The Krs Regional Archaeological Project Field School, 2002:

Independent Research Project: Copper Production and Distribution with the Early Copper
Age Cultures of the Carpathian Basin
Lesley Frame
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
August, 2002
Copper sources on the edges of the Carpathian Basin supplied copper to the interior
regions, but at a high cost. Technology of processing this copper was more advanced on
the outer regions of the plain, and because it was difficult to obtain raw materials in the
central region of the plain, the finished copper objects found here were often used for
very different purposes.
When does copper appear?
Cultures have been drawn to the brilliant green and blue copper carbonate ores as
early as the Epi-paleolithic at the site of Lepenski Vir
*
(Glumac and Tringham, 1990). At
this site, beads of malachite were discovered, and farther north at the late Krs site of
Szarvas 23 in Eastern Hungary, two small fragments of malachite were found, marking
the earliest appearance of copper minerals in the Krs culture (Chapman and Tylecote,
1983). There are three copper horizons in the Carpathian Basin and adjacent region;
these are the Neolithic Age, Early Copper Age and Middle Copper Age (Bognr-Kutzian
1972), and it was in fact quite common in the Neolithic Age for people to crush malachite
and azurite into a fine powder and then dust it on pottery for decoration. In most early
sites, the ores were used only for ornamentation or decoration, as were metallic objects.
These metal ornaments are rare but present during the Early Neolithic in Southeast
Europe (Bognr-Kutzian, 1972). Even the Csszhalom, Tisza and Herpaly cultures had a
few copper ornaments such as beads, rings and bracelets and these were prestige items to

*
See figure 1 for a map of all sites referenced in this paper.
indicate rank. Copper was not used for any functional purpose at this time, and all copper
came from Balkanic and Transylvanian sources (Kalicz and Raczky, 1987). As the
need and desire for durable metal objects arose in the ECA, the technology of metal
production was developed in the Balkan regionit was not a technology brought by
cultural diffusion from the more advanced people of the Near East (J ovanovi_ (b) 1978).
The end of the Hungarian Neolithic created this need for more durable tools. The
warm weather caused the soil to dry and harden, making cultivation of the alluvial soils
difficult (Banffy, 1994). This change was met with new ways of life and new tools for
production. Animal farming became more important, gradually replacing agriculture,
and stronger materials were sought after to replace the Neolithic stone tools and make
cultivation easier. Copper was this new tool. Although most objects remained to be
small and only ornamental though out most of the Carpathian Basin during Phase A of
the Early Copper Age (ECA), there were some copper hammer-axes found in this phase
in Bulgaria. These hammer-axes become more popular in the Carpathian Basin and in
Serbia during Phase B of ECA (Bognr-Kutzian, 1972). During this later phase stronger
and more robust versions of the hammer-axe and axe-adze appear and the tools become
more functional.
Where is the copper coming from?
The desire for this new material was met with many obstacles. The most obvious
of which is the need for a new technology to harness the new material and form it into
usable objects. A less obvious obstacle is the environment of much of the Carpathian
Basin. The Hungarian Plain is essentially devoid of stone material because it consists of
approximately 50m of alluvial fill covering the bedrock. Stone was brought to the central
regions of the plain through trade routes, but the shortage of good stone material caused
the Tiszapolgr people to recycle the stone they had for as long as possible. In the hilly
regions on the outskirts of the Hungarian Plain, it is quite possible that people would
discover that a material found near the few stone sources or ore sources would bend and
deform when beaten rather than flake as expected. This could lead to the use of native
copper for tools, and it became a desirable alternative because of the ease with which
these tools could now be repaired and reformed as they are damagedpreviously,
damaged stone tools would have to be retouched into smaller instruments that could not
perform the same task. Most copper objects from the Tiszapolgr region were these cold
hammered native copper objects (Bognr-Kutzian, 1972).
