The Archaeometallurgy of Copper: Evidence from Faynan, Jordan (Natural Science in Archaeology)

397 Pages·2007·32.77 MB·English

by  Andreas Hauptmann

Natural Science in Archaeology
Series editors: B. Herrmann, G.A. Wagner
Andreas Hauptmann
The Archaeometallurgy
of Copper
Evidence from Faynan, Jordan
With 170 Figures and 40 Tables
Volume editor
Prof. Dr. Andreas Hauptmann
Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum
Forschungsstelle für Archäologie und Materialwissenschaften
Hernerstraße 45, 44787 Bochum, Germany
E-mail: [email protected]
Series editors
Prof. Dr. Bernd Herrmann Prof. Dr. Günther A. Wagner
Universität Göttingen Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik
Institut für Anthropologie Forschungsstelle Archäometrie
Bürgerstraße 40 Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften
37073 Göttingen, Germany Saupfercheckweg 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany
E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected]
Inner frontispiece
Satellite view (Ikonos satellite data) of the ancient mining district of Faynan, Jordan, and its surroundings.
Red dots in the image show mining and smelting sites. These are located mainly in the area of Wadi Jariye
in the north, at Khirbet en-Nahas, at and near the Byzantine ruins of Faynan and at Umm el-Amad in the
south. Clearly visible are the “Roman-Byzantine” terraces which might have been constructed as early as
in the 4thmillennium BCE.
All satellite images are shown in this volume by courtesy of European Space Imaging / © European Space
Imaging GmbH.
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ISSN 1613-9712 Springer Berlin Heidelberg New York
ISBN 978-3-540-72237-3 Springer Berlin Heidelberg New York
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Preface
The results presented in this book originate from field research carried out by the
Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum (hereafter called DBM) on the remains of early
copper metallurgy in the area of Faynan, southern Jordan, between 1983 and 1993. It
also contains results of later laboratory studies and fieldwork. This volume is a revised
version of the German volume “Zur frühen Metallurgie des Kupfers in Faynan,
Jordanien,” which appeared in 2000 as supplement 11 of the journal “Der Anschnitt.”
The translation into English honors the wishes of many colleagues from the Near East
and from English-speaking countries who have expressed the desire that a larger audi-
ence should have access to the research carried out on the ancient mining district and
mining techniques. The translation was made possible by a generous grant from the
foundation of the “Institute for Aegean Prehistory” (Philadelphia, USA). Prof. Dr.
Susanne Kerner, Mr. Hughe Barnes, and, in parts, Dr. Hans-Dieter Kind translated the
book into the English version. Much of the editorial work was done by MA Kerstin
Batzel and Mr. Guillaume Ewandé.
The original research in the Faynan area was initiated within the framework of a
larger project “Research into the archaeometallurgy and archaeology of mining in Faynan
and the southern Arabah-valley, Jordan” funded by the VolkswagenStiftung (Hanover,
Germany). The original planning and groundbreaking work was carried out by the author.
Since 1997, research was continued by and in close cooperation with Prof. Dr. Thomas
Levy, University of California, San Diego (USA).
Research into early metal extraction covers a number of different problems, requir-
ing a broad, interdisciplinary approach and calling for the cooperation of various dis-
ciplines. Metal extraction from mining of the ore deposits to the metal’s production,
using differing smelting techniques, required craft specialization throughout the differ-
ently organized social structures of different periods of time, while the distribution of
metal objects via trade was dependent on the social, cultural and political frameworks
of the time.
Close cooperation with archaeologists, mainly mining archaeologists, is the indis-
pensable precondition for the understanding of material evidence. Archaeometallurgy
uses field methods (e.g., geology of ore deposits), various physical dating methods, as
well as procedures for mineralogical, chemical and isotopic analyses to process a broad
variety of finds. These methods and the connected problems are discussed in the first
part of this volume, before the results of our own research are presented.
The initial idea for the study of early copper mining in the mining region of Faynan
came from Prof. Dr. Hans-Gert Bachmann. He had worked intensively on the archaeo-
VI Preface
metallurgical remains in Timna (Israel) and Sinai (Egypt), at a time when the political
conditions made it impossible to investigate Timna and Faynan together. Bachmann
recognized that a cultural and social interpretation of the early copper production in the
Southern Levant would have been incomplete without the knowledge of the processes
of metal production in Faynan (Bachmann and Hauptmann 1984). Bachmann visited
Faynan for the first time in 1982, and his impression of the dimensions of the smelting
activities there resulted in a declaration by Rothenberg with the significant title
“Ancient Jordan City May Rival Timna’s Place in Copper History” (Rothenberg 1983).
