Natural Science in Archaeology

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Chapter 7 Metals and Related Minerals and Ores 7.1 Introduction Although there are 70 metallic chemical elements, only 8 (gold, copper, lead, iron, silver, tin, arsenic and mercury) were recognized and used in their metallic state before the eighteenth century CE. Only two – gold and copper – were sufficiently available in their uncombined native state to be of importance to ancient societies. In the Old World, gold and copper metallurgy originated in the Near East more than 7000 years ago. The first uncontested use of metallic copper dates to the late eighth millennium BCE at an aceramic Neolithic site in southeastern Turkey where beads made of native copper have been found. The name copper is derived from the Greek name of Cyprus [Kyprios]. In the last few decades, individuals and teams from many countries have begun to locate ancient mines of the Old World (e.g., Wagner et al. 1983, 1984; Gerwien 1984). The word ore is derived from an Anglo-Saxon word meaning a lump of metal. It is applied to an aggregate of minerals from which one or more metals can be extracted at a profit. Therefore, what may be an ore at one time and place may not be an ore at another time or place. The desired ore mineral most often has to be separated from the surrounding “worthless” rock that is called gangue. The upper crust of the earth is about 5% iron, but only 0.02% copper, 0.004% zinc, 0.002% lead, 0.001% tin, 0.000.001% silver, and 0.000.000.1% gold. Put another way, we can look at the average concentration of metallic elements in the earth’s upper crust and see what enrichment is necessary to form an exploitable deposit. For iron, the enrichment must lead to a concentration five times the original. For the other important metals of antiquity, the concentration factors are: Copper: about 140 times Zinc: about 850 times Lead: about 2000 times Tin: more than 2000 times Silver: more than 5000 times Gold: more than 10,000 times G. Rapp, Archaeomineralogy, 2nd ed., Natural Science in Archaeology, DOI 10.1007/978-3-540-78594-1_7, © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2009 143
144 7 Metals and Related Minerals and Ores A broad understanding of the geologic processes that concentrate these elements to the degree necessary for an ore deposit is of great value in understanding the context in which early humans utilized raw materials. Scattered throughout this book are short descriptions of geologic processes that form ore deposits, placers, and the rocks suitable for providing products useful for mankind. Although gold was always found in the native state, other metals such as copper, lead, zinc, silver, arsenic, mercury, and cobalt were primarily concentrated in sulfide deposits. Oxidation later converted many of these metal sulfides to oxides, oxyhydroxides, carbonates, and sulfates. The complex picture of the early smelting of lead ores, including the recovery of silver contained in the lead minerals, remains to be completed. Gale and Stos-Gale (1981) have argued that, because lead melts at a relatively low temperature (below 800°C), the smelting of galena (PbS) may have occurred early in the Bronze Age. They suggest that the appearance of quantities of silver artifacts in the fourth millennium BCE coincides with, or somewhat predates, the evidence for the start of copper smelting. Their paper includes maps of early metal smelting sites in the eastern Mediterranean region, Aegean ore deposits, ore deposits on the island of Siphnos, and the lead mines at Lavrion. Before the arrival of Europeans in the sixteenth century, the indigenous peoples of the southwestern United States did not use metal for tools or weapons. However, in South America, there was a fairly advanced metallurgical alloying of copper, gold, silver, and even platinum (unknown in Europe). In Mexico and Central America, copper, gold, and silver were utilized. In the New World, the word “metallurgy” refers to “Andean metallurgy,” for it is this area alone that developed sophisticated technologies that later moved north and flourished from Panama to Mexico. The Andes Mountains contain some of the richest gold, copper, tin, and silver mines in the world. Unlike the Old World focus on copper, metallurgy in Andean societies focused on gold, beginning in the middle of the second millennium BCE. Metal ore smelting normally requires the use of a flux to lower the melting point (extraction temperature) of the ore mineral or the fluidity of the slag. The slags formed in primitive copper and iron ore smelting consisted largely of fayalite (an olivine) with the composition Fe 2 SiO 4 , which has a melting point of 1170°C. Limestone found at ancient smelting sites cannot have been used as the flux, because the lime would not lower the melting point or fluidity of a fayalite slag. Analyses of ice cores present another method of assessing metal production in antiquity. Atmospheric pollution from lead and copper production over the past 4000 years is locked in the well-preserved and well-dated ice layers in Greenland and elsewhere. Ferrari et al. (1999) have reviewed the research of the last 20 years on this topic and note the ice core evidence for the enhanced production of copper during the Roman Empire in Europe and the Song Empire in China. Readers interested in the history of metals will come across references to the development of niello by many societies around the world. The term niello comes from the Latin for “black work”. Niello has been considered to be a combination of sulfur with copper, silver, or lead, heated to form a paste that is pressed into grooves to present a black contrast to copper or bronze. Recent laboratory analyses
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Natural Science in Archaeology Seri
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Prof. Dr. George Rapp University of
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vi Preface and Reader’s Guide ass
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viii Preface to the Second Edition
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x Contents 3.6.2 Placer Deposits ..
