, this paper puts forward a multidisciplinary approach towards these goals by means of the combined use of micro Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence (μEDXRF) surface mapping and single-spot micro-Raman spectroscopy and μEDXRF analysis. The samples under research come from the site of Cástulo (Linares, Spain), one of the most important Roman cities in the Iberian Peninsula. It must be emphasized the uniqueness of the walls of Cástulo, their optimal conservation state and the richness and variety of the colour’s palette used in their decoration, which make them an excellent and representative example of Roman wall paintings.
We report lead isotope data for cinnabar from three Chalcolithic settlements and several ore deposits in the Iberian Peninsula. Lead isotope ratios of cinnabar (vermilion) employed in one Bell Beaker grave at Humanejos (Madrid) plot in the field of the Almaden mining district. Cinnabar from the La Velilla dolmen (Palencia) also plots in the isotopic field of Almaden ores but is also comparable to the closer Miñera de Luna deposit in the Cantabrian Ranges. Cinnabar used in the dolmen of Montelirio (Seville) has an unknown origin, as its new lead isotope ratios obtained do not match with any of the studied ore deposits. We conclude that cinnabar was a well‐known raw material and several ore deposits were mined in the Iberian Peninsula during the Chalcolithic. The societies established at the northern and central parts of the peninsula employed locally sourced cinnabar (<200 km away) in their funerary rituals. The Chalcolithic society settled at the estuary of the Guadalquivir river (south of Spain) employed cinnabar of unknown origin, leaving open the possibility of long‐distance cinnabar trade.
The adsorption behaviors of oxygen atoms and water molecules on cinnabar unit were studied using the density-functional theory (DFT) calculations. The pure cinnabar (CB) is a D3h-symmetrical ring structure, and the two oxygen atoms are energetically favorable to be bonded with the S atoms of the CB unit. The adsorption of water molecules keeps the geometric skeleton of complexes, and makes these hydrated structures stable. Moreover, the electronic and spectroscopic properties of the hydrated complexes are tailored. The UV–vis absorption and infrared vibrational spectra of these complexes are assigned.
This paper is a preliminary study on the origin of the precious red pigment cinnabar by μ‐Raman analysis. The importance of this pigment is partly due to its low availability. When the mineral was used in the Roman Age, the district of Almadén, Spain, was probably the most exploited region. However, it is still not well defined if further ores were chosen for supply. A scientific methodology has to be assessed. In the present study, samples with known provenance (Spain, Slovenia, Italy, Russia, China, and minor European deposits) were collected from Italian Mineralogical and Earth Science Museums. μ‐Raman analysis was chosen to acquire structural data, which were finally treated by statistical analysis. Most of the samples from China were characterized by the presence of selenium. This was proved by the additional band at ~200 cm⁻¹. The statistical analysis of Raman data suggests that the position of the most intense band at ~252 cm⁻¹ also influences the discrimination of the Chinese samples. This work also demonstrates that a higher purity may be revealed by μ‐Raman analysis, eventually leading to the discrimination of natural sources from synthetic cinnabar. It also proves that the most common exploitation sites, Almadén and Idrija, may be statistically distinguished. Despite its exploratory nature, this study is intended as a successful preliminary step to gain information of provenance from a single, potentially non‐destructive technique, such as μ‐Raman spectroscopy.
Several elements make Pyrgos a case of production and trade. Among them, we can consider the strategic location,
the availability of natural resources and the division of roles, results of a cultural revolution born within the
Cypriot society at the beginning of the second millennium BC. During this period, the agricultural production was
in fact supported by craft activities dedicated to the production of prestige goods for domestic and foreign trade. It
is therefore conceivable, in consideration of the historical and archaeological data, that at the time, many settlements
of Cyprus had commercial areas like the Pyrgos’ one.
The excavation brought to light workshops producing prestige goods as bronzes, jewellery, fine fabrics, perfumed
ointments, pharmaceutical preparations, and cosmetics in an area located at the centre of the settlement. There
were all goods in great demand from the Mediterranean market, which found in those products merits of quality
that made the island home of wellness and beauty later identified in the native country of Aphrodite goddess of
love and eternal youth. In Early Middle Bronze age, we are at the origin of a legend that survived wars,
occupations and religions, and still is in charge today when you want to bring to the market a new luxury product,
a perfume or a cosmetic that promises miraculous results.
