copper

These three artefacts suggested that some kind of metal working had most probably been carried out in the cave: Radmilli first described the mould as “a clay mould for casting… containing a piece of copper” (Radmilli, 1956, pp.

Introduction

In our research, we investigated the metallic properties ancient Egyptian copper-alloy loop sistra that first appear during that first half of the 12th Dynasty (ca.

Experimental Archaeometallurgy and Pilot Experiments

Experimental archaeology applied to archaeo-metallurgical studies (experimental archaeometallurgy) has revealed itself as an essential tool to verify scholars’ hypotheses on the technological processes involved in ancient metallurgy. Experimental archaeometallurgy is a specialist field within experimental archaeology.

Artificially dark patinated copper alloys appear in various times and regions and are commonly applied in prestigious polychrome metallic objects. Currently, the earliest finds known are from ca. 2000 BC in Egypt (See Fig. 1) and Palestine (See Fig. 2), followed by ca. 1500 BC in Greece and Cyprus (See Fig. 3 and 4) and again during the Roman period from ca. the late 4th century BC (See Fig. 5 and 6).