Combining chemical data with GIS and PCA to investigate Phoenician–Punic Cu-metallurgy

Abstract

This study focusses on the development and application of an innovative protocol which combines chemical data, GIS (geographical information system) and PCA, involving numeric (chemical composition) and categorical (typology of object, archaeological context, chronology and geographical areas) variables, as a simple tool to help in the visualisation and interpretation of large multidisciplinary datasets on Cu-based alloy archaeological artefacts influenced by Phoenician–Punic contacts. The protocol is a useful tool for highlighting existing connections between specific alloy chemical compositions, the location of the original settlement where the artefact had been produced and the proximity to mining resources, waterways, and allochthonous presence such as, in the specific case of this study, the Phoenician and Punic influence in the Iberian bronze production during the Late Bronze Age–Iron Age. The protocol was tested successfully in a case study concerning the precise dating and provenance of bronze statuettes of unknown age and provenance from the Evora Museum collection in Southern Portugal where it confirmed and further refined earlier hypotheses based solely on archaeological and/or chemical studies. The results were interpreted with a unique perspective, to validate the GIS system in combination with experimental chemical-physical data to yield the identification of metallurgical sites of bronze production.