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Metal Supply and Metal Trade in Bronze Age Eastern Mediterranean

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 February 2011

Robert Laffineur
Robert Laffineur*
Affiliation:
University of Liège, Archaeology and Art History of Ancient Greece, Place du 20-août, 32, B-4000 Liège, Belgium
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Extract

Identifying the sources of metal supply and reconstructing the routes of metal trade in the Eastern Mediterranean during the Bronze Age, in the 3rd and 2nd millennium B.C., depend from the complementary evidence provided by sources belonging to various fields of scientific research. Prominent among them are the study of the ore deposits and their periods of exploitation, the analysis of artefacts (provenance studies), the interpretation of ancient texts and the excavation of wrecked ships carrying metal ingots, with inventory and dating of their cargo. The paper proposes to review those aspects, in relation to copper, tin, silver and gold. Its aim is not to provide a systematic and comprehensive catalogue of all the available data. This has been done in the recent years, lastly by H.-G. Buchholz in a detailed article Der Metallhandel des Zweiten Jahrtausends im Mittelmeerraum1. The purpose will be rather to have a general overview of the most significant evidence, especially as far as the prehistoric Aegean is concerned: the results of field research in the area of the Lavrion mines in Attica, lead isotope analyses of bronze objects excavated in the Aegean, the archives from Mari and Ugarit, giving reference to international transactions about metals, and the Ulu Burun and Cape Gelidonya shipwrecks. The general picture that emerges from the review allows a better understanding of the relations between the different areas of the Eastern Mediterranean that appear to be closely connected with pressing material necessities and conditions and not only with cultural intercourse and exchange.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 352: Symposium – Materials Issues in Art and Archaeology IV , 1995 , 631
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1995

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References

REFERENCES

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