It was the activities of Bachmann that led to this research project, and he continued his
interest in it as far as his workload allowed him.
The first brief survey in preparation for the fieldwork was conducted in September
of 1983. The first larger field season was carried out during the autumn of 1984. The
next campaign took place in the spring of 1986, making it possible for Prof. Dr. Wolf-
gang Frey and his team (Institute for Systematic Biology and Geobotany of the Free
University of Berlin) to participate. They pursued in a parallel research project, also
funded by the VolkswagenStiftung, the important question of how sufficient firing
material for the smelting of such huge quantities of slag had been obtained. Faynan, on
the eastern side of Wadi Arabah, lies in a semi-arid region. This question became even
more pressing when even the initial fieldwork showed 150000 to 200000 t of slag in
the area of Faynan.
The third campaign was conducted in the spring of 1988, together with three Jorda-
nian colleagues from the Department of Antiquities of Jordan, after the signing of an
official cooperation agreement. Dr. Mohammed Najjar, Emsaytif Suleiman and Abd
es-Samir started with excavations at an Early Bronze Age smelting site as well as the
Late Neolithic settlement mound (Tell Wadi Faynan). Dr. Mohammed Najjar has been
the co-director of the project since the beginning of the official cooperation agreement.
The fourth field season took place in the spring of 1990, again with the Jordanian
colleagues and the botanists from Berlin. In addition, a group of archaeologists under
Prof. Dr. Volkmar Fritz (then from the University of Mainz) participated. They carried
out excavations in the Early Bronze Age settlement area of Barqa el-Hetiye and in
Khirbet en-Nahas. A group of archaeologists from the University of Sheffield under Dr.
Russell Adams started at the same time, then still independent of the Faynan-project,
excavations on some Neolithic and Early Bronze Age settlements.
The fifth and last field season in the framework of this project had been planned for
the spring of 1991, but had to be postponed due to the Gulf War that had started in
January of that year, and finally took place in the spring of 1993. The aim of this last
campaign had been to finish various field projects. That was possible for purely archaeo-
metallurgical research, where analysis in the laboratory was the main bulk of the work.
The mining archaeology project as well as the excavation of two pre-pottery settle-
ments (Wadi Ghwair 1 and Wadi Fidan A) and the Late Chalcolithic-Early Bronze Age
settlement (Wadi Fidan 4) had to be suspended.
Due to the complexity of the research design, many different scientists have been
involved in this project. Firstly, my colleague Prof. Dr. Gerd Weisgerber of the DBM
was the scientist who worked on the mining archaeology and with whom I carried out
the entire fieldwork. Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Frey, Dr. Uli Baierle, Dr. Thomas Engel,
Dr. Harald Kürschner and Christian Jagiella of the Freie Universität Berlin dealt with
Preface VII
the botanical questions concerning the problem of early firing materials. Prof. Dr. Volkmar
Fritz, Mainz, together with his team carried out the archaeological research concerning
the Early Bronze Age and Iron Age settlement activities; the work was later partly
continued by Matthias Flender, Tübingen/Düsseldorf. The Early Bronze Age settle-
ment of Wadi Fidan 4 was excavated by Dr. Russell Adams, now at Ithaca College,
Ithaca (New York) and Dr. Hermann Genz, now at the American University of Beirut.
In the ensuing years a number of provenance studies of several metal objects
from around the Levant have been carried out. These analyses continue, and one aim
is to prove whether the materials used in these objects originated from Faynan and
clarify the role of this mining region in the Southern Levant and Egypt. The incor-
poration of objects from Israel was most commendably made possible by Dr. Miriam
Tadmor, then of the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.
The isotope analysis was carried out by Prof. Dr. Friedrich Begemann and Dr. Sigrid
Schmitt-Strecker of the Max-Planck-Institut für Chemie, Mainz; the neutron-activa-
tion-analysis by Prof. Dr. Ernst Pernicka, now with the University of Tübingen/ Reiss-
Engelhorn-Museum in Mannheim; the thermoluminescence-dating by Dr. Irmtrud and
Prof. Dr. Günther Wagner, then with the Heidelberger Academy of Science at the Max-
Planck-Institut für Kernphysik. They, as well as Dr. Zofia Stos and Prof. Dr. Noel Gale,
then at the Isotrace Laboratory, University of Oxford, Dr. Alberto Palmieri, Consiglio
Nazionale delle Ricerche, Rome, Prof. Dr. Thomas Levy, University of San Diego,
California and Dr. Russell Adams supplied a good amount of unpublished data at my
disposal for this volume. For this, heartfelt thanks are expressed here.