As the native copper sources were gradually used up, it is possible that people
would turn to the rocks near these sources: the oxide and carbonate ores such as Cuprite,
Malachite and Azurite. These ores that were used for pigments on ceramics may have
been heated in an oxidizing environment; the ore coating would leave a black residue and
not the brilliant green or blue that the manufacturer expected, but may also create slag
and small amounts of copper (Tylecote, 1976). The surface deposits of these ores were
gradually used up, and people were forced to look for them in mines, at which point they
could apply the same extraction techniques used for many years prior with flint mining to
retrieve copper ore (Muhly, 1973).
This retrieval can be an involved process, but because it uses a similar technique
as with flint mining, it was not a new skill for the local cultures to master. At the earliest
mines, tools have been found which would be used to extract copper ore from the veins in
the rock. Usually these were stone and bone tools, for copper implements were not yet
durable enough for the mining processes used. Many shafts would be exploited using
different designs of hammers and mauls. After this ore is extracted, it would then go to
nearby settlements to be processed and perhaps smelted (J ovanovi_ (c), 1978).
The mines from which much of the copper came were not in the hilly region
immediately adjacent to the Great Hungarian Plain, and in fact the majority of the
Tiszapolgr culture had little direct access to raw materials; however, minerals did come
from the nearby mountains of Mtra, Bkk, Zempln, Slovak, Transylvanian, Rz, Bihor,
Ruszka, Semenic and the Serbian Ore Mountain (Bognr-Kutzian, 1972). The largest
and earliest mines in the Balkans, are Rudna Glava and Ai-Bunar. Very little research
has been done on these other smaller mines in the Balkans, but this is also because most
of the best small mines would be completely exploited leaving only mining equipment
for archaeologist to find, and no traces of the ore that was sought after. Many times there
would be no material culture left behind to provide a date for the use of the mine. This is
the case with shafts found at Mali Sturac on Mt. Rudnik northwest of the Vin_a
settlement of Divostin. The lack of pottery associated with them prevents any dating
(Glumac, 1988).
Excellent dates have been determined for the mine Rudna Glava located in east
former Yugoslavia and northeast Serbia. It is dated to the Plo_nik phase of the Vin_a
culture by the presence of pottery at the site, which places its first use at the beginning of
the Early Copper Age (the middle or second half of the 4
th
millennium BC) (J ovanovi_
(c), 1978). The vessels found at the mine and the tools found in some of the shafts in
addition to a zoomorphic figurine are some of the only material culture remains. There is
no evidence of ore processing or smelting near this mine or near Ai-Bunar in the Stara
Zargora region of Bulgaria (Glumac and Tringham, 1990).
Ai-Bunar was used towards the end of the Early Copper Age, and is associated
with the Karanovo VI period of the Gumelnitsa culture. This mine was much more
extensive than Rudna Glava in terms of the numerous shafts and surrounding settlements,
which contain many fragments of copper ore retrieved from the mine. The mine itself, as
with Rudna Glava, follows a series of hydrothermal deposits of ore, and consists of a
network of veins and lenses of ore in a limestone and dolomite matrix (_ernych, 1978).
Sulphide and iron ores were deliberately left behind in the prehistoric mines
indicating a conscious choice and selection of raw material. Unfortunately, most mines
have either been destroyed by later mining activities, or there is a lack of evidence for
contemporaneous settlements or smelting centers near the mines, both of which prevent
any means for studying the social aspects of mining and distribution of the raw material
(Glumac, 1988). At later mining sites during the Bronze Age and even Late Copper Age,
there is evidence for designated areas near the mines (not at the settlements), which are
used to crush and sort the ore as it is retrieved from the mine (Glumac, 1988).
Where is this copper going?
As this ore is retrieved from the mines on the edges of the Great Hungarian Plain,
it was distributed to the surrounding cultures in the Carpathian Basin via waterways and
existing trade routes that were used during the Neolithic Age for trade of stone and other
raw material. Stone was not as difficult to obtain as was copper, simply because this was
a commodity that had already been extensively traded during the Neolithic Age and the
exchange systems were well established (Bognr-Kutzian, 1972). Copper was harder to
obtain because it was so valuable. Often times the central settlements (barren of their
own raw materials) would not have any objects of adequate value to trade for the copper,
and this explains coppers rarity towards the center of the plain. The copper objects that
do appear in the middle of the plain are objects that do not require large amounts of
copper to create. One copper hammer-axeas those found in association with the
Lucska (northern plain) or Deszk (southern plain) groups of the Tiszapolgr
culturecontains more copper than that used to make all of the ornaments contained in
the graves at Basatanya (central plain) (Bognr-Kutzian 1972).