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xii Contents 10.4 Natron ..........
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xiv List of Figures 4.8 Predynastic
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Chapter 1 Introduction and History
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1.2 Organization of the Book 3 Sour
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1.3 The Ancient Authors 5 BCE) insc
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1.3 The Ancient Authors 7 led to th
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1.3 The Ancient Authors 9 process o
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1.3 The Ancient Authors 11 sources.
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1.3 The Ancient Authors 13 Fig. 1.1
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1.3 The Ancient Authors 15 wide kno
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Chapter 2 Properties of Minerals 2.
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2.2 Mineral Structure 19 understand
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2.3 Mineral Identifi cation Methods
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2.4 Color of Minerals 27 grains tha
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2.4 Color of Minerals 29 Fig. 2.4 T
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2.4 Color of Minerals 31 blue light
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2.4 Color of Minerals 33 Table 2.2
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2.4 Color of Minerals 35 changing t
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2.4 Color of Minerals 37 Fig. 2.9 G
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2.4 Color of Minerals 39 Halite is
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2.4 Color of Minerals 41 been named
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2.4 Color of Minerals 43 The fluore
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46 3 Exploitation of Mineral and Ro
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70 4 Lithic Materials weathering, s
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72 4 Lithic Materials Patay (1976)
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74 4 Lithic Materials Baked siltsto
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76 4 Lithic Materials source on the
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78 4 Lithic Materials In a highly r
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80 4 Lithic Materials The name come
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82 4 Lithic Materials analyses of C
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84 4 Lithic Materials 4.3.3 Felsite
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86 4 Lithic Materials Fig. 4.10 Maj
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88 4 Lithic Materials focused on ma
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90 4 Lithic Materials Fig. 4.14 Bas
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194 8 Ceramic Raw Materials Chinese
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196 8 Ceramic Raw Materials in glas
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198 8 Ceramic Raw Materials 8.9 Fir
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200 8 Ceramic Raw Materials tiles f
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202 9 Pigments and Colorants This c
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204 9 Pigments and Colorants Hierak
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206 9 Pigments and Colorants The na
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Table 9.1 Compounds of iron oxides
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210 9 Pigments and Colorants Eviden
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212 9 Pigments and Colorants 9.4 Ma
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214 9 Pigments and Colorants orange
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216 9 Pigments and Colorants Centra
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218 9 Pigments and Colorants Maya B
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220 9 Pigments and Colorants is cur
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Chapter 10 Abrasives, Salt, Shells,
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10.3 Salt (Halite) 225 does not yie
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10.3 Salt (Halite) 227 Fig. 10.2 Di
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10.4 Natron 229 rituals. Its import
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10.5 Alum 231 times in Egypt. White
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10.6 Shells, Coral, Fossils, and Fo
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10.7 Other Geologic Raw Materials 2
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Chapter 11 Building, Monumental, an
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11.2 Building Stone 249 but large b
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11.2 Building Stone 251 Fig. 11.2 T
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11.2 Building Stone 253 reaches the
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11.2 Building Stone 255 “Basaltin
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11.2 Building Stone 257 Fig. 11.6 E
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11.2 Building Stone 259 Fig. 11.7 A
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11.3 Cements and Mortars 261 as ala
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11.3 Cements and Mortars 263 outsid
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11.3 Cements and Mortars 265 11.3.4
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11.3 Cements and Mortars 267 of sev
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11.5 Mud Brick, Terracotta, and Oth
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11.5 Mud Brick, Terracotta, and Oth
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11.6 Weathering and Decomposition 2
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References Accordi B, Tagliaferro C
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284 References Bishop R, Sayre E, V
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References 287 Connan J (1999) Use
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290 References Fleming S (1984) Pig
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294 References Heizer R, Treganza A
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References 297 Knox R (1987) On dis
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References 299 Lu P, Yao N, So J, H
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References 301 Mistardis G (1963) O
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304 References Phillips P (1980) Th
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306 References Rossi Manaresi R (19
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References 309 Stapert D, Johnsen L
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References 311 Uda M, Tsunokami T,
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References 313 Wen G, Jing Z (1992)
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316 References Chapter 4 Andrefsky
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318 References Singer C (1948) The
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320 Glossary Celadon Chinese stonew
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322 Glossary Lake A pigment consist
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324 Glossary Radiolarian Pertaining
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327 Appendix A Pigments Used in Ant
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Appendix A (continued) Pigment Orig
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Appendix A (continued) Pigment Orig
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Minerals, Rocks, and Metals Index A
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Minerals, Rocks, and Metals Index 3
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Minerals, Rocks, and Metals Index O
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Geographic Index A Abu Simbel, 137,
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Geographic Index 341 North, 56, 145
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Geographic Index 343 Pipestone Nati
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General Index A Abbsid, 128, 192 Ag
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General Index 347 220, 230, 231, 23
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