Angela
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Thanks to Jean Manco I have been alerted to the fact that David Anthony just uploaded to accademia.edu his 2010 paper called, " Copper Metallury-The Lost World of Old Europe-The Danube Valley-5,000-3500 BC." This is undoubtedly the paper which accompanied the exhibit on the topic which came out about the same time.
This is the link:
https://www.academia.edu/6063906/Co..._BC_ed_DWAnthony_and_JYChi2010PrincetonUPress
The timing is interesting, I think, given that we are on the eve of the publication of the papers on Corded Ware/Yamnaya and Samara.
Anyway, he begins with a very well written and therefore clear review of the development of metallurgy in the Near East. Some of us have discussed the various ways that it could have developed, so you might find it an interesting read.
Of interest considering matters we have been discussing, he states that by the late 5th millennium, there were four centers of metallurgy in the Near East, mountainous SE Anatolia (the first center, and, of course, where farming also first developed), S.E. Anatolia closer to the coast, the Levant west of the Jordan, and highland Iran.
He takes a rather non-committal attitude toward the issue of where copper metallurgy first developed, the Near East or the southeast Balkans.
"Not so long ago it was generally assumed that European metallurgy was derived from the Near East, whence it spread to the Aegean and then into the Balkan peninsula".
But, based on carbon dating by Renfrew, it was "suggested that production of copper in the Balkans was an indigenous, independent, or nearly independent development...It would not be unreasonable to suggest that copper smelting began during the late sixth millennia BC [in the Balkans] and somewhat later in Anatolia. But, this conditional European priority depends on the resolution of slag like material from Catal Hoyuk level VIA, which would give priority back to Anatolia".
He also goes on to say that it's unclear whether the four centers in the Near East and the southeastern Balkans had influence on each other culturally.The earliest alloying seems to have occurred in the middle of the 5th millennium BC in both south eastern Anatolia and Varna. He then points out that arsenical copper objects were unusual in south east Europe and Iran, and that lost wax casting was confined to the Levant until the later 4th millennium BC. Additionally, he points out that whereas the oldest use of native copper in southeast Europe was in the northern part of Starcevi Crist, pretty far from a trade or technology route from the Near East, copper objects were by no means common there, and the earliest copper smelting was in Vinca 5400 BC.
.
Rounding out the picture is this statement..."Smelting and casting...the only operations shared across all of these metal craft centers...could have been invented independently in connection with high temperature ceramic in kilns."
So, he's taking a very cautious position in all of this. What is clear, I think, is that there is no indication it was invented in the Balkans and spread from there to the Near East. It's possible that it developed independently in a Neolithic context in both places, but with better analysis and dating, it might be that the pre-Renfrew analysis was correct, and that it spread along long established trade routes from the Near East to south east Europe.
This is the link:
https://www.academia.edu/6063906/Co..._BC_ed_DWAnthony_and_JYChi2010PrincetonUPress
The timing is interesting, I think, given that we are on the eve of the publication of the papers on Corded Ware/Yamnaya and Samara.
Anyway, he begins with a very well written and therefore clear review of the development of metallurgy in the Near East. Some of us have discussed the various ways that it could have developed, so you might find it an interesting read.
Of interest considering matters we have been discussing, he states that by the late 5th millennium, there were four centers of metallurgy in the Near East, mountainous SE Anatolia (the first center, and, of course, where farming also first developed), S.E. Anatolia closer to the coast, the Levant west of the Jordan, and highland Iran.
He takes a rather non-committal attitude toward the issue of where copper metallurgy first developed, the Near East or the southeast Balkans.
"Not so long ago it was generally assumed that European metallurgy was derived from the Near East, whence it spread to the Aegean and then into the Balkan peninsula".
But, based on carbon dating by Renfrew, it was "suggested that production of copper in the Balkans was an indigenous, independent, or nearly independent development...It would not be unreasonable to suggest that copper smelting began during the late sixth millennia BC [in the Balkans] and somewhat later in Anatolia. But, this conditional European priority depends on the resolution of slag like material from Catal Hoyuk level VIA, which would give priority back to Anatolia".
He also goes on to say that it's unclear whether the four centers in the Near East and the southeastern Balkans had influence on each other culturally.The earliest alloying seems to have occurred in the middle of the 5th millennium BC in both south eastern Anatolia and Varna. He then points out that arsenical copper objects were unusual in south east Europe and Iran, and that lost wax casting was confined to the Levant until the later 4th millennium BC. Additionally, he points out that whereas the oldest use of native copper in southeast Europe was in the northern part of Starcevi Crist, pretty far from a trade or technology route from the Near East, copper objects were by no means common there, and the earliest copper smelting was in Vinca 5400 BC.
.
Rounding out the picture is this statement..."Smelting and casting...the only operations shared across all of these metal craft centers...could have been invented independently in connection with high temperature ceramic in kilns."
So, he's taking a very cautious position in all of this. What is clear, I think, is that there is no indication it was invented in the Balkans and spread from there to the Near East. It's possible that it developed independently in a Neolithic context in both places, but with better analysis and dating, it might be that the pre-Renfrew analysis was correct, and that it spread along long established trade routes from the Near East to south east Europe.