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Tracing the flows of copper and copper alloys in the Early Iron Age societies of the eastern Eurasian steppe

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2016

Yiu-Kang Hsu ,
Peter J. Bray ,
Peter Hommel ,
A. Mark Pollard  and
Jessica Rawson
Yiu-Kang Hsu*
Affiliation:
Research Laboratory for Archaeology & the History of Art, University of Oxford, School of Archaeology, Dyson Perrins Building, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QJ, UK (Email: yiu-kang.hsu@linacre.ox.ac.uk)
Peter J. Bray
Affiliation:
Research Laboratory for Archaeology & the History of Art, University of Oxford, School of Archaeology, Dyson Perrins Building, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QJ, UK (Email: yiu-kang.hsu@linacre.ox.ac.uk)
Peter Hommel
Affiliation:
Research Laboratory for Archaeology & the History of Art, University of Oxford, School of Archaeology, Dyson Perrins Building, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QJ, UK (Email: yiu-kang.hsu@linacre.ox.ac.uk)
A. Mark Pollard
Affiliation:
Research Laboratory for Archaeology & the History of Art, University of Oxford, School of Archaeology, Dyson Perrins Building, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QJ, UK (Email: yiu-kang.hsu@linacre.ox.ac.uk)
Jessica Rawson
Affiliation:
Institute of Archaeology, University of Oxford, 36 Beaumont Street, Oxford OX1 2PG, UK
*
*Author for correspondence
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Abstract

Early Iron Age pastoralists of the Eurasian steppes relied heavily on copper for weapons and ornaments, and new analysis of metal composition enables long-distance networks to be identified. Primary circulation from source areas where copper was mined can be distinguished alongside the secondary circulation of alloy types with high proportions of tin-bronze or leaded tin-bronze. The relative presence of trace elements, depleted during recycling events, provides a proxy for the flow of metal between regions. The localised seasonal movements characteristic of these mobile steppe societies underlie some of these patterns, but the evidence also indicates more extensive transfers, including the direct movement of finished objects over considerable distances.

Keywords

Eastern Eurasian steppeEarly Iron Agecopperalloysarchaeometallurgy
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 90 , Issue 350 , April 2016 , pp. 357 - 375
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd, 2016 

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