Experimental Reconstructed Vinča Gradac Phase Copper Smelting

Summary

Recent dating projects have determined the oldest known date for copper smelting to appear around, 5000 BCE, associated with Vinča (Gradac phase) sites in the Morava Valley, Serbia. Recent Studies of Vinča metallurgy (Radivojevic 2010) were directed towards the characterisation of slags and associated minerals, and their provenance. This body of work has had important implications for theories relating to the beginnings of metal-using communities.

Despite this important research, few studies have focused on the actual techniques and apparatus associated with copper production, resulting from of a lack of archaeological finds traditionally associated with metallurgical processes.

Some scholars (Sljivar 2006) have proposed the use of perforated and solid truncated conical vessels as primary smelting apparatus. On this basis, a series of experimental smelts coupled with a program of soil and material analysis were initiated to explore the potential for such vessels to be associated with copper smelting. This paper reports a number of experimental smelting campaigns and evaluates the potential for these early ceramic forms to be associated with the world’s earliest pyrometallurgical tradition.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 22268