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Towards an appreciation of Minoan metallurgical techniques: information provided by copper alloy tools from the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 September 2013

P. Northover  and
D. Evely
P. Northover
Affiliation:
Department of Materials, Oxford
D. Evely
Affiliation:
Oxford
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Abstract

A group of ten copper and copper alloy Minoan tools from the Ashmolean Museum's Cretan collection is analysed. Though the component elements are recorded, the emphasis is on metallographic aspects of the objects. By considering these sets of information together we can learn how craftsmen treated the types of metal available in order to suit the requirements of the intended products. Many details of the stages undergone by the metal in its transformation into a finished item can be recovered. Much of this process is dictated by the physical properties of the metal itself. Two standards of finishing existed, relating to the available metal and its intended use. Though limited in the range of its conclusions, the study shows that the return of information, especially in an area of investigation left unexplored, well recompenses the loss of the snippet required for analysis.

Type
Articles
Information
Annual of the British School at Athens , Volume 90 , November 1995 , pp. 83 - 105
Copyright
Copyright © The Council, British School at Athens 1995

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References

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9 For more on these tool types: catalogue and discussion on development, manufacture and use, see Evely (n. 6).

10 Boardman (n. 6), 52, 225. But see Craddock (n. 7), 100 (his item 302), who is prepared to include it.

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14 Hardness testing is measured in Vickers units (HV). The process consists of impressing the sample with a diamond tip of known size and under known pressure (the variables within the system are appended to the HV: thus HV1, HV2.5, and so on), and measuring the size of the resultant indentation. The resistance put up by the hardness of the metal sample will affect the size of the indentation, and a value is obtained by reading off this against a table.

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18 See Craddock (n. 7).

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21 Stansby (n. 18).

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