More than 3,000 years ago, salt was extracted in Hallstatt on an almost industrial scale. Viennese researchers are investigating the Iron Age metal trade and have now shown that copper was brought to Hallstatt from Salzburg and the Southern Alps to be made into jewelry, weapons or tools.
The cemetery in the high valley above the town of Hallstatt is one of the most important prehistoric cemeteries in Europe. More than 1,000 graves were uncovered in the 19th century, and about 1,500 are now known – from the period 800 to 400 BC (BC), an era called the Hallstatt period, after the place where it was found. Numerous grave goods were found, including beautiful ships, weapons and jewelry, testifying to the wealth and extensive trading relationships that resulted from salt mining and trade.
Origin of copper investigated
The archaeometallurgist Mathias Mehofer from the Vienna Institute of Archaeological Sciences (VIAS) of the University of Vienna, together with Georg Tiefengraber and Karina Grömer from the Natural History Museum Vienna (NHM), examined grave goods from this period to determine the origin of the copper. . By analyzing the geochemical fingerprint of the metal, he showed that so-called chalcopyrite-based copper was used during the Late Bronze Age, that is, the end of the 2nd millennium BC. “This almost certainly comes from the Hochkönig-Mitterberg area in Salzburg and the southern Alpine region, especially from Trentino and South Tyrol,” says Mehofer.
New sources discovered
However, from about 900 to 800 BCE, so-called pale ore-based copper was increasingly used, the origins of which are still unclear. “Our analyzes prove that the reference networks have changed over the centuries,” says the scientist, summarizing the previous, yet unpublished results in a press release from the University of Vienna. The researchers explain the change in suppliers to explain the change in suppliers. It is possible that the Late Bronze Age mines that supplied chalcopyrite copper were gradually depleted, and therefore new copper sources had to be developed to maintain salt mine operations. .
Tin bronze from Cornwall
The pale ore copper used later contained a much higher content of arsenic or antimony, which changed its properties. In addition, the tin content in the analyzed objects decreases over time. This indicates a shortage of this important alloying component for the production of tin bronze, which came from distant deposits such as Cornwall, Spain, the Ore Mountains or Central Asia. “From this we can conclude that these long-distance trade networks also changed,” says Mehofer.
Gold finds are also evaluated
The analyzes of gold finds from the cemetery are still being evaluated. “We don’t have data yet, but we also want to investigate which supply networks the gold comes from. For example, is it chemically similar to the gold from the deposit of the nearby Arikogel (discovered in 2005, note) or to other precious metal objects from the Iron Age, such as the ‘princely grave’ of Strettweg in Styria?”, says Mehofer.
Source: Krone
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