Of all the mentioned studies, mainly those dealing directly with the ancient metal-
lurgy have made it into this volume.
Our work has been accompanied and supported by a number of Jordanian and German
individuals and institutions, to whom it is a great pleasure to give thanks. I want to
mention firstly and particularly the former ambassador of Germany, the late Dr. Herwig
Bartels, whose untiring interest will be always remembered. He died August 2, 2003
before this volume was finished and will be remembered by all of us. Four consecutive
directors of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan have supported our research with
great goodwill and often helped with unofficial dealings: Dr. Adnan Hadidi, Dr. Ghazi
Bisheh, Prof. Dr. Safwan Tell, and Dr. Fawwas Al-Khreyshah.
Working in the remote and then militarily controlled area of Faynan was made possible
through the assistance of the Natural Resources Authority, Amman, which at the time
was represented by the acting director Mohammed Abu Ajamieh. He contributed to the
logistics necessary to provide housing in the geologists’ camp in Wadi Dana and sup-
plied essential support for the research into the metal deposits. Technical help and housing
was also provided by Sharif Hussein Bin Nasr, Wadi Arabah Cooperative, and his
employees, who repaired the roads and tracks destroyed by floodwater at the beginning
of each season and thus created the conditions that made fieldwork possible.
Contact and home in Amman was the German Protestant Institute for the Archae-
ology of the Holy Land. It was above all Dr. Susanne Kerner, who, if the situation
required it, speedily and if necessary unconventionally assisted took care of the various
members of the different campaigns.
I am most grateful to a number of team members for their work in the field, which
due to the remote situation of the area was often organizationally rather difficult.
VIII Preface
The engagement of the following people furthered the study of the archaeometal-
lurgy of Faynan: Siegfried Averbek, Dr. Andrea Büsing-Kolbe, Dr. Andreas Brunn,
Dr. Jan Cierny, Omar Daghestani, Markus Eichholz, Dr. Andreas Haasis-Berner,
Jürgen Heckes, Thomas Henning, Anke Joisten-Pruschke, Werner Lieder, Christoph
Roden, Dirk Rostoff, Hans Schwarz, and Angelika Weisgerber. Special thanks for
many things are due to Hans-Joachim Kunkel.
Emile Masadeh, who was not only the inspector of the Department of Antiqui-
ties for our project for many years but also our friend, remains unforgotten. He died
April 9, 1993.
The research project was mainly funded by the VolkswagenStiftung, Hanover.
The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) supported several trips necessary to
sample metal objects for provenance studies. The Vereinigung der Freunde von Kunst
und Kultur im Bergbau (VFKK), Bochum, helped to balance financial deficits cre-
ated through unexpected developments during the field-work.
One aim of our research into the early mining and smelting in Faynan was to
pinpoint the cultural as well as economic significance of this region. For a long time
archaeology neglected investigations into (pre)-historic technologies to obtain raw
materials, particularly metal, most probably because of the difficulties in organizing
the necessary interdisciplinary approach.
It is therefore to our delight that Faynan has become the focal point of several
archaeological projects since 1994 and that a number of international institutions
from the United Kingdom and the United States of America have started excava-
tions with the aim of finding more information about the cultural and socio-political
history of the area, which is today a nature reserve. It is also noticeable that the early
metallurgy of the Southern Levant has been the topic of numerous studies and Ph.D.
theses, which have dealt not only with the technological aspects of archaeometal-
lurgy, but also highlighted the social and cultural repercussions.
Since 1997, extensive surveys and excavations have been conducted by Prof.
Dr. Thomas Levy and his team in the greater Faynan region. The aim was at first to
document alll settlement structures in the model area of Wadi Fidan, the “gateway
to the north,” in order to investigate the role of early copper production particularly
in the Early Bronze Age. This led to to the sensational unearthing of the copper
working settlements of Khirbet Hamra Ifdan in the years 1999 and 2000 (see there),
where the largest metal workshop of the Near East was discovered (Levy et al. 2002).
