News
19.05.2020
Did pottery making influence the beginnings of metallurgy?
Researchers say it could have gone either way
When man learned to work metal thousands of years ago, a new age dawned - metallurgy fundamentally changed economy and society. But how had he acquired this ability in the first place? Researchers have long been discussing whether metallurgy learned from pottery making and their techniques or whether the two technologies developed independently. A new study led by Dr. Silvia Amicone (Competence Centre Archaeometry - Baden-Württemberg (CCA-BW), University of Tübingen) sheds new light on the debate. After analysing prehistoric finds, it concludes that metallurgy and pottery did indeed influence each other, but probably developed in parallel. The results were published in the Journal of Archaeological Science.
For decades researchers have been debating whether the earliest metallurgists gained their ability to control fire from potters or not. The missing piece of evidence in this debate, a solid archaeological example where one could study the technological developments of these two crucial technologies side-by-side, was finally located in eastern Serbia. It presents the earliest evidence for metal making, going back to 7,000 years ago in the prehistoric village of Belovode. The discovery prompted an international team of archaeologists and scientists from the UK, Serbia and Germany to start a 3-year long campaign of excavations in this and another contemporary prehistoric site in Serbia, Pločnik, in pursuit of the social and technological events that gave birth to metallurgy.
Both sites are remarkable for their rich material culture that includes dark-burnished and graphite painted pottery, often considered the precursors of metallurgy in this part of the world. Especially the use of graphite, a mineral naturally occurring in different areas of the Balkans, was closely related to the emergence of early metal production.
Contact:
Dr. Silvia Amicone
University of Tübingen
Competence Center Archaeometry- Baden-Württemberg
Phone +49 7071 29-76801
silvia.amicone@uni-tuebingen.de
Dr Christoph Berthold
University of Tübingen
Competence Center Archaeometry- Baden-Württemberg
Phone +49 7071 29-72604
christoph.berthold@uni-tuebingen.de