Maps of cinnabar in alluvial sediments in Bulgaria are compiled on the basis of 133 123 stream sediment pan-concentrated samples collected in the period 1945-2004. The maps are dotted to present cinnabar concentrations coded in ranks and as contours to give the frequencies of the cinnabar population among the samples studied. A model map of cinnabar distribution using the double Fourier series method is also compiled. The map shows a grouping of cinnabar in two regional stripes of the Bulgarian territory. The correlations of cinnabar in alluvial sediments are determined and its stable mineral associations are derived! The barite-cinnabar-gold association indicates the existence of epithermal mercury-gold mineralizations in Bulgaria and the necessity of further studies on cinnabar from geological and ecological viewpoint is outlined.
Two mercury mining regions from the NW Dinarides are compared with respect to their impact on related drainage basins (of Soca and Kupa Rivers). Stream sediments of the rivers Idrijca, Baca and Soca, which drain the area around world-class mercury ore deposit in Idrija (Slovenia), as well as those from the Cabranka and Kupa Rivers, that drain the area around a smaller Hg-only deposit at Trsce near Cabar (Croatia) have been studied, by detailed mineralogical, chemical and geostatistical studies.|According, to the results, the Idrijca River is highly contaminated with several toxic elements in the town of Idrija. Concentrations (in ppm = mg/kg) were determined in fractions < 63 mu m and 63 - 500 mu m respectively: Hg (9000 and 65000), As (16 and 19.5), Cr (40 and 91), Cu (380 and 113), Pb (55 and 2940). Contamination with Ha, As and Pb persists in downstream Idrijca, as well as in Soca downstream from the confluence with Idrijca. Concentrations of some other trace elements (Zn, Ba, Ni, Cr, Co and Cu) increase in seaward direction. In Soca River drainage basin it was found that in the fraction < 63 mu m Hg shows significant correlation with S, Zn, As, Cu, Sn, U, Mo, W and Sb. In the fraction 63 - 500 mu m significant correlation of Hg was found with S, Fe, Zn, Ni, Pb, Cr, As, Cu, Sn, Zr, Mo, Cd, Sb, Tl and Bi.|On the contrary, in the Kupa drainage basin, the closed Hg-mine in Trsce had only a minor effect on stream sediments. The highest measured concentration of Hg (206 ppb = mu g/kg) was determined at the confluence of Kupa and Cabranka Rivers. Significant correlation of Her (in the fraction < 63 mu m) was found with Zn, Pb, Cu, Au, Li and Cd. The geochemical baseline for Hg in Kupa drainage basin was determined for the first time as 86.1 +/- 47.3 ppb = mu g/kg. With respect to Hg, the basin shows characteristics of a very clean system.
Vermillion has been shown to be useful in preserving human bones from 5000 years ago. Remarkably well-preserved human bones have been found in the dolmenic burial 'La Velilla' in Osorno (Palencia, Spain), carefully covered by pulverized cinnabar (vermillion) which ensured their preservation even in non-favorable climatic conditions. We believe the red powder was deliberately deposited for preservative use because no cinnabar mine is to be found within 160 km, because of the large amount (hundreds of kilograms) used, and because its composition, red mercuric sulphide, is similar to that of preparations used in technical embalming. This finding pushes back the data of the use of mercury ore for preservation by four millennia in South America, and by at least one millennium in the Old World. Chemical and thermal analyses of vermillion in La Velilla have demonstrated its great purity and shown that the cinnabar was pulverized and washed (but not heated), producing a bright red-orange tone.
The results of tectono-metallogenic, geological-structural, mineralogical, isotopic, and hermobarogeochemical studies at the Alshar deposit and in the adjacent area are discussed. The data obtained show that the gold mineralization at the deposit is similar to that observed at the Carlin-type deposits in the western United States. Similar characteristics include the Au-As-Sb-Tl-Hg geochemical assemblage; low Pb, Zn, Cu, and Ag contents in ore; widespread jasperoid and argillic metasomatic
alterations of host siliciclastic-carbonate sedimentary rocks; and the spatial relations to fault zones. At the same time, the Alshar deposit differs from the Carlin-type deposits by the following features: (1) Pliocene age of mineralization, (2) expansion of mineralization over younger volcanics, (3) a high Tl grade in ore, and (4) localization of the ore field in a long-lived central-type magmatic structure. The results obtained can be used as an exploration model.