The excavation of Khirbet en-Nahas started in 2002, shedding new light on the
development of the Edomite state. And in 2003 a number of salvage excavations in
Wadi Fidan were carried out in response to plans to build a dam and therefore were
partly financed by the Jordan Valley Water Authority. The revised version of the
Faynan-book very much profited from new satellite images which were donated by
Dr. Hans-Dieter Kind. Mrs. Anette Hornschuch (DBM, Department of Information
Systems) and Mike Oversberg kindly performed digital image processing and added
a set of (three-dimensional) photographs of the Faynan area.
The geographical terms used in the following text are simplified transcriptions
from Arabic without any diacritical signs.
Andreas Hauptmann, Bochum, May 2007
Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
2 Problems and Methods of Archaeometallurgyy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
2.1 Fieldwork . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
– The Investigation of ‘Ancient’ Ore Deposits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
– The Documentation of Ancient Smelting Sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.2 Analytical Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
– Physical Dating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 16
– The Investigation of Ancient Slag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
– Chemical Analysis of Ores and Metals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
– Lead Isotope Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
3 Nature and Geology in Faynan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
– Toponymy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
– Geography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
– Topography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
– Climate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
– Water, Irrigation Systems and Agriculture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
– Wind Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 49
– Vegetation and Fuel Supply for the Ancient Copper Smelters . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
4 The Raw Material Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
4.1 Geological Overview of the Near Eastt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
4.2 Ancient Ore Deposits in the Near Eastt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
4.3 The Copper Deposit of Faynan and its Relation to Timna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
– Geological Framework and Genesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
– The Ores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
– Geochemistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 73
– Lead Isotope Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
5 Field Evidence and Dating of Early Mining and Smelting
in the Faynan District . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 85
5.1 Landscape and Dating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
5.2 Site Catalogue and Archaeometallurgical Finds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
I. Khirbet Faynan and Vicinity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
II. Find Spots in Wadi Ghwairr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .111
X Contents
III. The Mining District of Qalb Ratiye (JD-25, JD-GR) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .112
IV. The Mining District in Wadi Abiad (JD-26, JD-WA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .115
V. The Mining District of Wadi Khalid (JD-3, JD-II) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .116
VI. Sites in the Lower Wadi Dana (JD-13, JD-III) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .122
VII. Ras en-Naqab (JD-5) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .123
VIII.El-Furn (Ngeib Asiemer, JD-6) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .126
IX. Khirbet en-Nahas (JD-2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .127
X. The mining district of Umm ez-Zuhur and Madsus (JD-41) . . . . . . . . . .130
XI. Khirbet el-Jariye (JD-11) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .131
XII. WWWadi el-Ghuwebe (JD-27) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .132
XIII.Sites in Wadi Fidan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .133
XIV.Barqa el-Hetiye (JD-31) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .141
XV. The Mining District of Umm el-Amad (JD-10) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .144
5.3 The Development of the Mining District of Faynan: Field Evidence . . . . . .145
6 Study of Archaeometallurgical Slag and Metal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .157
6.1 Slags of the 4th Millennium BCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .157
– The ‘Most Ancient’ Slags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .157
– The Material from the Faynan Districtt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .158
– Chemistry and Melting Behaviorr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .159
– The Petrography of the Slag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .164
– ‘Free Silica Slags’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .167
– The Development of Mineralogical Phases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .169
– Sulphide Inclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .178
6.2 Manganese-Rich Silicate Slag from the Early Bronze Age
to the Mameluk Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .180
– Manganese-Rich Slag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .180
– The Material from the Faynan Districtt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .181
– Chemistry and Melting Behaviorr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .182
– The Petrography of the Slag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .186
– The Development of Mineralogical Phases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .190
6.3 The Composition of Copperr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .199
– Trace Element Contentt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .199
– The Material from the Faynan Districtt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .200
– Chemical Composition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .200
– The Homogeneity of Copperr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .202
– Partitioning of Trace Elements between Metal and Slag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .204
– Iron in Copperr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . .207
– Lead Istotopy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . .211
7 Copper Smelting Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .217
7.1 The Earliest Stage: Crucible Smelting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .217
– The Archaeological Evidence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .217
– Previous Experimental Studies and Thermodynamics of Crucible Smelting 219
– Reconstruction of Crucible Smelting Based on Archaeological Finds . .223
– Modeling Other Possibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .227