Mid fourth-millennium copper mining in Liguria, north-west Italy: the earliest known copper mines in Western Europe.

Maggi, Roberto ; Pearce, Mark

Introduction

Our understanding of the origins of copper metallurgy in Europe has developed somewhat since Renfrew (1969, 1970: 306-8, figure 10) posited independent origins for copper working in the Balkans and in the Iberian Peninsula. One key issue that has emerged is the distinction between the circulation of copper artefacts, what Skeates (1994) has defined as the 'early metal-using horizon', and the actual mining of copper ores for the manufacture of artefacts. Thus small numbers of metal artefacts already occur in Italian late Neolithic contexts: for example, an awl found in the Atone Candide cave (Finale Ligure, Savona province) may be dated to 4000 cal BC or earlier and seems to be made of native copper (Campana & Franceschi 1997).

Evidence for prehistoric copper mining was reported in the nineteenth century at a number of sites in Liguria, north-west Italy, notably by the geologist and pioneer of prehistoric research, Issel (1879, 1892: 4-6). In this paper we present twelve new radiocarbon dates obtained from recent excavations carried out by an international team at one of these--the copper mines at Monte Loreto (Castiglione Chiavarese, Genoa province) (see Table 1). The dates, obtained mostly from young-wood charcoal, document actual copper extraction (rather than just metal use) from around 3500 cal BC, making these the earliest copper mines discovered in Western Europe so far. Our excavations at Monte Loreto have documented prehistoric mines and ore-dressing facilities in various locations on the slopes of the mountain, and evidence has also been found of Byzantine activity. These new dates complement and confirm those obtained previously on material recovered in the nineteenth century at copper mines at Libiola (Sestri Levante, Genoa province) where prehistoric mining is attested in the second half of the fourth millennium cal BC.

Monte Loreto

Copper was still being produced from deposits at Monte Loreto (Figure 1, no. 2) in the late nineteenth century, but production quickly declined after the 1920s. The current archaeological investigations which began in 1996 are conducted by the Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici della Liguria (RM) and the University of Nottingham (MP), with the collaboration of cavers from the Centro Studi Sotterranei (Genoa) and the University of Nottingham School of Geography. The excavations are sited on the south-eastern slopes of the Monte Loreto, along a series of copper veins at the contact between the basalt and an outcrop of serpentinite breccia, close to the village of Masso. Much of the mountainside shows evidence for mining, but excavation has concentrated on two areas: the first is where prehistoric miners have emptied natural fissures of copper ore, the second is primarily an ore treatment area. Other trenches have been opened in various points across the copper outcrop, as field survey and our growing ability to recognise ancient workings have progressed.

[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]

Various features of prehistoric mining techniques have been recognised. Ore-bearing fissures in the friable country rock (the rock surrounding the ore) were excavated and backfilled by the miners, leaving deposits of datable charcoal. In many cases the ore was extracted leaving the country rock in place, and the fissures are sometimes very narrow, 0.3 or 0.4m at most. A complete 3.75 m section was obtained in 1998 in one of these prehistoric mines. The section was cleaned in three steps for safety reasons (Figure 2): the positions of a hammer stone, a trampled work floor (probably a temporary platform during the backfilling operations) and a [sup.14]C-dated charcoal sample are all indicated. A radiocarbon determination of 4240 [+ or -] 60 BP (see Table 1: T5) was obtained from charcoal found at this point in the section. Charcoal samples from other trenches have yielded similar dates (T10, within another fissure, 4090 [+ or -] 60 BP; T8, a succession of layers of chalcopyrite-rich ore-processing debris, 4710 [+ or -] 40 BP, 4090 [+ or -] 50 BP and 4000 [+ or -] 40 BP).

[FIGURE 2 OMITTED]

The other excavated area (ML6) is about 150 m higher up the mountainside, where field survey located a surface scatter of hammer stones. This c. 170 [m.sup.2] area has provided evidence for two separate phases of use. The most recent of these may be dated to the Byzantine or early medieval period, whilst the earlier phase is prehistoric in date and has provided evidence for large-scale ore-processing infrastructures.

A mineshaft (Figure 3) situated on a fault was excavated in antiquity to 2m in depth, and its sides show notches cut as rough hand- and footholds for the ancient miners. Charcoal from the work floor from which this shaft was dug gave a date of 4720 [+ or -] 60 BP, which calibrating at two standard deviations to 3645-3355 cal BC is our earliest date at Monte Loreto (see Table 1). Next to this shaft is a series of dumps of graded and sorted mining debris, mostly consisting of country rock and gangue (Figure 4). Some of these dumps contain large fragments of country rock mixed with broken and use-worn hammer stones. Other dumps, often interleaved with them, contain finer grade material, and are probably the result of ore-beneficiation, to get rid of useless country rock and gangue. This would have had to be carried out without the aid of water, as the nearest springs and watercourses are at some distance below the site.

[FIGURES 3-4 OMITTED]

In these dumps and alongside them is a sequence of surfaces, some horizontal, some inclined, which have a compacted ore matrix. These may be interpreted as temporary work floors, which were used for the cold treatment of ore--grinding and sieving--and perhaps low-temperature roasting. No evidence for tuyeres or crucibles has been found. Indeed no evidence at all for prehistoric smelting has yet been found on Monte Loreto.

There was also a series of more organised structures, with hearths, post-holes and low dry-stone walls. Charcoal from four of the work floors has been radiocarbon determined, and all the determinations were Copper Age in date: 4280 [+ or -] 40, 4170 [+ or -] 60, 4030 [+ or -] 40 BP and 4000 [+ or -] 60 BP (uncal. see Table 1).

The hammer stones (Figure 5) are in basalt, dolerite, gabbro, sandstone and diorite, some of which are sourced some kilometres from the site. They are notched or single or double-grooved for hafting (L. Cortesogno & L Gaggero, personal communication; De Pascale 2004). These same particularly hard rock types were also used for hammer stones at the contemporary jasper quarries in the Valle Lagorara (see below). One of the dumps overlay a wide hollow, about 6m long, 3m wide and 1.5m deep, which was probably dug to work a diffuse ore-body. A nearby layer, which had built up during the prehistoric excavation of this trench mine, and was therefore probably in part debris from it, has given us a radiocarbon date of 4600 [+ or -] 80 BE The debris in this layer consists of heat-altered rock, and, as well as fragments of gossans there is much charcoal, suggesting the use of fire setting. The trench mine was overlain by a layer dated to 3980 [+ or -] 50 BP.

[FIGURE 5 OMITTED]

The Byzantine phase of use of ML6, documented by a series of dry-stone structures, also seems to be metallurgical, though it is not yet clear whether the interest was the copper or the iron ores left behind by the Copper Age miners (Benente 1999).

As with any site, it would be a mistake to consider the mines at Monte Loreto in isolation, so it is necessary to briefly sketch the context to the site.

Libiola

Evidence for ancient mining of the copper deposits at the nearby Libiola copper mine, situated near Sestri Levante, in Genoa province (Figure 1, no. 1) was first noted by Brown (1876: 6-7). Issel (1879, 1892: 6, 27-8) reported the discovery of prehistoric artefacts during nineteenth-century mining work, mentioning wooden wedges, a shovel, an oak pick-handle and stone hammers found in a narrow, man-made, tunnel. Recently the oak pick-handle has been dated by radiocarbon determination at two laboratories (Maggi & Del Lucchese 1989: 336-8; Campana et al. 1996b: 16-22) (see Table 1). The mean of the two determinations gives a calibrated age at two standard deviations of between 3490 and 3120, so that we can safely say that the ancient mine discovered in the nineteenth century at Libiola can be dated to the early Copper Age, in the second half of the fourth millennium cal BC (see Figure 6).

