Anth 106 PPT Lecture 11 Summary of and S
Anth 106 PPT Lecture 11 Summary of and S
Anth 106 PPT Lecture 11 Summary of and S
Chapter 8:
How did they make use
of tools?
Technology.
Introduction to Archaeology: Renfrew & Bahn 2019 (8th ed.): chp.8
8. How Did They Make Use of Tools? Technology.
1.1. Introduction:
• Humanity = often defined by
tool-making abilities.
Progression:
Stone →AE → Fe → computers
This chapter assesses:
• How artifacts = made & used
Different approaches:
a. Archaeological
b. Scientific analysis
c. Ethnographic
d. Experimental
• Each artifact’s manufacturing
process & application =
best understood by closest
modern manufacturer & user
of a similar technology & item
→ Industrial archaeology.
Introduction to Archaeology: Renfrew & Bahn 2019 (8th ed.): chp.8
8. How Did They Make Use of Tools? Technology.
1.1. Introduction:
• Humanity = often defined by
tool-making abilities.
Progression:
Stone →AE → Fe → computers
This chapter assesses: Dr. H. L. Gates
• How artifacts = made & used
Different approaches:
a. Archaeological
b. Scientific analysis
c. Ethnographic (ethnoarchaeology)
d. Experimental
• Each artifact’s manufacturing
process & application =
best understood by closest
modern manufacturer & user
of a similar technology & item
→ Industrial archaeology.
Introduction to Archaeology: Renfrew & Bahn 2019 (8th ed.): chp.8
8. How Did They Make Use of Tools? Technology.
1.2. Survival of the evidence: Medieval fish basket
• Biased preservation may affect
the surviving artifacts/technology
• E.g., Palaeolithic:
- Stone tools survive mostly
- Few wood & bone items survive
- Except wet, cold, & dry sites,
sometimes imprints, hollows,
soil discolorations, etc.
• E.g., A “pseudomorph” (hollow) at
a Middle Paleolithic site in NE
Spain (Abru Romani) → yielded
a hollow from a pointed wooden
Ukraine:
stick (1 m long) ca. 50,000 BP.
Palaeolithic
• Some ancient depictions = tools: Gontsy
E.g., Boomerangs in Australia mammoth
• Other evidence from: bone hut
E.g., Sword-cuts; pick marks; etc. site
Introduction to Archaeology: Renfrew & Bahn 2019 (8th ed.): chp.8
8. How Did They Make Use of Tools? Technology.
1.2. Survival of the evidence:
• Biased preservation may affect
the surviving artifacts/technology
• E.g., Paleolithic:
- Stone tools survive mostly
- Few wood & bone items survive
- Except wet, cold, & dry sites,
sometimes imprints, hollows,
soil discolorations, etc.
• E.g., A “pseudomorph” (hollow)
at a Middle Paleolithic site in NE
Spain (Abru Romani) → yielded
a hollow from a pointed wooden
stick (1 m long) ca. 50,000 BP.
• Some ancient depictions = tools:
E.g., Boomerangs in Australia
• Other (indirect) evidence from:
E.g., Sword-cuts; pick marks; etc.
Introduction to Archaeology: Renfrew & Bahn 2019 (8th ed.): chp.8
8. How Did They Make Use of Tools? Technology.
1.2. Survival of the evidence:
• Biased preservation may affect
the surviving artifacts/technology
• E.g., Paleolithic:
- Stone tools survive mostly
- Few wood & bone items survive Roman period chisel
- Except wet, cold, & dry sites,
sometimes imprints, hollows,
soil discolorations, etc.
• E.g., A “pseudomorph” (hollow)
at a Middle Paleolithic site in NE
Spain (Abru Romani) → yielded
a hollow from
Pointed a pointed
chisel marks wooden
and
stick (1 m long) ca. 50,000 BP.
impressions on white marble
• Some ancient depictions = tools:
E.g., Boomerangs in Australia
Incised grooves from blade/edge
• Other (indirect) evidence from:
E.g., Sword-cuts; pick marks; etc.
Introduction to Archaeology: Renfrew & Bahn 2019 (8th ed.): chp.8
8. How Did They Make Use of Tools? Technology.
1.3. Are they artifacts at all?
• Archaeologists need to determine
whether each item found
= purposefully made/used? OR
= by-product of manufacture?
- Paleolithic flakes = less obvious!
- “Eoliths” human-made vs. natural.
Analysis of stone tool production
→ revealed “bulb of percussion” =
left on “human-made tools”
- Nature leaves irregular scars, Pedra Furada
fracturing (heat; frost; falls) → rock shelter
Eoliths = NATURAL. (NE Brazil):
Controversial
- Earliest tools = harder to discern
pebble “tool”
from natural items (see context) dating back to
- Now know some animals use tools 30,000 BP vs.
(e.g., Chimpanzees) → no longer 15,000 BP for
defines humanity (isolated finds =?) New World.
