The Emergence of Copper Pyrotechnology in Western Asia

“The Emergence of Copper Pyrotechnology in Western Asia” is project ESR5 of the European Joint Doctorate in Archaeological and Cultural Heritage MATerials Science ED-ARCHMAT (funded by the European Unions as an Marie Sklodowska Curie Action Innovative Training Network (MSCA-ITN) under the HORIZON 2020 Program) and is jointly supervised by Yuval Goren (BGU, Beer Sheva, Israel) and Francesca Balossi Restelli (Sapienza, Rome, Italy). Its focus lies on the rise and demise of the lost-wax casting technology in the Chalcolithic Southern Levant (4200 to 3800 BCE).

Motivation and Aims

The Chalcolithic in the Southern Levant provides the earliest evidences for metallurgy in this region. The copper smelters used copper oxide ores from local deposits to create tool-shaped objects of unalloyed copper. However, objects made from polymetallic copper alloys rich in antimony, arsenic, and sometimes also lead date to the Chalcolithic as well and most of them were made in the lost wax casting technique. Deposits with suitable ores are absent in the Southern Levant. Scientific studies hint towards Anatolia or Caucasia as their most likely source region. Iconographic features of the items and mould remains preserved on them confirm their local production, i.e. that they were cast in the Southern Levant. However, the production sites of the polymetallic copper alloys remain unknown. Earlier or contemporaneous evidence for lost wax casting is currently reported only from the Balkans and probably from Baluchistan (modern day Pakistan). The appearance of the lost wax casting in the Southern Levant in combination with a metal that can only be produced from ores mined about 1000 km away is remarkable and the underlying processes are still poorly understood. Additionally the polymetallic alloys and the lost wax casting technology disappear completely in the Southern Levant at the end of the Chalcolithic.

For these reasons, the project aims to get a better understanding of the lost wax casting process and the metallurgical processes in the Chalcolithic Southern Levant in general. With the combination of scientific analyses, in-depth literature studies, and archaeological experiments it seeks to answer the questions:

  • The technology of lost wax casting in the Chalcolithic Southern Levant:
    • How were the objects cast and where did the raw materials came from (esp. the metal)?
    • Why did the ancient metallurgists do it how they did it?
    • How can the technology of lost wax casting be identified in the archaeological record?
  • The rise and demise of lost wax casting:
    • Why and how did the lost wax casting emerge in the Southern Levant?
    • Can lost wax casting in the Southern Levant be regarded as a “failed” innovation?
    • What does the technology of lost wax casting tell us about the socio-technological and socio-economic aspects of the Chalcolithic Southern Levant society?
  • An inter-regional perspective on the lost wax casting technology:
    • How did metallurgical knowledge from Southeast Anatolia, Transcaucasia and the Iranian Plateau contribute to the use of polymetallic copper alloys in the Southern Levant?
    • Which role played the polymetallic alloys in the inter-regional relations, especially between the Southern Levant and Southeast Anatolia?
    • Was the Chalcolithic Southern Levantine lost wax casting technology a “one off” in the overall metallurgical developments?

Results

The project resulted in several new insights into the metallurgical processes of the Chalcolithic Southern Levant for the unalloyed copper metallurgy as well as the polymetallic copper alloys cast in the lost way technique. They are presented in the PhD thesis. The new insights gained into the metal technology of the Chalcolithic Southern Levant were presented in several peer-reviewed publications, all of them are listed below. In short, these are:

  • The combination of vegetal and mineral non-plastic inclusions in lost wax casting moulds as a characteristic trait, setting them apart from pottery (exclusive use of mineral non-plastic inclusions) and other metallurgical ceramics such as furnace walls and crucibles (exclusive use of organicnon-plastic inclusions). This facilitates the identification of the Chalcolithic Southern Levantine lost wax casting moulds.
  • The identification of Fazael in the Central Jordan Valley as site with a lost wax casting workshop, making it the first identified site with such a workshop at all.
  • Indicators for mixing of different metals in the polymetallic copper alloy process, especially of unalloyed copper and polymetallic copper alloys.
  • A refined reconstruction for the unalloyed copper production process, suggesting the use of bellows for air supply and the secondary use of large vessel fragments as furnace cover. This is probably the currently earliest evidence for the use of bellows in general.

In addition, a hypothesis for the spread of the lost wax casting to the Chalcolithic Southern Levant and its impact on the society was developed. The hypothesis is build on an in-depth literature review of interregional contacts in Western Asia and the role of metals and other so-called prestige items in the different regions, innovation theory, and the importance of aesthetic properties (e.g., colour). It is suggested that lost wax casting, the use of gold, and probably also shaft-hole axes spread as a technological package from the Balkans over the Causasus towards Western Asia and through an Caucasian-Anatolian-Iranian interaction sphere to the Chalcolithic Southern Levant (and elsewhere). Interaction with and transformation of the technological package varied in all regions depending on the social structure of the respective groups and the role metal items had for them. This hypothesis will be published in an extended version at a later stage.

