Investigating Technological Changes in Copper-Based Metals Using Portable XRF Analysis. A Case Study in Sicily

Abstract

The introduction of copper-based metals in Sicily appears to have been a particularly late and slow process. A program of pXRF analyses on early metals in Sicily has revealed the use of mostly copper, and a very late introduction of tin. Copper had been in use and extracted in northern Italy since the Late Neolithic (ca. 3500 BC), and spread across the Italian peninsula after that. Yet, copper became widespread in Sicily only in the Bronze Age (ca. 2200-1050 BC), despite some early arrivals. The story of the introduction of copper-based metals in Italy acquires a new layer of complexity and the southwestern corner is providing a fuller perspective of the transmission of metal technology across Italy. This study of about 100 artifacts from Sicily tests the hypothesis that metallurgy and metals became important at a later time compared to other Mediterranean areas.

Keywords

• metals
• sicily
• pxrf
• copper age
• bronze age
• copper
• bronze