Introduction to Archaeology: Renfrew & Bahn 2019 (8th ed.): chp.8
8. How Did They Make Use of Tools? Technology.
1.3. Are they artifacts at all?
• Archaeologists need to determine
whether each item found
= purposefully
Rock fall made/used? OR
= by-product of manufacture?
→
“flakes”flakes = less obvious!
- Paleolithic
(like “tools”)
- “Eoliths” human-made vs. natural.
Analysis of stone tool production
→ revealed “bulb of percussion”
left on “human-made tools”
- Nature leaves irregular scars and
fracturing (heat; frost; falls) →
Eoliths = NATURAL.
- Earliest tools = harder to discern
from natural items (see context)
- We now know some animals use tools
(e.g.,chimpanzees) → tools no longer
define humanity (isolated finds =?) Chimpanzee tool use
Introduction to Archaeology: Renfrew & Bahn 2019 (8th ed.): chp.8
8. How Did They Make Use of Tools? Technology.
1.4. Interpreting the evidence:
Using ethnographic analogy:
• Careful use of ethnography &
ethnoarchaeology aids in assessing
ancient technologies:
- Generally people use readiest materials
for daily, ordinary work (e.g., transitory tools).
- Many people expend time & labour
on long-term tools (e.g., hardier, quality tools)
• Rel. % of artifacts = various meanings:
- Abundant items may = cheap items
- Uncommon items may = valuable
• Assessing meaning:
- 16th Cent. AD Tairona Indian pendants
= polished stone → may = decorative?
- Kogi Indian descendants now use them
Relative value:
as rattles/tinklers in dances!Material access
-Same use? Versus ChangedTool use?complexity
• Experimental archaeology: Common items
prod. & use
Introduction to Archaeology: Renfrew & Bahn 2019 (8th ed.): chp.8
8. How Did They Make Use of Tools? Technology.
1.4. Interpreting the evidence:
Kogi Indians
Using ethnographic analogy:
• Careful use of ethnography &
ethnoarchaeology aids in assessing
ancient technologies: Pre-Columbian
- gen. people use readiest materials
Tairona Indian
for daily, ordinary work.
Necklace with
- gen. people expend time & labor
on long-term tools. greenstone beads
& frog pendant
• Rel.% of artifacts = various meanings:
- Abundant items may = cheap items
- Uncommon items may = valuable
• Assessing meaning:
- 16th Cent. AD Tairona Indian pendants
= polished stone → may = decorative?
- Kogi Indian descendants now use them
differently(?), as rattles/tinklers in dances!
Elsewhere: Same use versus changed use?
• Experimental archaeology: prod. & use
Introduction to Archaeology: Renfrew & Bahn 2019 (8th ed.): chp.8
8. How Did They Make Use of Tools? Technology.
1.4. Interpreting the evidence:
Using ethnographic analogy:
• Careful use of ethnography &
ethnoarchaeology aids in assessing
ancient technologies:
- gen. people use readiest materials
for daily, ordinary work.
- gen. people expend time & labor
on long-term tools.
• Rel.% of artifacts = various meanings: E.g., Early Iron Age ceramic project
- Abundant items may = cheap items
- Uncommon items may = valuable
• Assessing meaning:
- 16th Cent. AD Tairona Indian pendants
= polished stone → may = decorative?
- Kogi Indian descendants now use them
as rattles/tinklers in dances!
The Duyfken sailing near Fremantle (1999). Early Neolithic wood technology
-Same use? Versus Changed use?
(Austria): stone axe to fell trees
• Experimental archaeology: =prod. & use
TECHNOLOGY:
unaltered materials
a. STONE
Introduction to Archaeology: Renfrew & Bahn 2019 (8th ed.): chp.8
8. How Did They Make Use of Tools? Technology.
2.1. Unaltered Materials: Stone.
• Most common artifacts surviving from
ca. 3.3 million → 14,000 BP = stone.
Lake Turkana, Kenya:
2.2. Extraction: mines & quarries.
• Stone from surface,
Australopithecus afarensis or
streambeds, etc.
• Also mines & quarries.
Kenyanthropus platyops tool use
N. Europe Neolithic flint mines:
- Open cast & shaft mining following
desired seams:
- Rijckholt region has 60 mine shafts Recent: 3.3 million-year-old stone tools
10-16 m deep with side galleries. found, predating early humans …
- Region may have had 5000? Shafts
producing 153 million axeheads.
- Shaft shored up by plaited branches.
- Rope traces for raising nodule loads.
- 15,000 axes used in cutting galleries.
→ produced 2.5 million axe heads.
?- Mine
- 5 axes per cubic metre of chalk.
- Some heating to fracture rock face.
TECHNOLOGY:
a. STONE
Extraction techniques
(mines & quarries)
Introduction to Archaeology: Renfrew & Bahn 2019 (8th ed.): chp.8
8. How Did They Make Use of Tools? Technology.
2.1. Unaltered Materials: Stone.
• Most common artifacts surviving from
ca. 2.5 million → 14,000 BP = stone.
2.2. Extraction: mines & quarries.
• Stone from surface, streambeds, etc.
• Stone also from mines & quarries.
