Metallurgy and Prehistory

Abstract

ONE of the more useful, if less obtrusive, functions of the British Association has been the assistance given by modest subsidies in initiating lines of research, which could offer little to attract support from the sources commonly available. Not infrequently the result has been out of proportion to this modest beginning. What would appear likely to become an instance in point is the research committee on Sumerian copper, from which a report was presented at the Cambridge meeting. This committee was first appointed some years ago for the purpose of investigating by comparative analysis the provenance of the copper in objects found by archaeological excavation on Sumerian sites-a question of no little moment in determining the cultural contacts of the early peoples of Mesopotamia. Since then samples of early copper and bronze from a large number of sites have been examined, and a quantity of valuable data has been collected in the investigations which have been carried out under the direction of Dr. C. H. Desch, who has acted as secretary of the committee since its inception. Archaeologists now recognize the advantage of the facilities for such an examination of their material by a committee which has at its disposal a technique developed by experience and a staff now familiar with the analysis of such metals and with the characteristics of ores from various regions mined in antiquity. In the period under review in the current report, for example, it is stated that analyses were made of prehistoric copper from Anatolia and India, of slags from Persia, of bronzes from central Asia and Brittany, of bronze and copper objects from Troy ix, and of electrum from Tell Ajjul in Palestine, while Sir Robert Mond's excavations in Guernsey have led to the microscopic investigation of early iron, and much information has, in consequence, been collected about the structure of bloomery iron. This work has been carried out at the National Physical Laboratory ; but the readiness of archaeologists to seek the assistance of the committee has led to the suggestion that it should be placed upon a more permanent basis and given a more general title.