[FIGURE 6 OMITTED]

Unfortunately, commercial mining continued at Libiola until well after the Second World War, with extensive open casting, so that although former galleries and shafts can be clearly identified in the faces of the open-cast pits, it is very difficult to reconstruct the history of mining at Libiola or to investigate what seem to be the older features. However, fieldwork carried out in collaboration with colleagues from the University of Nottingham School of Geography has been able to identify the area of the mine where the prehistoric implements were found by Issel in the nineteenth century (McCullagh & Pearce 2004).

Val Frascarese

On the other side of the Petronio valley, to the north of the copper mines, is the Val Frascarese, which has limestone outcrops that are highly visible from Monte Loreto (Figure 1, no. 3). Within two of these outcrops are cave systems. The Tana delle Fate (or 'fairies' den') was used in the Neolithic and Copper Ages (Maggi & Vignolo 1984), whilst the cave of the Prima Ciappa ('first slab') was used for collective burial over a long period in the Copper Age (Maggi & Formicola 1978; Campana et al. 1996a). A series of five radiocarbon dates have been obtained from human bones found in the cave (see Table 1, cf. Figure 6). Two copper objects from the cave--a needle and a dagger--may very well have been made of copper from the Monte Loreto mines.

Valle Lagorara

In the nearby Vara valley lies the jasper quarry of the Valle Lagorara (Figure 1, no. 4; Maggi et al. 1995, 1996; Campana & Maggi 2002). It provided bifacial stone preforms for much of what is now Liguria and radiocarbon dates show that the main period of activity at the site was from the mid fourth to the mid third millennium cal BC, comparable in date to copper mining at Libiola and Monte Loreto.

Radiocarbon dates

Figure 6 shows the twelve radiocarbon dates so far obtained from Monte Loreto, together with the five dates obtained from the collective cave burial in the Val Frascarese and the two dates obtained for the pick-handle from the prehistoric mine at Libiola. We have shown both 1-sigma (boxes) and 2-sigma (whisker plots) calibrations for each determination. Calibration for all of these was effected using the Pretoria calibration procedure (Talma & Vogel 1993; Vogel et al. 1993; Stuiver et al. 1998), on the advice of Beta Analytic, the laboratory which carried out the Monte Loreto determinations (Ron Hatfield, personal communication). Two determinations were carried out--by different laboratories--on the Libiola handle, and we have also shown, on the far right, the calibration of the weighted mean of the two dates.

This chart suggests that there may be two phases of activity at Monte Loreto. One is around the middle of the fourth millennium--and seems highly likely to be earlier than the mining at Libiola, the earliest known in Italy before the recent excavations at Monte Loreto. The second phase is datable to the first half of the third millennium. The collective cave burials in the Val Frascarese seem to begin in the period between the two phases of mining activity at Monte Loreto, around about 3000 cal BC, continuing until well into the second half of the third millennium.

Discussion

The earliest copper mining on the European continent (Figure 7) is in the Balkans and may be dated generically to the later fifth millennium cal BC: Ai Bunar in Bulgaria (Cernych 1978) seems to be dated to Karanovo V (approximately 4230-4000 cal BC) and Rudna Glava in Serbia (Jovanovic 1979; Jovanovic & Ottaway 1976) to Vina D (approximately 4670-4980 cal BC). Copper mining in Liguria is thus about a millennium later than that in the Balkans.

[FIGURE 7 OMITTED]

To the west, an independent origin is now generally accepted for Iberian metallurgy, with Ruiz-Taboada and Montero-Ruiz (1999) recently publishing a radiocarbon date in the first half of the fifth millennium cal BC for copper smelting at Cerro Virtud in Almeria. Other dates for copper metallurgy in Almeria are in the mid fourth millennium BC, and Rothenberg & Blanco Freijeiro (1980) have claimed late fourth/third millennium BC copper mining at Chinflon (Huelva)--although the interpretation of this latter site is controversial. Liguria faces the Iberian Peninsula across the western Mediterranean and it may be no accident that our earliest evidence so far for copper mining in Italy comes from this region. Indeed it seems that the Copper Age (in a cultural sense, since as we have seen above copper use was not new) begins in Liguria around 3600 cal BC, some 100 years earlier than elsewhere in Northern Italy (Maggi 1998).