N. Europe Neolithic flint mines:
- Open cast & shaft mining following
desired seams:
- Rijckholt region has 60 mine shafts
10-16 m deep with side galleries.
- Region may have had 5,000+? shafts
producing 153 million axeheads.
- Shaft shored up by plaited branches.
- Rope traces for raising nodule loads.
- 15,000 axes used in cutting galleries.
- Mine produced 2.5 million axe heads.
- 5 axes per cubic metre of chalk.
- Some heating to fracture rock face.
Introduction to Archaeology: Renfrew & Bahn 2019 (8th ed.): chp.8
8. How Did They Make Use of Tools? Technology.
Quarries:
• Study abandoned/unfinished items:
• Skilled flint-knapper
(apprenticeship)
Augmenting flint
• Electron Spin points by
resonance heat
(ESR)
and Thermoluminescence (TL):
- Reveals defects in lithics
E.g., Heated flint has a signature
Heating chert enables the
of largerHeated
Heated chert
production chert
flakes via
pressure flaking.
Introduction to Archaeology: Renfrew & Bahn 2019 (8th ed.): chp.8
8. How Did They Make Use of Tools? Technology.
• Flints heated:
- Heating Florida cherts
→ pinkish colour at 240C/464F
→ lustrous at 350-400 C/662-752F
(= shiny surface).
20-40% > compressive strength
45% < in breakage resistance.
•
Heating up chert in quarry
• Scanning
now allows direct analysis of delicate
surfaces (without harm).
• Scanning
now allows direct analysis of delicate
surfaces (without harm).
Introduction to Archaeology: Renfrew & Bahn 2019 (8th ed.): chp.8
8. How Did They Make Use of Tools? Technology.
• Analyzing engraved Stone Age art:
- Binocular microscope:
reveals the stone tool types, tool sizes,
sequence of application, & techniques.
- E.g., La Marche Cave (France): Viewing
silicone imprint of engraved art shows
a harness = added later to horse head.
macro-X-ray fluorescence scanning
• Replicas and various analyses
reveal the sequence of production in
Scanning artwork of all types
engraving.
i. Deducing manufacture
process …
Ethnography, etc.
Introduction to Archaeology: Renfrew & Bahn 2019 (8th ed.): chp.8
8. How Did They Make Use of Tools? Technology.
3.1.a. Deducing techniques of
manufacture.
- Occasionally prod.-techniques = clear:
- AD 950 at Kasteelberg (S. Africa):
Bone tool production area using eland
& hartebeest foot bones (metapodials):
a. Hammer & punch removing bone ends
b. Grooving bone shaft
c. Grinding & polishing shaft → splinters
d. Stones shaping splinters (much waste)
e. Grinding & polishing projectile points.
= like modern Kalahari Bushmen points
Eland
- Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM)
& experimental archaeology reveals
production processes for bone tools.
→ Different tools leave detectable marks
similar to Prehistoric tools
→ Also detecting polishing.
Southwest Africa: Khoisan tribes
Introduction to Archaeology: Renfrew & Bahn 2019 (8th ed.): chp.8
8. How Did They Make Use of Tools? Technology.
3.1.a. Deducing techniques of Eland
manufacture.
- Occasionally prod.-techniques = clear:
- AD 950 at Kasteelberg (S. Africa):
Bone tool production area using eland
& hartebeest foot bones (metapodials):
a. Hammer & punch removing bone ends
b. Grooving bone shaft
c. Grinding & polishing shaft → splinters
d. Stones shaping splinters (much waste) Hartebeest
e. Grinding & polishing projectile points.
= like modern Kalahari Bushmen points
- Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM)
& experimental archaeology reveals
production processes for bone tools.
→ Different tools leave detectable marks
similar to Prehistoric tools
→ Also detecting polishing.
E.g., Deer metapodials
Introduction to Archaeology: Renfrew & Bahn 2019 (8th ed.): chp.8
8. How Did They Make Use of Tools? Technology.
3.1.a. Deducing techniques of
manufacture.
- Occasionally prod.-techniques = clear:
- AD 950 at Kasteelberg (S. Africa):
Bone tool production area using eland
& hartebeest foot bones (metapodials):
a. Hammer & punch removing bone ends
b. Grooving bone shaft
c. Grinding & polishing shaft → splinters
d. Stones shaping splinters (much waste)
e. Grinding & polishing projectile points.
= like modern Kalahari Bushmen points
- Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM)
& experimental archaeology reveals
production processes for bone tools.
→ Different tools leave detectable marks
similar to Prehistoric tools
→ Also detecting polishing.
TECHNOLOGY:
b. Bone, antler, shell, leather
i. Investigating
watercraft (boats; rafts+)
Introduction to Archaeology: Renfrew & Bahn 2019 (8th ed.): chp.8
8. How Did They Make Use of Tools? Technology.
3.2.a. Investigating watercraft.
• Wood has been used for most
watercraft (prior to 1800s).
• = a specialized field of study.
• E.g., Underwater archaeology:
1960s: 4th cent. BC Greek ship
near Kyrenia, Cyprus.