These small ornaments, usually found in the graves, are present in all four of the
Tiszapolgr groups. These objects are only decorative and serve little function aside
from perhaps an indication of rank or prestige. Usually the men are the only ones
wearing copper bracelets (although there are exceptions such as a burial at
Hdmez_vsrhely-Npkert where a female buried with very many grave goods is also
wearing a bracelet). The female and child burials tend to include copper beads, necklaces
and rings. There are also many burials (in the same cemeteries), which contain no copper
at all. This lack of copper in many of the graves could be an indication of the status of
the occupants (Bognr-Kutzian, 1972).
Renfrew suggests that the distinction between metal objects found in some graves
and not others at the cemetery at Varna indicates the presence of a stratified society. He
also makes the connection that with this increasingly valuable material, it is easier to
indicate and establish social classes (Renfrew, 1978). However, the absence of copper at
some burials associated with the Tiszapolgr is not entirely reliable because over half of
the sites looked at by Bognr-Kutzian (1972) were rescue digs and many of the graves
were completely destroyed before excavation. Also, because they were rescue digs, in
many cases the objects found have no cultural context. We merely know that the objects
were associated with the site. However, we can see that most of the objects found in
burials are decorative (there were only a few hammer-axes and axe-adzes in the burials).
The presence of hammer-axes and axe-adzes is rare with the Tiszapolgr culture,
but there are a few cases where axes were found as part of a cultural settlement (for
example, at Apagy-Nagysziget). However, copper hammer-axes only appear in sites that
belong to the Lucska and Deszk groups because, as mentioned, these have a more
adequate source of large amounts of copper (Bognr-Kutzian, 1972).
Most objects associated with the Tiszapolgr are assumed to be native copper, but
one grave at the Tiszapolgr-Hajdnns Road site contained evidence of smelting. A
male burial contained a crucible-like vessel covered with blue verdigris and with two
small copper crumbs (Bognr-Kutzian, 1972). Also, at Tibava there was a crucible-like
vessel found in a grave. These indicate the presence of a small scale smelting
technology, but the surrounding cultures show evidence of larger degrees of production.
The evidence for smelting is more common among some sites not associated with the
Tiszapolgr. These other cultures were also closer to the mine sources, so it is a
possibility that smelting occurred near the mines and cold hammering and annealing
occurred at the sites to which this extracted copper was traded.
One such site closer to the mine sources is in Serbia: Divostin is a site that shows
evidence of copper use during the Plo_nik Phase of the Vin_a culture during the ECA.
There were many small fragments (less than or equal to 1cm in the largest dimension)
of copper carbonate minerals. These pieces of azurite and malachite were most likely
used for pigments and jewelry. Other sites in Serbia from the Plo_nik phase of the Vin_a
culture contain these minerals, as well as slag and crucibles with metal objects, which
indicate early smelting of these ores (Glumac, 1988). Selevac in former Yugoslavia is
another Vin_a site, which contains evidence for smelting (Glumac and Tringham, 1990).
Smelting was also occurring with the Gumelnitsa and Varna cultures, and some of
the sites associated with these cultures were even beginning to develop more intricate
methods of smelting to obtain copper from sulphide ores (Ryndina, 1999).
The Technology
Initially, people would only be using native copper beaten into a desirable shape.
Soon, the process of annealing (heating the metal at low temperatures periodically while
working the material) the copper would be developed to allow an even more malleable
material. Moving away from native copper and towards copper ore, an entirely different
technology is necessary to obtain copper metal.
The technology of smelting is not a very complicated one, especially during the
ECA in the Balkans. It is a process of heating an ore to extract the metal contained
within it. The copper carbonate and copper oxide ores are the simplest to smelt because
the copper only needs to be separated from oxygen and when heated with something like
charcoal, the oxygen in the ore will combine with the carbon provided by the fuel source
to create copper and carbon dioxide (2Cu
2
O+C 4Cu+CO
2
) (Ryndina, 1999).
