Bronze metallurgy in Iron Age central Europe : a metallurgical study of Early Iron Age bronzes from Stična, Slovenia.

The Early Iron Age (750-450 BCE) marks a time in the European Alpine Region in which cultural ideologies surrounding bronze objects and bronze production were changing. Iron was becoming the preferred material from which to make many utilitarian objects such as weapons and agricultural tools; this change can be clearly seen in the different treatments of bronze object deposits from the Late Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age. The Early Iron Age hillfort settlement of Sticna in what is now southeastern Slovenia was one of the first incipient commercial centers to take advantage of the new importance placed on iron, conducting trade with Italy, Greece, the Balkans, and northern Europe. This metallurgical study of bronze funerary objects from Sticna identifies construction techniques, use patterns, and bronze metallurgical technologies from the ancient region of Lower Carniola. This information is then used to explore the cultural importance of bronze at Early Iron Age Sticna and to compare the bronze work of Lower Carniola with that of other regions in central Europe and Italy from this time of great change in Iron Age Europe.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2007

Author dc:creator

• Cooney, Elizabeth Myers

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Heather Lechtman.

• Materials Science and Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/39480

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/39480