Hull planking: mortise-&-tenons.
• E.g., 14th cent. BC shipwreck near
Ulu Burun (Kas, Turkey).
Bass found similar construction.
• Ship specialist J.R. Steffy uses
1/10th scale replicas of all planking
& excav. plans → refit anc. Hulls.
• Hag Ahmed Youssef spent 14 yrs
rebuilding Khufu’s dismantled ship
(4,500 years old; Dyn.4, Egypt).
Introduction to Archaeology: Renfrew & Bahn 2019 (8th ed.): chp.8
8. How Did They Make Use of Tools? Technology.
3.2.a. Investigating watercraft.
• Wood has been used for most
watercraft (prior to 1800s).
• Specialized field of study.
• E.g., Underwater archaeology:
1960s: 4th cent. BC Greek ship
near Kyrena, Cyprus.
Hull planking: mortise-&-tenons.
• E.g., 14th cent. BC shipwreck near
Ulu Burun (Kas, Turkey).
Bass found similar construction.
• Ship specialist J.R. Steffy uses
1/10th scale replicas of all planking
& excav. plans → refit anc.Mortise
Hulls.
and
• Hag Ahmed Youssef spenttenon 14 yrs
rebuilding Khufu’s dismantled ship
construction
(4,500 years old; Dyn.4, Egypt).
Introduction to Archaeology: Renfrew & Bahn 2019 (8th ed.): chp.8
8. How Did They Make Use of Tools? Technology.
3.2.a. Investigating watercraft. J. R. Steffy
• Wood has been used for most
Steffy’s son(prior to 1800s).
watercraft
• Specialized field of study.
• E.g., Underwater archaeology:
1960s: 4th cent. BC Greek ship
near Kyrena, Cyprus.
Hull planking: mortise-&-tenons.
• E.g., 14th cent. BC shipwreck near
Ulu Burun (Kas, Turkey).
Bass found similar construction.
• Ship specialist J.R. Steffy used
1/10th scale replicas of all planking
& excav. plans → refit anc. hulls.
• Hag Ahmed Youssef spent 14 yrs
rebuilding Khufu’s dismantled ship
(4,500 years old; Dyn.4, Egypt).
Introduction to Archaeology: Renfrew & Bahn 2019 (8th ed.): chp.8
8. How Did They Make Use of Tools? Technology.
3.2.a. Investigating watercraft. Khufu boat model
• Wood has been used for most
watercraft (prior to 1800s).
Khufu
boat
• Specialized field of study.
pit
• E.g., Underwater archaeology:
1960s: 4th cent. BC Greek ship
near Kyrena, Cyprus.
Hull planking: mortise-&-tenons.
• E.g., 14th cent. BC shipwreck near
Ulu Burun (Kas, Turkey).
Bass found similar construction.
• Ship specialist J.R. Steffy uses
1/10th scale replicas of all planking
& excav. plans → refit anc. Hulls.
• Hag Ahmed Youssef spent 14 yrs
rebuilding Khufu’s dismantled ship
(4,500 years old; Dyn.4, Egypt).
Khufu’s ship: ca.4,500 yrs. BP
Introduction to Archaeology: Renfrew & Bahn 2019 (8th ed.): chp.8
8. How Did They Make Use of Tools? Technology.
• Assessing sailing capabilities:
→ building scale replicas for
testing on rivers / at sea.
• E.g., 1984-1986 Viking knarr/cargo
ship built & sailed around world.
Clothes/linen:
- Mainly tunics, dresses, loin-cloths.
- Only appears in a few tombs from
various social backgrounds.
- Possibly much linen had been robbed.
- Some tombs had large quantities.
TECHNOLOGY:
c. Wood & vegetative materials
Other traces:
- Impressions left by fabrics in
baked clay, bitumen on mummies,
human bone, etc.
TECHNOLOGY:
synthetic materials
d. ANCIENT
PYROTECHNOLOGY
TECHNOLOGY:
d. Firing & pyrotechnology
i. Pyrotechnology
& its applications:
Introduction to Archaeology: Renfrew & Bahn 2019 (8th ed.): chp.8
8. How Did They Make Use of Tools? Technology.
4. Synthetic Materials: Swartkrans Cave: Burnt bone
4.1. Firing & pyrotechnology:
• Many ancient Industries relied on
fire/heating applications.
• Earliest known use of fire occurs
ca. 1.5 million BP (Swartkrans Cave)
*ca. 1+ million BP Wonderwerk Cave
ii. Pottery:
- Temper
- Manufacture
- Firing
- Ethnography
Introduction to Archaeology: Renfrew & Bahn 2019 (8th ed.): chp.8
8. How Did They Make Use of Tools? Technology.
4.2. Pottery:
• Paleolithic lifestyle was not
conducive to carrying pottery:
Nomads cannot carry as much
• More settled Neolithic lifestyle
witnessed the development of
pottery.