Usually, the heat is applied from above. Early methods involve a crucible
positioned in a small hearth or depression in the earth. Fuel (generally charcoal) is piled
on top of the crushed ore contained in the crucible there-by creating a heat source
adjacent to the ore that does not have to filter through the ceramic (see figure 2). This set
up was used to create hotter temperatures near the ore, and because often the vessels
would not withstand very high temperatures. Also to overcome the limitations on heat
applied to the vessel, many times they were made thicker, or even made very porous with
the addition of chaff as a temper. The increased porosity of the crucibles allowed them to
withstand higher temperatures by limiting heat transfer through the walls, but this also
makes the fabric very weak (Tylecote, 1982).
Early smelting was generally an incomplete process and as the alkali in the fuel
ash interacted with the silicates in the ceramic material, a liquid slag would be created.
This slag is mostly composed of silica in which copper cannot dissolve. This allows the
heavier copper to congregate and settle to the bottom in little prills. The slag solidifies
and the copper prills are then removed by hand after crushing the slag (Glumac, 1988 and
Tylecote, 1976).
Slag is a general term applied to vitrified, porous material. Glumac describes four
classes of slag: natural slag (i.e. obsidian), domestic slag (i.e. burned daub), non-
metallurgical slag (as from clay bricks or ceramic vessels) and metallurgical slag.
Metallurgical slag is, of course, the only type, which would indicate smelting activity.
These generally have a higher specific gravity and contain inclusions of copper prills and
also sometimes contain corrosion products of the metal that was melted or smelted within
the crucible (Glumac and Tringham, 1990). Metallurgical slag is a ferrous silicate with
very little copper. Many times slag that contains corroded copper is assumed to be a
smelting slag, but if they do not also contain iron silicates it is very unlikely that they
came from crucibles used for smelting and more likely they were used for just melting
copper. This is true because, even in early metallurgy in the Balkans, many times iron
was used as a flux to increase the extractive efficiency of the smelting process by creating
a desirable ratio of ore to silicate material (in which copper will not dissolve and can be
separated from) (Tylecote, 1976). The addition of this flux would also reduce the melting
point of the ore (Lambert 1997). It was determined by J ovanovi_ (1982) that a ratio of
two parts of iron oxide to one part of ore (by weight) would give a good slag, and
examples of this good slag were found at Selevac.
As it became more developed, the skill of smelting was probably not learnt by
everyone in the settlements where it was conducted. It is suggested that the process of
building a furnace, choosing the ore, preparing the fuel and then actually smelting the ore
would be surrounded with a number of taboos to emphasize the magic of heating rocks to
create a shiny and strong, malleable material. In this case smelting would become a
specialized craft (Glumac, 1988). However it is likely that early smelting was not at this
level of intricacy and not frequent enough to require a person of the settlement to devote
his time to this trade, except maybe in the settlements near the major mines. The
strongest argument for the presence of a large scale smelting technology (and not merely
a melting and annealing technology) is the large quantity of copper ore being extracted
from the mines of Rudna Glava and Ai-Bunar. If only small scale smelting was
occurring, there would be no need to extract this large amount of copper ore (J ovanovi_
(c), 1978).
The evidence left behind
There are numerous pieces of evidence that can indicate the employment of this
technology. Not only the presence of metal objects, but the presence of the
aforementioned metallurgical slag, large quantities of copper ore, and the mines will give
reason to suspect copper production.
At Selevac, 38% of the metal found were fragments smaller than 1mm
3
and were
retrieved through fine screening. The minerals were found with the use of streak plates,
and a few of the mineral fragments were still attached to clumps of the gangue, parent
rock, with which the ore fragments were associated. At Selevac there were very few
metal objects found, and the evidence for metallurgical technology present at this site is
almost entirely from the mineral fragments and slagged crucibles. Slag is a very durable
waste product and is trash in the eyes of a smelter, where as metal objects are valuable
and easily recycled and therefore not likely to be left behind except in graves. Even
though crucible smelting often involved very pure ores and therefore relatively low
temperatures, some slag would be created. This means that if smelting is being done at a
site, it is very likely that some evidence will appear in the archaeological record. Even
with crucible smelting (rather than furnace or kiln smelting) small amounts of slag would
be deposited around the site, but this small amount of slag may be easily missed in a
rescue excavation. Also at Selevac, although there are many copper pieces reported,
most of these pieces are ore fragments, and only a few pieces of actual metallic copper
were found. One of these was a bead and the others were only very small fragments from
the smelting process (Glumac and Tringham, 1990).