The beginnings of extractive metallurgy in Eurasia are contentious. The first cast copper objects in this region emerge c. 7000 years ago, and their production has been tentatively linked to centres in the Near East. This assumption, however, is not substantiated by evidence for copper smelting in those centres. Here, we present results from recent excavations from Belovode, a Vinča culture site in Eastern Serbia, which has provided the earliest direct evidence for copper smelting to date. The earliest copper smelting activities there took place c. 7000 years ago, contemporary with the emergence of the first cast copper objects. Through optical, chemical and provenance analyses of copper slag, minerals, ores and artefacts, we demonstrate the presence of an established metallurgical technology during this period, exploiting multiple sources for raw materials. These results extend the known record of copper smelting by more than half a millennium, with substantial implications. Extractive metallurgy occurs at a location far away from the Near East, challenging the traditional model of a single origin of metallurgy and reviving the possibility of multiple, independent inventions.
Between 1500 and 500 BC the Olmecs flourished in the tropical lowlands of Mexico's Gulf Coast, creating the most complex of Mesoamerica's early societies and its first monumental art. Emphasising the strategies of political leaders and the environmental and social diversity within the Olmec region, this up-to-date and comprehensive study describes the history of Olmec research, synthesises recent scholarship on the ecology, economy, socio-political organisation and ideology of Olmec society, and evaluates current debates over the influence of the Olmecs on their contemporaries and their contributions to later Mesoamerican civilisations.
By Joseph Needham London: Cambridge University Press. 1962 Pp. xxxiv + 434. Price 84s.
Since previous volumes of this monumental task have not been reviewed in the Bulletin, it may be convenient to record their titles, as an indication of the way the present book falls into the general scheme. Thus?Volume I (1954), Introductory Orientation, Volume II (1956), History of Scientific Thought, Volume III (1959), Mathematics and the Science of the Heavens and the Earth.
This book studies the formation of complex societies in prehistoric China during the Neolithic and early state periods, c. 7000–1500 BC. Archaeological materials are interpreted through anthropological perspectives, using systematic analytic methods in settlement and burial patterns. Both agency and process are considered in the development of chiefdoms and in the emergence of early states in the Yellow River region. Interrelationships between factors such as mortuary practice, craft specialization, ritual activities, warfare, exchange of elite goods, climatic fluctuations, and environmental changes are emphasized. This study offers a critical evaluation of current archaeological data from Chinese sources, and argues that, although some general tendencies are noted, social changes were affected by multiple factors in no pre-determined sequence. In this most comprehensive study to date, Li Liu attempts to reconstruct developmental trajectories toward early states in Chinese civilization and discusses theoretical implications of Chinese archaeology for the understanding of social evolution.
Hydrothermal gold deposits (epithermal, Carlin-type, and orogenic) have accounted for >75% of lode-gold production. Although these deposits form in distinctly different geologic settings and by different ore-forming processes, they have a number of geochemical similarities. These include their temperature of formation over ~200°C range, bulk composition of ore-forming solutions, and elemental associations. The ores predominantly form by either igneous or metamorphic hydrothermal processes, but Carlin-type ores may also require a sedimentary hydrothermal contribution. Gold is transported by the ore-forming solutions as aqueous H2S(aq) complexes or its dissociated equivalent, bisulfide, and dissolved gold concentrations may reach the ppm level. Gold in gold-rich ore-forming solutions locally may form nanoparticles that are physically transported to the place of ore deposition. Other elements that also have an affinity for dissolved H2S in hydrothermal ore-forming solutions include silver, arsenic, tellurium, selenium, mercury, antimony, and thallium, and they may be enriched in gold ores and be useful elements for exploration geochemistry. In particular, arsenic is almost universally enriched in all three of the hydrothermal deposits discussed here.
A new calculation of the crustal composition is based on the proportions of upper crust (UC) to felsic lower crust (FLC) to mafic lower crust (MLC) of about 1:0.6:0.4. These proportions are derived from a 3000 km long refraction seismic profile through western Europe (EGT) comprising 60% old shield and 40% younger fold belt area with about 40 km average Moho depth. A granodioritic bulk composition of the UC in major elements and thirty-two minor and trace elements was calculated from the Canadian Shield data (Shaw et al., 1967, 1976). The computed abundance of thirty-three additional trace elements in the UC is based on the following proportions of major rock units derived from mapping: 14% sedimentary rocks, 25% granites, 20% granodiorites, 5% tonalites, 6% gabbros, and 30% gneisses and mica schists. The composition of FLC and MLC in major and thirty-six minor and trace elements is calculated from data on felsic granulite terrains and mafic xenoliths, respectively, compiled by Rudnick and Presper (1990). More than thirty additional trace element abundances in FLC and MLC were computed or estimated from literature data.
