Early Metal Production and Exchange Systems in Southern Iran
Dr Lloyd Weeks
Iran witnessed one of the earliest developments of metallurgy in the ancient world. Not only can evidence for the use of native metals be traced into the seventh millennium BC, but various sites on the central Plateau indicate that the technology to smelt metallic ores was developed from the fifth to third millennia BC. In short, Iran deserves to be regarded as a 'heartland' in the early development of extractive metallurgy and metalworking.
However, our understanding of many aspects of early copper production and exchange in the region is under-developed. This research project aims to redress these problems by coordinating a coherent programme of scientific research on archaeological artefacts and production residues from nine sites in southern Iran covering the period ca. 6000-3000 BC. The corpus of analysed samples includes the earliest metal artefacts from the region (from Tall-i Mushki, ca. 6000 BC), and covers the millennia during which smelting technology developed to replace the exclusive use of native copper. Analytical approaches to this material include electron microprobe WDS compositional analyses (at The University of Nottingham), studies of artefact fabrication techniques using optical metallography (at The University of Nottingham), and lead isotope analysis to determine metal provenance (at the NERC Isotope Geosciences Laboratory, British Geological Survey, Keyworth). We hope in particular to investigate the diversity of copper sources exploited in metal-poor areas of south-western Iran, both in Fars province at the sites of Mushki, Jari, Gap, Malyan and Bolaghi, and also further to the west at the important early urban site of Susa in modern-day Khuzestan.
The research programme represents a substantial international collaboration between scholars and institutions in Iran (Iranian Centre for Archaeological Research), Japan (Tokyo University Museum), the USA (Peabody Museum, Harvard University), France (Centre for Research and Restoration of the Museums of France), Germany (German Archaeological Institute Eurasia Department), and the UK (The University of Nottingham, NERC Isotope Geosciences Laboratory, and the Institute of Archaeology, University College London). Funding has been provided by the British Academy Small Research Grants Scheme, the NIGL Steering committee, and The University of Nottingham Quick Response Fund.
Figure 1: Polished and etched section of a Neolithic native copper artefact from Fars Province, Iran, showing large grains with long and slightly bent twins. Optical microscopy, cross-polarised light. Courtesy of the University Museum, University of Tokyo.
Figure 2: Polished and etched section of a native copper sample from Talmessi, central Iran, showing grains of pure copper with 'veins' of high arsenic copper (grey inclusions in upper right quadrant). Optical microscopy, cross-polarised light. Courtesy of the Petrie Museum, University College London.
Figure 3: Polished and etched section of a native copper sample from the mine site of Talmessi, central Iran, showing typical microstructural features of native copper, i.e. very large grain size and long, thin, bent twins. Optical microscopy, cross-polarised light. Courtesy of the Petrie Museum, University College London.
As a component of this research project, an international workshop on early Iranian metallurgy was held in the Dept. of Archaeology at The University of Nottingham from September 19-21, 2007. A group of 15 scholars from Iran, Italy, Germany, France, the USA and the UK met to discuss recent developments in the early metallurgy of Iran. The programme of the workshop is attached (iran metals workshop programme.pdf, 134 KB). The programme focused upon the earliest periods of metallurgy in the region, from the Neolithic period through to the later 3rd millennium BC, and included presentations on material from across Iran, on early copper production and extraction, on the prehistoric copper-tin mines of the Zagros, and on the prehistoric smelting of lead and cupellation of silver.
Publications
Weeks, L. 2016. “Iran and the Bronze Age metals trade in the Persian Gulf”. International Journal of the Society of Iranian Archaeologists 2/3: 13-25.
Weeks, L.R. 2008. “The 2007 early Iranian metallurgy workshop at the University of Nottingham”. Iran 46: 335-345. Weeks, L.R., K. Alizadeh, L. Niakan, K. Alamdari, A Khosrowzadeh, B. McCall and M. Zeidi. 2006. “The Neolithic Settlement of Highland SW Iran: New Evidence from the Mamasani District”. Iran 44: 1-31.
Weeks, L.R. 2007. “Coals to Newcastle, Copper to Magan? Isotopic Analyses and the Persian Gulf metals trade”. Pages 89-96 in S. LaNiece, D. Hook, and P.T. Craddock, eds., Metals and Mines: Studies in Archaeometallurgy. London: Archetype and the British Museum.
Weeks, L.R. 2003. Early Metallurgy of the Persian Gulf: Technology, Trade, and the Bronze Age World. Boston: American School of Prehistoric Research and Brill Academic Publishers.