The only other Vin_a-Plo_nik sites, which contain any metallurgical material at
all are Gornja Tuzla, and the Lengyel culture settlement of Zengovarkony in southwest
Hungary. Larger production sites, where furnaces and kilns are found, are generally not
associated with the Vin_a-Plo_nik culture, but have been found at the contemporary sites
of the Gumelnitsa and Varna cultures in the lower Danube basin. These cultures also
used copper sulphide ores, which involves a more complicated process for successful
smelting (Glumac and Tringham, 1990 and Ryndina, 1999).
Sourcing
Often, even just the metal artifacts can tell a lot about the process used by a
culture to obtain the material. Sourcing techniques can be used to determine where the
copper was traded from, and simple observations can even tell whether it was obtained
from a smelted or native source. The mines have distinct trace element signatures, and
depending on whether there were nearby deposits of iron oxides or lead oxides, there
would be trace amounts of these elements in the smelted copper. Therefore trace element
analyses involve looking at the relative amounts of arsenic, nickel, lead, antimony, and
sometimes iron. Theoretically, this works well for native copper as its composition is
often dependent on the deposit in which it occurs, but usually native copper is very pure
and so most assume that very pure copper objects are made from native copper.
Not all mines have been extensively studied to provide information on the trace
elements present, and so it is sometimes very difficult to source ores. Unless the ore
sources have been studied to determine fingerprinting techniques for that mine, one
cannot definitively say that material comes from that mine (Chapman and Tylecote,
1983).
Another method is lead isotope analysis. This exploits the well-understood
principal of radioactive decay. In some areas, there will be a different abundance of lead
isotopes because differing amounts of parent elements were initially present in the
environment in different areas. The lead isotope analyses can be very helpful when
studying objects from a large sample size, however, J ovanovi_ points out that large
anomalies in the area of the source material cause difficulties in determining the province
of the metal ore. As with Rudna Glava, some of the shafts show very different lead
isotopic abundance ratios when analyzed initially and then studied again at a later date.
This is explained by the presence of Uranium and Thorium still in the sample. The
radioactivity of these elements would change the abundance of lead. However, if
samples with radioactive elements are avoided when looking for ore sources, then lead
isotopic analysis can be quite useful in sourcing copper ore (Ottaway, 2001).
It is also relatively easy to distinguish between native copper objects and smelted
objects as long as the native copper is not melted. Even if the native copper is annealed,
a distinction can be made because native copper is very heterogeneous and often contains
very small deposits of gangue. Annealing the copper causes the removal of dislocations
and other defects by increasing grain size and the reorganization of the molecules into a
state of higher equilibrium; where as cold hammered native copper causes the material to
become very brittle after being worked extensively. This is due to the smaller grains and
numerous defects in the material. In both cases, the composition is not changed.
However, melted native copper will yield a very pure copper artifact of
homogenous composition because the gangue deposits float out. Melting also causes a
drastically reduced hardness (in one study the hardness dropped from 84 to 37HV after
being melted [Tylecote, 1976]). After the native copper is melted it can be easily
confused with copper smelted from a very pure ore, and one must then look for evidence
of smelting to determine the history of the object.
Smelted copper is usually not entirely pure, and the metal will include many other
trace elements. One good indication of smelting is the presence of elemental lead in the
metal. Lead does not occur in nature as a free metal and would only be present in its
elemental form if smelted (Lambert, 1997).
What does it mean?