The prehistoric site of Vinča, on the right bank of the River Danube, the territory of the City of Belgrade, first excavated by M. Vasić in 1931–34, provides Neolithic pottery dating back to 5200–4200 BC. Shards excavated in 1998 (Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts) have a yellow coating on the external (convex) and red deposit on the internal (concave) side. Raman, IR and x-ray identification proved that the yellow-to-red decor deposited on the external faces of pottery is made of ochre, a mixture of hematite, quartz and phyllosilicates. The red deposit found on some internal surfaces of the pottery consists of cinnabar (HgS) with some quartz and phyllosilicates. This indicates that cinnabar was not used for decor but for other purposes than and prepared or stored in ceramic utensils. A comparison is made with mercury ore from the Šuplja Stena mine located ∼20 km from Vinča village. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The Tethyan Eurasian metallogenic belt (TEMB) was formed during Mesozoic and post-Mesozoic times in the area of the former Tethyan ocean on the southern margin of Eurasia, with the Afro-Arabian and Indian plates to the south. It extends from western Mediterranean via the Alps and southeastern Europe through the Lesser Caucasus, the Hindu Kush, and the Tibet Plateau to Burma and SW Indonesia, linking with the West Pacific metallogenic belt. The Carpatho-Balkan region is one of the sectors of the TEMB, characterized by some specific features. The emplacement of ore deposits is related to a definite time interval, and to specific tectonic settings such as:
1. Late Permian-Triassic intracontinental rifting along the northern margin of Gondwanaland and/or fragments already separated. This setting involves volcanogenic and volcano-sedimentary deposits (iron, lead/zinc, manganese, antimony, mercury, barite), skarn deposits associated with volcano-plutonic complexes of bimodal magmatism, and low temperature carbonate-hosted lead/zinc deposits.
2. Jurassic intraoceanic rifting – ophiolite complexes: This setting hosts major magmatic (particularly podiform chrome deposits) and volcano-sedimentary deposits, mainly of the Cyprus type.
3. Subduction-related setting involves porphyry copper deposits, lesser skarn deposits (iron, locally Pb-Zn), massive sulphide Cu (e.g. Bor) accompanied locally by Pb-Zn of replacement type, epithermal gold deposits, associated with calc-alkaline igneous complexes of the Early Tertiary-Late Cretaceous, and the Neogene gold/silver and base metals deposits.
4. Post-collision continent-continent setting includes deposits of Pb-Zn, Sb, As, Au-Cu associated with volcano-plutonic complexes of calc-alkaline affinity.
Several major Alpine metallogenic units are developed in the Carpatho-Balkanides and adjacent area, each characterized by specific development, mineral associations, and types of ore deposits.
Fire gilding was the predominant technique for the gilding of metalwork from 300 b.c. in China and 200 a.d. in Europe until the invention of electroplating in the 19th century. This article investigates its metallurgical aspects
based on studies of original objects, gilding replication experiments, and literary evidence.
Tracing gold back to its source by means of the elemental composition of objects contributes to the knowledge of the trade routes used in the past. The analysis of a large number of ancient gold objects showed that in most cases only a few elements are useful to characterize the metal. Quantitative analysis of these elements was performed on a set of gold samples with different techniques: inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry in liquid mode and with laser ablation, 12 MeV proton activation analysis, fast neutron activation analysis, particle induced X-ray emission (PIXE) and PIXE induced X-ray fluorescence. The aim of this paper is to present a discussion on the possibilities and limitations of these techniques to characterize gold.
The Chinese Neolithic: Trajectories to Early States The first known use of vermillion Das vorgeschichtliche Bergwerk " Suplja Stena " am Avalaberg bei Belgrad (Serbien) Wiener Prähistorische Zeitchrift 30, 41e54. Mio c
- L Liu
- J Martín-Gil
- F J Martín-Gil
- G Castro
- P Zapatero-Magdaleno
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