Alliages cuivreux et transferts de technologies au Ier millénaire av. J.-C. dans le sud-ouest de l’Europe

Abstract

The article begins with a brief description of the different alloys and manufacturing procedures used by bronze producers three thousand years ago. The technical culture of copper-based alloys appears to have been relatively stable in the first half of the 1st millennium BCE, a period characterised by the spread of iron technology. On the other hand, major changes can be observed in the second half: mass production, development of sheet-working, manufacture of large bronze artefacts, introduction of brass, etc. The gradual substitution of iron in place of copper alloys for armour and tools was essentially due not to the properties of the materials but rather to differences in accessibility. The transformation in the social function of artisans —from makers of trappings of power to large-scale producers for mass consumption— is undoubtedly linked to the changes taking place in the economic workings of societies in the last three centuries of the millennium.

Keywords

• brass
• bronze
• founding
• hammering
• innovation
• workshop