Vszt_ 20 is located in the central region of the Great Hungarian Plain in the area
of the Basatanya group of the Tiszapolgr culture (Bognr-Kutzian, 1972). In three years
of excavation the site has yielded three copper objects: a ring from the 2001 excavation
season, and a triangular disc and an awl from the 2002 excavation season. There are also
many pieces of domestic slag (Glumac and Tringham, 1990) found mainly in Block
two, but occasionally in block three.
The small amount of copper is not at all surprising for the area in which this site
lies. At this site we have also seen that some of the recovered stone tools are flaked from
rock that is normally used for ground-stone material and not ideal for flaked tools.
However, it is used for flaked tools because of the shortage of raw materials. Copper
would be even harder to obtain in this area, and it was probably native copper, and not
pure ores, which could be smelted (Bognr-Kutzian, 1972).
It is not likely that the Tiszapolgr at Vszt_ 20 would go to the trouble of
developing a smelting technology for many reasons. The most obvious of which being
that very small amounts of copper would come to them, and all of which was probably
native copper. When examining the finds, this seems to hold true. The triangular disc
found in block two during the 2002 field season has many macroscopic cracks
propagating from the outer edge. These numerous cracks could very likely be indicative
of cold hammering with out annealing. Also, all of the slag found is very lightweight,
and usually connected to less burned pieces of daub. The conclusion is drawn that this
slag was created when the houses at Vszt_ 20 were burned, and not created by smelting.
If any other copper fragments, such as those found at Selevac were at our site to
indicate smelting, it is likely that we would have not seen them. At Vszt_ 20 we are
sifting back-fill with 5mm diameter screens, and we would not catch copper pieces
smaller than this except in the heavy fraction of floatation samples. The floatation
samples are taken from all cultural layers as random samplings, and would likely contain
some of the copper pieces if they were present; however the heavy fraction has not yet
been examined. It seems that this method will be adequate for this site, for, as suggested
above, the possibility of smelting is highly unlikely. Instead, the focus of this site in
terms of copper use should be on the presence of objects, and perhaps the source of these
objects.
At the nearby Tell, Vszt_-Magor, there were also only three copper objects
found in the ECA occupation, and these were all associated with the burials (Hegedus
and Makkay, 1987). This association with burials is very common for copper material
because of its extreme value. It is an item of prestige. If burials are discovered at Vszt_
20 it will be interesting to note which, if any, graves contain copper ornaments (i.e. do
only the male graves contain bracelets as with most other Tiszapolgr graves?).
Also, any copper objects found (including those already mentioned) should be
studied to determine the nature of their source material if not their source mine. Studying
a polished and etched portion of the material would allow us to better decide whether it is
a product of native copper, which has been cold hammered. Also, elemental analysis
could tell us if the objects were actually smelted and perhaps just beaten into shape
numerous times after they were traded to the site. If they were smelted, lead isotope
analysis could give us an idea of where the material was being traded from, and it would
be useful to also source the material from Vszt_-Magor. However, if these sites both
receive their material from the same source, it could mean that they are both part of the
same trade route and not that the copper at Vszt_ 20 is necessarily distributed from
Vszt_-Magor, especially since there was so little found at the Tell site as well.
Simply the presence of copper at this site confirms that copper was brought to the
central plain region, probably along existing trade routes used during the Neolithic Age.
It also tells us that there were objects at Vszt_ 20, which were valuable enough to be
accepted in exchange for small amounts of copper, and the people living at Vszt_ 20
decided that the small amount of copper obtained was desirable enough to give up other
valuable possessions.
The technology of smelting was beyond that of the people at Vszt_ 20, but they
were obtaining and using copper along with the people of many other sites in the central
region of the plain, the questions now are, where exactly did their copper come from,
were these trade routes drastically different from those present during the Neolithic, what
were they trading in exchange for this valuable commodity, and what more were they
using it for. Unfortunately, these questions will be difficult to answer with the limited
number of objects found thus far, and they cannot be answered by looking only at Vszt_
20. Fortunately, however, Vszt_ 20 has proven to be a much more intricate site than
originally thought. The discovery of the wall trenches in Block 2, the fortification ditches
surrounding the site, and the possible trash structure in Block 3, as well as many more
lithics and bone tools will provide for an exciting 2003 excavation season.
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