•
• Video clip: Beaker firing (beakerfolk amesbury archer)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YmFQdfzVbg
Qualities of temper:
- Crushed burnt shell enables the
pot to resist heat better
Sand-
- Fine sand is also quite good for tempered
heat resistance. pottery
- Finer grained temper creates
the best strength in pottery.
Introduction to Archaeology: Renfrew & Bahn 2019 (8th ed.): chp.8
8. How Did They Make Use of Tools? Technology.
4.2.b. How were pots made?
• Initially pottery vessels = made by
building up the body using coils
or slabs → smoothed into walls.
• Also pressed-pottery (bowl made in
hollow or over a small mound).
• 3400 BC Mesopotamia introduces
slow wheel/turntable-made pottery
• Wheel-made pottery normally
displays parallel ridges E.g., basin
• The distinctness and regularity wall built
of these ridges also depends upon by slabs …
the nature of the potter’s wheel
(i.e., slow; fast; kick-wheel).
• Hand-made pottery reveals
irregular finger marks, or paddle-
smoothing.
Hump-moulded pottery bowl
Introduction to Archaeology: Renfrew & Bahn 2019 (8th ed.): chp.8
8. How Did They Make Use of Tools? Technology.
4.2.b. How were pots made?
• Initially pottery vessels = made by
building up the body Slow
usingturn-wheel
coils
or slabs → smoothed into walls.
• Also pressed-pottery (bowl made in
hollow or over a small mound).
•
iii. Faience
and glass:
Introduction to Archaeology: Renfrew & Bahn 2019 (8th ed.): chp.8
8. How Did They Make Use of Tools? Technology.
4.3. Faience and glass:
• Vitreous/glassy materials appeared
later (at “end” of Prehistory: N.East).
Pre-Glass / Faience:
• Powdered quartz / silica (sand)
• Late Predynastic (pre-3000 BC)+
Egypt had beads and pendants.
• Later some faience tiles & vessels
• Composition reveals source (NAA)
Glass: Activation Analysis (NAA) lab.
Neutron
• Melting sand (silica) & cooling: glass
• Ca. 2500 BC in Mesopotamia
• Late Bronze Age (Dyn.18 Egypt)
• Glass made round clay core; moulds.
• Silica melts at 1723C (3133F)
• Adding soda/potash → 850C (1562F)
= poor quality glass.
• Best: 75% silica; 15% soda; 10% lime
• Glass blowing 50 BC+ (Romans)
Introduction to Archaeology: Renfrew & Bahn 2019 (8th ed.): chp.8
8. How Did They Make Use of Tools? Technology.
4.3. Faience and glass:
• Vitreous/glassy materials appeared
later (at “end” of Prehistory: N.East).
Pre-Glass / Faience:
• Powdered quartz / silica (sand)
• Late Predynastic (pre-3000 BC)+
Egypt had beads and pendants.
• Later some faience tiles & vessels
• Composition reveals source (NAA)
Glass:
• Melting sand (silica) & cooling: glass
• Ca. 2500 BC in Mesopotamia
• > Late Bronze Age (Dyn.18 Egypt)
• Glass made round clay core; moulds.
• Silica melts at 1,723 C (3,133 F)
• Adding soda/potash → 850C (1562F)
= poor quality glass.
• Best: 75% silica; 15% soda; 10% lime
• Glass blowing 50 BC+ (Romans)
TECHNOLOGY:
synthetic materials
e. ARCHAEO-
METALLURGY …
TECHNOLOGY:
d. Archaeometallurgy:
i. Non-ferrous
Materials, esp. Cu
- Technology …
Introduction to Archaeology: Renfrew & Bahn 2019 (8th ed.): chp.8
8. How Did They Make Use of Tools? Technology.
5. Archaeometallurgy:
5.1. Non-ferrous materials:
• Copper = most important metal in
antiquity; copper + tin → bronze.
• Gold & silver = high value metals
• Lead; tin & antimony (additives).
Copper technology evolution:
1.Shaping native copper (nuggets):
Hammering, cutting, polishing, etc.
2.Annealing native copper:
Heating & hammering
(hammering only → brittle metal) Cassiterite tin ore
3.Smelting oxide & carbonate ores: Silver
4. Melting & casting copper: ore
Open mould → two-piece moulds
5.Alloying copper with tin →bronze
6. Smelting from sulphide ores
More complex.
7. E.g., (“cire
Native
Lost-wax perdue”)
/ raw copperprocess Gold nugget
Introduction to Archaeology: Renfrew & Bahn 2019 (8th ed.): chp.8
8. How Did They Make Use of Tools? Technology.
5. Archaeometallurgy:
5.1. Non-ferrous materials:
• Copper = most important metal in
antiquity; copper + tin → bronze.
• Gold & silver = high value metals
• Lead; tin & antimony (additives).
Copper technology evolution:
1.Shaping native copper (nuggets):
Hammering, cutting, polishing, etc.
2.Annealing native copper:
Heating & hammering
(hammering only → brittle metal)
3.Smelting oxide & carbonate ores:
4. Melting & casting copper:
Open mould → two-piece moulds
5.Alloying copper with tin →bronze
6. Smelting from sulphide ores
More complex.
