The smelting of copper in the third millennium cal BC Trentino, north-eastern Italy

Mark Pearce,Franco Nicolis,Andreas Hauptmann,Stephen Merkel

doi:10.1007/s12520-021-01475-1

Abstract

This paper presents observations and analyses on seven slag pieces from two third-millennium cal BC (Late Copper Age/Early Bronze Age) rock shelters in the Trentino, north-eastern Italy: La Vela di Valbusa and the Riparo di Monte Terlago. We review previous work on contemporary slags from the region and show that the smelting did not follow the well-known ‘Timna’, ‘Eibner’ or so-called ‘Chalcolithic’ copper smelting processes. We show that ethnographic accounts of copper smelting in the Himalayas (Sikkim and Nepal) illuminate the smelting process, in particular the lack of preliminary roasting or ore beneficiation by washing, the use of slags as fluxes for the first smelt (matte smelting) and the use of wooden (?) implements to lift the hot slags from the furnace during the smelt. The rock inclusions in the slag are consistent with an ore origin from mines at Calceranica or Vetriolo, as previously reported in the literature.

Highlights

As a by-product of smelting, metallurgical slags represent an ideal record of the technological processes undertaken in producing metal from ore, and they have long been seen as such
Indentations were noted on a number of slags; for example slag VB1, which is virtually whole, has a v-shaped indentation on one face (Fig. 8), while the other face has a depression corresponding to the indentation, with protuberances around it
The slag fragments from the Riparo di Monte Terlago included in the study generally had much fewer and smaller inclusions than those from La Vela di Valbusa, but no significant differences were noted in the nature of the inclusions, and we suggest that the macroscopic differences observed reflect the heterogeneous nature of the slags rather than any difference in process between the two sites

Summary

Introduction

As a by-product of smelting, metallurgical slags represent an ideal record of the technological processes undertaken in producing metal from ore, and they have long been seen as such (review in Hauptmann 2014, 2020: 222–280). As will be seen in this paper, the interpretation of slags is not always self-evident, and we suggest that ethnographic accounts of smelting can provide useful analogies, illustrations of possible ways in which metal may be smelted. The south Alpine region of Trentino–Alto Adige/Südtirol, in northern Italy, has extensive evidence for prehistoric copper smelting, which is attested in two main periods (Perini 1989). It is not impossible that production continues between the two periods

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