Verhüttungsexperimente mit Chalkopyrit-Erz nach Vorbildern aus dem bronzezeitlichen Ostalpenraum und Nepal

Abstract

Smelting experiments with chalcopyrite ore based on records of the Bronze Age Eastern Alps and Nepal. During the summer of 2018, the German Mining Museum Bochum (DBM) and the Roman-Germanic Central Museum (RGZM) conducted copper ore smelting experiments at the Laboratory for Experimental Archaeology (LEA), RGZM in Mayen, Germany. The smelting experiments not only reconstructed a 4.000 year old smelting process, but also produced material that could then be used for scientific analysis. During the course of the experiments, copper metal was successfully produced. For each experiment, a detailed description of the set up and how they were carried out is given.

The goal of the project, which is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), is to improve the chemical-physical isotope measurement method used to determine the origin of raw materials for metal objects. For this purpose, it is necessary to determine whether and how copper isotope ratios change during the course of the high-temperature process. Following the experiments, the copper metal obtained will be used to investigate whether the copper isotope composition is altered by the physical and chemical processes during copper production.