7. Lost-wax (“cire perdue”) process Lost wax
Introduction to Archaeology: Renfrew & Bahn 2019 (8th ed.): chp.8
8. How Did They Make Use of Tools? Technology.
Melting points:
• Lead: 327C (620F)
• Lead from ores: 800C (1472F)
• Copper: 1,083C (1981F)
• Silver: 960C (1760F)
• Gold: 1,063C (1945F)
Composition of metals:
• Laboratory detection methods
• Trace element analysis
• Optical emission spectrometry (OES)
• Atomic absorption spectrometry
• X-ray fluorescence (XRF)
Metallo-graphic examination:
• Microscopic view of an item’s structure
• May answer whether it is cold-
hammered, annealed, cast, etc.
ii. Non-ferrous
Materials, esp. Cu
- Alloying …
Introduction to Archaeology: Renfrew & Bahn 2019 (8th ed.): chp.8
8. How Did They Make Use of Tools? Technology.
5.2. Alloying:
• Alloying = major advances in
metallurgy:
- Copper + tin (*10%) = bronze
- Copper + arsenic (*10%) = bronze
ii. Non-ferrous
Materials, esp. Cu
- Casting …
Introduction to Archaeology: Renfrew & Bahn 2019 (8th ed.): chp.8
8. How Did They Make Use of Tools? Technology.
5.3. Casting:
• Atifacts often reveal data on
casting technology (mould marks)
E.g., surface traces of casting =
sometimes left.
• Evidence:
- Some texts detail it
- Casting casings left
- Study of item cast.
Introduction to Archaeology: Renfrew & Bahn 2019 (8th ed.): chp.8
8. How Did They Make Use of Tools? Technology.
5.3. Casting:
• Atifacts often reveal data on
casting technology (mould marks)
E.g., surface traces of casting =
sometimes left.
•
Cire perdue (lost wax technique)
a. Item detail modelling in wax
b. Item coated in clay → baked
c. Wax escapes through hole(s)
d. Metal cast through one hole
(air hole(s) needed).
e. Mould broken open
f. Mould marks removed
• Evidence:
- Some texts detail it
- Casting casings left
- Study of item cast.
Introduction to Archaeology: Renfrew & Bahn 2019 (8th ed.): chp.8
8. How Did They Make Use of Tools? Technology.
Casting cont.’:
• Hammering & annealing sometimes
yield similar results to casting.
• Unfinished items sometimes are
incompletely cast.
• May have vertical line from the seam
between the two mould halves.
Moulds:
• Usually of stone
• Sometimes have an air-escape hole
(reduce/remove bubbling)
Slags:
• Identify type of slag (copper; iron)
• Test for sulphur (i.e., sulphur ore)
• Crucible slag = higher % copper
Smelting furnaces:
• By-products: ingots, slag, moulds,
crucible frags., broken castings, scrap
metal, tuyeres (furnace pipe-nozzles)
Introduction to Archaeology: Renfrew & Bahn 2019 (8th ed.): chp.8
8. How Did They Make Use of Tools? Technology.
Casting cont.’:
• Hammering & annealing sometimes
yield similar results to casting.
• Unfinished items sometimes are
incompletely cast.
• May have vertical line from the seam
between the two mould halves.
Moulds (for casting):
• Usually of stone
• Sometimes have an air-escape hole Pouring molten metal into the mould
(reduce/remove bubbling)
Slags:
• Identify type of slag (copper; iron)
• Test for sulphur (i.e., sulphur ore)
• Crucible slag = higher % copper
Smelting furnaces:
• By-products: ingots, slag, moulds,
crucible frags., broken castings, scrap
metal, tuyeres (furnace pipe-nozzles)
Introduction to Archaeology: Renfrew & Bahn 2019 (8th ed.): chp.8
8. How Did They Make Use of Tools? Technology.
Casting cont.’:
• Hammering & annealing sometimes
yield similar results to casting.
• Unfinished items sometimes are
incompletely cast.
• May have vertical line from the seam
between the two mould halves.
Moulds:
• Usually of stone
• Sometimes have an air-escape hole
Bronze Age: Copper slag
(reduce/remove bubbling) Experiment: Iron slag …
http://warehamforgeblog.blogspot.com/2008_06_01_archive.html
Slags (… from casting):
• Identify type of slag (copper; iron) slag
• Test for sulphur (i.e., sulphur ore)
• Crucible slag = higher % copper
Smelting furnaces:
• By-products: ingots, slag, moulds,
crucible frags., broken castings, scrap
metal, tuyeres (furnace pipe-nozzles)
Introduction to Archaeology: Renfrew & Bahn 2019 (8th ed.): chp.8
8. How Did They Make Use of Tools? Technology.
Casting cont.’: Ox-hide ingot
• Hammering & annealing sometimes
yield similar results to casting.
• Unfinished items sometimes are
incompletely cast.
• May have vertical line from the seam
between the two mould halves.
