Investigation on Manufacturing Process in Some Elamite Copper Alloy Artefacts from Haft Tappeh, South-west Iran
The archaeometallurgy of copper have been pioneer technologies in ancient Iran and goes back to about ten thousand years ago in Iranian Plateau [1, 2]. The Haft Tappeh Middle Elamite Site is located in Southwest Iran and have been an important city belonging to early phase of Middle Elamite period (14th century BCE) [3, 4]. Based on various metallurgical evidences found in archaeological excavations, such as metalworking workshop, slag, smelted copper as well as numerous copper alloy artefacts, extensive metallurgical activities have done in Haft Tappeh and it has been an important center in smelting and manufacturing copper alloys in second millennium BC [4, 5]. To identify metallurgical process of metallic artefacts in Haft Tappeh including alloying composition, inclusions and phases as well as manufacturing and shaping, seven metallic fragments have studied by Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectrometry (SEM-EDS) and optical microscopy.
Metallography and microstructure of ancient and historic metals
This book provides an introduction to the structure and morphology of ancient and historic metallic materials. It deals extensively with many practical matters relating to the mounting, preparation, etching, polishing, and microscopy of metallic samples and includes an account of the way in which phase diagrams can be used to assist structural interpretation. The text is supplemented by an extensive number of microstructural studies carried out in the laboratory on ancient and historic metals.
The Occurrence of Metallic Iron in Ancient Copper
Abstract Of the many thousands of chemical or spectrochemical analyses of ancient copper, principally from central and northern Europe, and available in the literature, only a few report iron in excess of 1% and, in general, of these the iron occurs in Iron Age metal. On the other hand, some recent articles report much higher iron, these data being supplemented by our own investigations. These high-iron coppers are from Sardinia, Greece, Israel, Egypt, and India, and range in date from the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age through the Iron Age.Of 61 copper specimens found at Nichoria, a recently excavated site in the sw Peloponnese, 11 were found to be ferromagnetic, and ranged in age from Early Bronze Age to Byzantine. In a number of specimens, which have been examined spectrochemically and metallographically, the magnetic response is closely proportional to the total iron in the sample.Although Iron Age copper that contains appreciable iron can be explained by accidental addition of the impurity, no suc...