It is however possible that copper mining reached northern Italy from the Alpine region, in alternative to a western Mediterranean origin. This hypothesis is supported by various strands of evidence. Fahlore smelting is attested at Brixlegg in the Austrian Tyrol at 3960-3650 cal BC (OXA-7696 5000 [+ or -] 80 BP) and may even date to the later fifth millennium (there are two dates for the Miinchh6fener cultural level in which the metal working is found of 5570 [+ or -] 50 BP (GrN-22167), 4500-4330 cal BC and 5480 [+ or -] 60 BP (GrN-21364), 4460-4160 cal BC) (Huijsmans & Krauss 1998; Bartelheim et al. 2002, 2003). These early dates are confirmed by a radiocarbon determination for copper working at the G6tschenberg, which calibrates at two sigmas to between 3642 and 3356 cal BC (GrN-11410 4720 [+ or -] 60 BP--Lippert 1992: 116), and taken together they document small-scale copper mining in the fourth millennium cal BC in the Eastern Alps, though the actual mines have yet to be found. The date of death of Otzi, the Iceman from the Similaun Glacier famously equipped with a copper axe, falls just a little later, between about 3350 and 3120 cal BC (Barfield 1994: 20). Perhaps the presence at Brixlegg of late Neolithic pottery of the Italian Vasi a Bocca Quadrata Culture, datable to about 4200 BC (Huijsmans & Krauss 1998; cf. Pedrotti 2001: 159), may be explained by the metallurgical activity which is documented there.

Little is known of prehistoric copper mines elsewhere in Italy. In Calabria in the south, twelve granite hammer stones are reported from the Grotta della Monaca (Sant'Agata d'Esaro, Cosenza province), along with mid third millennium cal BC Piano Conte style pottery; it is likely that these instruments were used to mine copper ore (malachite) at this site (Larocca 2001).

Conclusions

The twelve dates from Monte Loreto, mostly obtained from young-wood charcoal, are important because they document the mining of copper ores already around 3500 cal BC, an advance from the earlier phase of copper use in the later Neolithic. They are the oldest dates so far in Western Europe for an actual copper mine, but their location, in the north-west of Italy, may suggest that other such sites may soon be found. They strengthen hypotheses that metal working in northern Italy is of Alpine origin, while also hinting at western connections.

Table 1. Radiocarbon dates mentioned in the text (cf. Figure 6);
calibrations using the Pretoria calibration procedure (Talma &
Vogel 1993; Vogel et al. 1993; Stuiver et al. 1998)

Lab. Code Sample Site context

Monte Loreto

Beta-135159 Arbutus unedo; AMS ML2T10US10
Beta-135162 Quercus ilex; AMS ML3T5US209
Beta-178903 Organic sediment MLTR8US49GS
Beta-135853 n.d.; AMS ML10T8US26
Beta-171344 Erica arborea; AMS ML10T8UUSS2-3

Beta-123150 Acer sp.; AMS ML6US118
Beta-135160 Prunus sp.; AMS ML6US260A
Beta-121444 Quercus sp.; AMS ML6US321A
Beta-121726 n.d.; AMS ML6US330
Beta-135161 Pistacia sp.; AMS ML6US332
Beta-170964 Probably Quercus sp.; AMS ML602US270
Beta-170965 Erica arborea; AMS ML602US427

Val Frascarese

Bln-3386 Human bone Prima Ciappa, Val Frascarese
Grn-14929 Human bone Prima Ciappa, Val Frascarese
Grn-14930 Human bone Prima Ciappa, Val Frascarese
Grn-14928 Human bone Prima Ciappa, Vat Frascarese
GIF-7212 Human bone Prima Ciappa, Val Frascarese

Libiola

GIF-7213 Quercus sp. artefact Libiola
Bln-3367 Quercus sp. artefact Libiola
 Weighted average Libiola