Publications

  • Rose T, Pagelson Y, Goren Y (2021) Video: Reconstruction the Metallurgy of the Chalcolithic Southern Levant (4200 – 3800 BCE). Part of the exhibition “Experimentelle Archäologie/Experimental Archaeology” at the MAMUZ (WMB Weinviertel Museum Betriebs GmbH), Mistelbach.
  • Rose T, Pagelson Y, Goren Y (2021) Rekonstruktion zur chalkolithischen Metallurgie in der südlichen Levante (4200–3800 v. Chr.) / Reconstructing the Metallurgy of the Chalcolithic Southern Levant (4200-3800 BCE). In: WMB Weinviertel Museum Betriebs GmbH (ed) Experimentelle Archäologie / Experimental Archaeology. Eine Ausstellung des MAMUZ (WMB Weinviertel Museum Betriebs GmbH) in Zusammenarbeit mit EXARC., Mistelbach, pp 52–57.
  • Rose T, Fabian P, Goren Y (2021) New insights into the Chalcolithic Metallurgy of the Southern Levant: Revisiting the evidence of Abu Matar. Metalla Sonderheft 11:12–14.
  • Rose T, Fabian P, Goren Y (2021) Shedding New Light on the Pure Copper Metallurgy of the Chalcolithic Southern Levant Through an Archaeological Experiment. EXARC Journal 2021:1–11. https://exarc.net/ark:/88735/10601
  • Rose T, Fabian P, Goren Y (2023) The (in)visibility of lost wax casting moulds in the archaeological record: Observations from an archaeological experiment. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 15:31. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-023-01731-6
  • Rose T, Natali S, Brotzu A, Bar S, Goren Y (2023) First evidence for alloying practices in the Chalcolithic Southern Levant (4500–3800 BCE) as revealed by metallography. Herit Sci 11:193. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40494-023-01030-2
  • Rose T, Bar S, Asscher Y, Goren Y (2023) Identification of Fazael 2 (4000–3900 BCE) as first lost wax casting workshop in the Chalcolithic Southern Levant. Herit Sci 11:192. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40494-023-01029-9
  • Rose T, Natali S, Brotzu A, Fabian P, Goren Y (2023) Bellows and furnace covers in the unalloyed copper metallurgy of the Chalcolithic Southern Levant: Reassessing the evidence from Abu Matar. Archaeometry 24:3. https://doi.org/10.1111/arcm.12931

Presentations

  • Rose T, Goren Y (2019) The Emergence of Copper Pyrotechnology in the Chalcolithic Southern Levant. Young Researchers in Archaeometry 3, Nanterre.
  • Rose T, Bar S, Rosenberg D, Buchman E, Goren Y (2019) Preliminary evidences for a Chalcolithic copper workshop in Fazael, Middle Jordan Valley. ICAS-EMME 2, Nikosia.
  • Rose T (2020) Recent Developments in the Reconstruction of the Earliest Metallurgy in the Southern Levant. Archäometallurgisches Seminar, Bochum.
  • Rose T, Fabian P, Goren Y (2021) New insights into the Chalcolithic Metallurgy of the Southern Levant: Revisiting the evidence of Abu Matar. Archäometrie und Denkmalpflege, online.
  • Assher Y, Abadi-Reiss Y, Varga D, Goren Y, Rose T, Boaretto E, Rosenzweig G, Shalev S, Artioli G (2021) Ashkelon, Agamim-East. 13th Meeting of the Chalcolithic Forum, online.
  • Rose T, Goshen N, Goren Y (2021) Ghassulian or not Ghassulian?: Analysis of two unusual mace-head assemblages from the collections of the Israel Museum, Jerusalem. 13th Meeting of the Chalcolithic Forum, online.
  • Rose T, Pagelson Y, Goren Y (2021) A-mace-ing know-how: Reconstructing Southern Levantine Metallurgy in the Chalcolithic. 12th Experimental Archaeology Conference, online, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xH-y2h1SYqk
  • Interview: Rose T (2021) Rekonstruktion zur chalkolithischen Metallurgie in der südlichen Levante (4200-3800 v. Chr.). MAMUZ Wissen: Experimentelle Archäologie erklärt!
  • Rose T (2022) Neue Erkenntnisse zum Wachsausschmelzverfahren in der chalkolithischen Südlevante. Science Day 2022 Archäometallurgie, Bochum.
  • Rose T (2022) From sceptres and crowns: A new model for the origins of lost wax casting in the Chalcolithic Southern Levant. Seminario della Scuola di Dottorato in Archeologia – IX Edizione, Rome.
  • Rose T, Bar S, Rosenberg D, Buchman E, Shalev S, Goren Y (2022) Evidences for polymetallic copper metallurgy in the Chalcolithic site of Fazael (middle Jordan valley). 43rd International Symposium on Archaeometry, Lisboa.