Moulds:
• Usually of stone
• Sometimes have an air-escape hole
(reduce/remove bubbling)
Slags:
• Identify type of slag (copper; iron)
• Test for sulphur (i.e., sulphur ore)
• Crucible slag = higher % copper
Smelting furnaces:
• By-products: ingots, slag, moulds,
crucible frags., broken castings, scrap
metal, tuyeres (furnace pipe-nozzles)
TECHNOLOGY:
d. Archaeometallurgy:
v. Metal plating
(joining techniques)
Introduction to Archaeology: Renfrew & Bahn 2019 (8th ed.): chp.8
8. How Did They Make Use of Tools? Technology.
5.6. Plating:
• Plating joins metals together by
various means
• E.g., Peruvians evidently used
a form of electrochemical
plating to join valuable metals
in early centuries AD (early Moche)
• Apparently heat had been used to
join gold to copper surfaces on some
figurines, masks, & ornaments.
• It is superficially similar to modern
electroplating.
• BUT, an aqueous solution of
minerals and salts indigenous to
Peru had apparently been boiled
(5 min at 650-800C) to enable
bonding between the surfaces.
• Otherwise, electroplating appears in
late Medieval/Renaissance Europe.
Introduction to Archaeology: Renfrew & Bahn 2019 (8th ed.): chp.8
8. How Did They Make Use of Tools? Technology.
5.6. Plating:
• Plating joins metals together by
various means
• E.g., Peruvians evidently used
a form of electrochemical
plating to join valuable metals
in early centuries AD (early Moche)
• Apparently heat had been used to
join gold to copper surfaces on some
figurines, masks, & ornaments.
• It is superficially similar to modern
electroplating.
1853 AD electroplated medallion
• BUT, an aqueous solution of
minerals and salts indigenous to
Peru had apparently been boiled
(5 min at 650-800C) to enable
bonding between the surfaces.
• Otherwise, electroplating appears in
late Medieval/Renaissance Europe.
TECHNOLOGY:
d. Archaeometallurgy:
Steel:
E.g., cast iron
•Buddha
Steel is iron with 0.3% - 1.2% carbon
statues
• It is easily worked
• It hardens with cooling
• True steel appears in the Roman
period.
• Carburizing → made a similar
product.
Introduction to Archaeology: Renfrew & Bahn 2019 (8th ed.): chp.8
8. How Did They Make Use of Tools? Technology.
Cast iron:
• A more complex furnace installation
is required.
• Some examples appear in 6th cent
BC Greece
• Cast iron = a brittle alloy of iron
• It has a lower melting point
• It has 1.5% - 5% carbon content
Steel:
• Steel is iron with 0.3% - 1.2% carbon
• It is easily worked
• It hardens with cooling
• “True steel” appears in the Roman
period.
• Carburizing → made a similar
product.
Damascus steel
SUMMARY:
Introduction to Archaeology: Renfrew & Bahn 2019 (8th ed.): chp.8
8. How Did They Make Use of Tools? Technology.
6. Summary:
• Archaeologists can recover and extrapolate much information on ancient
technology by excavation, analysis in laboratories, ethnographic data, and
experimenting (e.g., reconstructing items, events, etc.).
• The archaeological context and ethnography may suggest the function(s) of
an artifact, while microwear analysis reveals likely past usage(s).
• Microwear analysis relies on running experiments to see what usages leave
specific traces on a given tool type and material.
• Ethnographic studies are still invaluable for living crafts persons using similar
technologies for comparing known living technologies with past similar ones.
• Such ethnographic studies help mainly in assessing how ancient technologies
MAY have functioned, using similar items, materials, and contexts.
• The absence of more definite information from past textual-pictorial records
leaves archaeologists with having to reconstruct a range of possibilities to
probabilities using a broad range of evidence: excavation, analysis,
ethnography, and experimentation.
CASE STUDY-1:
PHARAONIC
TECHNOLOGY:
i.e., Ancient Egypt stone-working
-Blocks arrive at site roughly hewn
-Smoothed in location prior to
addition of each wall course.
-Column and wall exteriors
smoothed & inscribed after
construction.
- Ramps and
scaffolding of
solid mudbrick
are used to
raise blocks
(see Karnak
Temple for
in-situ mudbrick
ramp).
Old Kingdom:
Producing rock-cut statuary
Techniques in Painting,
Relief work, & Statuary:
Wall-face:
• Plaster uneven surface with mud
and a fine gypsum plaster wash.
Statuary:
• Cut excess stone away from the
outlined figure (5-6 planes).
Equipment:
• Hammers, copper chisels, drills,
and saws (with sand abrasive)
OK: Deshasheh mallet
MK industry:
Making flint blades.
• materials (flint etc.)
• Skilled flint-knapper
(apprenticeship)
• Market: butcher,
hunter, various
industries, home.
CASE STUDY-2:
PHARAONIC
TECHNOLOGY:
i.e., Ancient Egypt metal-working
NEGEV: Southern Arabah
Gulf of Aqaba (Elat):
Site 582:Ramesses III rock-text
near well at Borot Roded.