Lab. Code Figure 6 ref. BP date

Monte Loreto

Beta-135159 T10 4090 [+ or -] 60
Beta-135162 T5 4240 [+ or -] 60
Beta-178903 T8 4000 [+ or -] 40
Beta-135853 T8 4090 [+ or -] 50
Beta-171344 T8 4710 [+ or -] 40

Beta-123150 ML6 4720 [+ or -] 60
Beta-135160 ML6 4600 [+ or -] 80
Beta-121444 ML6 4170 [+ or -] 60
Beta-121726 ML6 4280 [+ or -] 40
Beta-135161 ML6 4000 [+ or -] 60
Beta-170964 ML6 3980 [+ or -] 50
Beta-170965 ML6 4030 [+ or -] 40

Val Frascarese

Bln-3386 VF 4340 [+ or -] 60
Grn-14929 VF 4285 [+ or -] 35
Grn-14930 VF 4040 [+ or -] 35
Grn-14928 VF 4010 [+ or -] 60
GIF-7212 VF 3920 [+ or -] 60

Libiola

GIF-7213 Lib 4490 [+ or -] 90
Bln-3367 Lib 4610 [+ or -] 50
 Lib Av 4590 [+ or -] 40

Lab. Code 1 sigma cal BC 2 sigma cal BC

Monte Loreto

Beta-135159 2855-2500 2875-2475
Beta-135162 2900-2770 2925-2645
Beta-178903 2570-2470 2590-2450
Beta-135853 2850-2570 2870-2480
Beta-171344 3620-3380 3630-3370

Beta-123150 3625-3375 3645-3355
Beta-135160 3505-3195 3625-3090
Beta-121444 2880-2610 2900-2575
Beta-121726 2910-2885 2920-2780
Beta-135161 2580-2460 2835-2340
Beta-170964 2565-2460 2590-2340
Beta-170965 2585-2480 2630-2465

Val Frascarese

Bln-3386 3020-2900 3100-2880
Grn-14929 2910-2880 2920-2870
Grn-14930 2590-2490 2830-2470
Grn-14928 2580-2470 2850-2360
GIF-7212 2480-2310 2570-2210

Libiola

GIF-7213 3350-2930 3490-2905
Bln-3367 3494-3342 3510-3120
 3365-3340 3490-3120

Acknowledgements

Thanks are due to Dr John Chapman, Prof. Richard Harrison and Dr Barbara Voytek for their kind advice during the writing of this paper and to Ron Hatfield (Beta Analytic Inc.) for his help with calibration. The project at Monte Loreto has been financially supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Board, the Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici della Liguria, the University of Nottingham, the Molly Cotton Foundation, the Society of Antiquaries, the Comunita montana 'Val Petronio' and the communes of Sestri Levante, Castiglione Chiavarese and Casarza Ligure. The Byzantine phase of the site was excavated by a team led by Fabrizio Benente of the University of Genoa.

References

BARFIELD, L.H. 1994. The Iceman reviewed. Antiquity 68 (258): 10-26.

BARTELHEIM, M., K. ECKSTEIN, M. HUIJSMANS, R. KRAUSS & E. PERNICKA. 2002. Kupferzeitliche Metallgewinnung in Brixlegg, Osterreich, in M. Bartelheim, E. Pernicka & R. Krauss (ed.). Die Anfange der Metallurgie in der Alten Welt: 33-82. Rahden: Leidorf (Forschungen zur Archaometrie und Altertumswissenschaft 1).

--2003. Chalcolithic metal extraction in Brixlegg, Austria. International conference, archaeometallurgy in Europe--Milan, Italy 24-25-26 September 2003 Proceedings, vol. 1: 441-447. Milan: Associazione Italiana di Metallurgia.

BENENTE, F. 1999. GE: Monte Loreto, Archeologia Medievale 26: 219.

BROWN, F.A.Y. 1876. Nozioni storico-statistiche sulla miniera ramifera di Libiola situata nel territorio di S. Vittoria comune di Sestri Levante. Genoa: Tipografia Schenone.

