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Mid fourth-millennium copper mining in Liguria, north-west Italy: the earliest known copper mines in Western Europe

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 March 2015

Roberto Maggi  and
Mark Pearce
Roberto Maggi
Affiliation:
Direzione Regionale per i beni culturali e paesaggistici della Liguria, Via Balbi 10, 16126 Genova, Italy (Email: rmaggi@beniculturali.it)
Mark Pearce
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK (Email: mark.pearce@nottingham.ac.uk)
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Abstract

This paper presents twelve new radiocarbon dates from copper mines at Monte Loreto in Liguria, northwest Italy, which indicate that extraction began around 3500 cal BC, making these the earliest copper mines to be discovered in Western Europe so far. The dates are placed in their regional context, with a discussion of results from Libiola and other sites associated with early copper mining.

Keywords

Copper AgeItalyLiguriaearly miningcopper metallurgy
Type
Research Article
Information
Antiquity , Volume 79 , Issue 303 , March 2005 , pp. 66 - 77
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2005

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