The smelting quarter of Valencina de la Concepción

Journal of Archaeological Science
Volume 35, Issue 3, March 2008, Pages 717-732


The smelting quarter of Valencina de la Concepción (Seville, Spain): the specialised copper industry in a political centre of the Guadalquivir Valley during the Third millennium BC (2750–2500 BC)

F. Nocetea a, G. Queipob b, R. Sáezc c, J.M. Nietoc c, N. Inácioa a, M.R. Bayonaa a, A. Peramoa a, J.M. Vargasd d, R. Cruz-Auñóne e, J.I. Gil-Ibarguchif f and J.F. Santosf f

a Departamento de Historia I, Universidad de Huelva, Avda. de las Fuerzas Armadas s/n, 21071 Huelva, Spain
b FACTUM NOVEM, Sevilla, Spain
c Departamento de Geología, Universidad de Huelva, Huelva, Spain
d Servicio de Arqueología, Ayuntamiento de Valencina de la Concepción, Sevilla, Spain
e Departamento de Prehistoria y Arqueología, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain
f Departamento de Departamento de Mineralogía y Petrología, Universidad del País Vasco, Bilbao, Spain

Received 17 January 2007; accepted 30 May 2007. Available online 6 August 2007.

Abstract

The first specialized copper industry of the Iberian Peninsula was developed at the start of the Third millennium BC with the appearance of mining-metallurgical settlements in its main mining district (the Pyrite Belt of the south-western). Between 2750 and 2500 BC, however, and right at the centre of the Guadalquivir Valley, the great farming settlements that ranked the territory developed a new level of metallurgic intensification with the creation of the first industrial quarters. As a way of explaining this new situation, we present the results of the systematic research (microspatial analysis; radiocarbon dating; petrologic, geochemical, metallographic and isotopic study of minerals, slag and products, …) carried out in one of them, the one developed in the main and largest political centre of the Guadalquivir Valley during the first half of the Third millennium BC: Valencina de la Concepción (Seville, Spain).

Keywords: Spain; Third millennium BC; Copper metallurgy; Smelting quarter; Furnaces; Slags; Lead isotopes; Metallographic and geochemical study

Article Outline

1. Introduction
2. The identification of a specialized smelting quarter in the largest settlement of the Guadalquivir Valley during the Third millennium BC: Valencina de la Concepción
3. The direct chronology of the smelting activity
4. Archaeological indicators to evaluate the production process in the smelting quarter of Valencina de la Concepción: analysis of Sector IV
4.1. Supply of raw materials, first stage in the smelting production process
4.2. The mechanic reduction of copper minerals, second stage of the smelting production
4.3. The thermal reduction of copper minerals, third phase of the smelting production process
4.4. Copper refinement, fourth phase of the smelting production
4.5. Manufacturing of metallic products, fifth phase of the smelting production
5. Final discussion
Acknowledgements
References

Publicado por Andrés Trevilla el lunes, diciembre 01, 2008  

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