Abstract
ABSTRACT Sb was frequently used as a raw material, both in ancient glass-making (as an opacifier and decolouriser) and metallurgy (either as an alloying element or as a pure metal). Despite this ubiquity, antimony production has only occasionally been studied and questions concerning its provenance are still not satisfactorily answered. This study evaluates the suitability of Sb isotope analysis for provenance determination purposes, as experiments under lab conditions have revealed fractionation occurring during redox processes in oxidising stibnites and in making opacified glasses. The results of this paper help to evaluate the possible influence of the pyrotechnological processes on the antimony isotope composition of glass artefacts. This paper focuses on the Caucasus as case study by applying mineralogical, geochemical and isotopic analysis to Georgian ores (mainly from the Racha-Lechkumi district) and Late Bronze Age (LBA; 15th–10th century BCE) metallic Sb objects found at the sites of Brili and Chalpiragorebi.
Highlights
IntroductionFinds of antimony in the archaeological record show a long history of use
Sb in the archaeometallurgical recordFinds of antimony in the archaeological record show a long history of use
Metallic Sb beads from the Racha-Lechkumi region (Georgia) are investigated using mineralogical, geochemical and isotopic techniques to have a better understanding of the technology and provenance of the Sb raw materials used in the Caucasian Late Bronze Age (LBA)–Early Iron Age (EIA) metal production
Summary
Finds of antimony in the archaeological record show a long history of use. In the southern Levant, Cu-based metals with variable levels of As and/or Sb, ranging in content between 1 and 20%, and traces of Ag, Bi and Ni, appear during the Chalcolithic period (5500–3300 BCE) (Shalev and Northover 1993; Carmi, Epstein, and Segal 1995; Hauptmann and Gambaschidze 2001; Golden 2014). In Central Italy, these kind of Cu-As-Sb alloys appear from the early or mid-4th millennium BCE (Chalcolithic period) at various sites (Dolfini 2010). The objects, archaeologically assigned to the Rinaldone culture, are similar in composition to the Levantine Sbrich alloys with 1–20% Sb and/or As and traces of Ag, Bi & Ni (De Marinis 2006; Grazzi et al 2012; Petitti, Persiani, and Pallecchi 2012).
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