Reißscheiben from shipwrecks as an indicator for copper qualities produced in the major middle and North European mining districts during the late medieval and early modern period 15th–17th Century AD

Abstract

Major advances in maritime archaeology in the last 20 years resulted in the discovery of several shipwrecks carrying copper slab ingots, so-called Reißscheiben. With the interest in early modern metal trade growing, geochemical analysis of these raw copper ingots represents invaluable merit for understanding the various qualities produced in the major mining regions in Europe. Here, we present ICP-MS trace elemental and lead isotope data for 52 Reißscheiben ingots salvaged at three different findspots in northern European waters dating to the 15th and 16th century. Our results reveal the Reißscheiben to originate from two different mining centres, Slovakia and the southern Harz foreland. Copper produced in these regions shows significantly different trace elemental patterns probably affected by both different kinds of copper ores used and smelting processes applied. The analytical results reveal the difficulties that early modern copper smelters may have had to deal with when processing sulfidic copper ores, as it seems that refining processes were not understood sufficiently. On the other hand, the written historical sources suggest that early modern brass makers already had a proper understanding of which regions produced the most suitable copper qualities. This paper underlines the potential of using geochemical characterisation of early modern period metals for solving historical questions.