TIMNA Site 212 Copper mine.
• Sophisticated shaft-and-gallery mining system.
-some Chalcolithic - Early Bronze Age activity
-mostly Ramesside activity.
• shafts up to 35+ m deep cutting through various
rock formations (conglomerates, etc.)
• Copper ores in cupriferous white sandstone.
• Galleries 70 cm wide x 1 m high –can broaden.
• New Kingdom pottery and stone & metal tools.
ventilation
system
above
galleries.
TIMNA Site 2 Area D-K:
Egyptian copper smelting site
• Two Egyptian Dyn.19 scarabs
Note Area B:
• A 10 x 7.5 m installation for
reducing Acacia wood into
charcoal for smelting fuel.
• Adjacent furnace → Cu pellets
(melted in small crucibles)
• Small workshop (5 x 4 m) for
crushing copper bearing ore.
Dicotyledons:
FUEL -Broad-leafed flowering plants
providing hard-wood lumbers.
Acacia species
(Leguminosae-Mimosoidaea)
-Characteristically flat-topped trees
-Yellow/white flowers; fruit = pods
-Occurs in hot deserts
Wood-type:
-Heartwood = red, hard and durable
-In antiquity, acacia charcoal = used
for smelting.
Flowering twig
of acacia & pod
Working+storage
TIMNA Site 2 Area D-K complex:
Courtyard:
Casting -Smelting charge
workshop prepared here,
-Ore store pits.
-Stone-paved
platform for
crushing Cu ore.
-Many crushing &
grinding tools &
crushed Cu ore.
Large stone- Casting workshop
lined storage -smelting furnaces
pit for ores -much wood ash
-charcoal dust
Workshop & -copper pellets
living quarters -copper slag
Small oven -slagged crucible
Storage pits fragments.
-large storage pit
Timna Site 2 Area C:
Copper-smelting furnace.
Two smelting furnaces (Fu 3-4)
• Smelting hearth: hole in ground
-45 cm diameter
-40 cm deep
-Lined with thick clay → dome
-Slag adhering to walls
-Slag-tapping pit in front of
furnace (stone lining)
-Tapping hole in furnace side.
-Clay tube opposite tapping
hole (= for tuyere)
New Kingdom: Copper smelting at Timna explained via NK art:
• Open casting.
Metal-working:
• Smelting copper, gold, etc.
CASE STUDY-3:
EARLY BRONZE
TECHNOLOGY:
i.e., Helladic, Cycladic & Minoan
Early Bronze Age: Early Helladic / Early Cycladic / Early Minoan.
Early Minoan gold bee-pendant from Chrysolakkos cemetery at Mallia.
Early Bronze Age: Early Helladic / Early Cycladic / Early Minoan.
Early Cycladic, Keros-Syros culture, ca.2,700 – 2,200 BCE
Jewelry: Silver torque and silver bracelets from Antiparos.
Early Bronze Age: Early Helladic / Early Cycladic / Early Minoan.
Early Cycladic, Keros-Syros culture, ca. 2,700 – 2,200 BCE:
Copper wood-working tools from Naxos: axes, adzes, and various chisels.
Early Bronze Age: Early Helladic / Early Cycladic / Early Minoan.
Obsidian core & 4 blades from Antiparos, ca. 3,000 – 2,000 BCE.
Early Bronze Age: Early Helladic / Early Cycladic / Early Minoan.
Early Cycladic Grotta-Pelos culture
Ca. 3,200 – 2,800 BCE.
Pottery vessel:
• Collared jar from Antiparos.
• Vertically incised herring-bone design
around lower body.
• Horizontal band of herringbone design
around lower part of neck.
Footed
example
Flat-based example
Early Bronze Age: Early Helladic / Early Cycladic / Early Minoan.
Early Cycladic, Keros-Syros culture (ca. 2,700 – 2,200 BCE):
Conical pottery cups, from Chalandriani on island of Syros.
Early Bronze Age: Early Helladic / Early Cycladic / Early Minoan.
Early Cycladic period: entryway to a marble quarry at Paros.
Early Bronze Age: Early Helladic / Early Cycladic / Early Minoan.
Early Cycladic period: Grotta-Pelos culture: marble kandila-beaker type vases;
Antiparos culture: marble kandila-beaker type vases (from Antiparos).
Early Bronze Age: Early Helladic / Early Cycladic / Early Minoan.
Different types of Early Cycladic marble
figurines:
NOTE:
Huge
example
=
140 cm
in
length
Early Bronze Age: Early Helladic / Early Cycladic / Early Minoan.
Early Cycladic period:
Late Spedos-culture
Ca. 2,600 – 2,400 BCE.
Marble female figurines; 1 = pregnant.
Early Bronze Age: Early Helladic / Early Cycladic / Early Minoan.
Early Cycladic
Dokathismata-type marble figure
ca. 2,500 – 2,300 BC
Early Bronze Age: Early Helladic / Early Cycladic / Early Minoan.
Early Cycladic
Drawing of Goulandris-like male
marble figurines (now lost).