CAMPANA, N. & E. FRANCESCHI. 1997. Analyses of the metal objects, in R. Maggi (ed.). Arene Candide: a functional and environmental assessment of the Holocene sequence (Excavations Bernabo Brea-Cardini 1940-50): 611-21. Rome: Memorie dell'Istituto Italiano di Paleontologia Umana (nuova serie 5).

CAMPANA, N., E. FRANCESCHI, R. MAGGI & Z. STOS GALE. 1996a. Grotticella sepolcrale di Val Frascarese (Genova): nuove analisi dei reperti metallici, in D. Cocchi Genick (ed.). L'antica eta del bronzo: Atti del Congresso di Viareggio, 9-12 Gennaio 1995: 556-7. Florence: Octavo.

CAMPANA, N. & R. MAGGI (ed.). 2002. Archeologia in Valle Lagorara. Diecimila anni di storia intorno a una cava di diaspro. Florence: Istituto Italiano di Preistoria e Protostoria. Origines.

CAMPANA, N., R. MAGGI, Z. STOS GALE & J. HOUGHTON. 1996b. Miniere e metallurgia in Liguria fra IV millennio e IV secolo B.C., in F. Piola Caselli & P. Piana Agostinetti (ed.). La Miniera l'uomo e l'ambiente:m fonti e metodi a confronto per la storia delle attivita minerarie e metallurgiche in Italia, Convegno di Studi--Cassino, 2-4 giugno 1994: 15-52. Florence: All'Insegna del Giglio.

CERNYCH, E.N. 1978. Aibunar--a Balkan copper mine of the fourth millennium BC. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 44: 203-17.

DE PASCALE, A. 2004. "Hammerstones from early copper mines": sintesi dei ritrovamenti nell'Europa e nel Mediterraneo orientale e prime considerazioni sui mazzuoli di Monte Loreto (IV millennio BC--Liguria), Rivista di Studi Liguri 69 (2003): 5-42.

HUIJSMANS, M. & R. KRAUSS. 1998. KG Brixlegg, MG Brixlegg, VB Kufstein. Fundberichte aus Osterreich 37: 713-14.

ISSEL, A. 1879. Sulle tracce di antichissima lavorazione osservate in alcune miniere della Liguria, Rassegna settimanale 3 (70): 348-9.

--1892. Liguria geologica epreistorica, vol. 2. Genoa: Donath (reprinted Bologna: Forni 1993).

JOVANOVIC, B. 1979. The technology of primary copper mining in South-East Europe. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 45: 103-10.

JOVANOV1C, B. & B.S. OTTAWAY. 1976. Copper mining and metallurgy in the Vinca group. Antiquity 50 (198): 104-13.

LAROCCA, F. 2001. Una miniera di eta preistorica in Calabria. La grotta della Monaca di Sant'Agata d'Esaro (Cosenza), L'Universo 81 (1): 59-73.

LIPPERT, A. 1992. Der Gotschenberg bei Bischofshofen. Eine ur- und fruhgeschichtliche Hohensiedlung in Salzachpongau. Vienna: Osterreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften. Mitteilungen der Prahistorischen Kommission der Osterreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 27.

MAGGI, R. 1998. Storia della Liguria fra 3600 e 2300 anni avanti Cristo (l'Eta del Rame), in A. Del Lucchese & R. Maggi (ed.). Dal diaspro al bronzo. L'Eta del Rame e del Bronzo in Liguria: 26 secoli di storia fra 3600 e 1000 anni avanti Cristo: 7-28. La Spezia: Luna Editore. Quaderni della Soprintendenza Archeologica della Liguria 5.

MAGGI, R., N. CAMPANA & F. NEGRINO. 1995. Valle Lagorara: a quarry of radiolarite (jasper) exploited during the Copper and Early Bronze Age, Archeologia Polona 33: 187-208.

MAGGI, R., N. CAMPANA, F. NEGRINO & C. OTTOMANO. 1996. The quarrying and workshop site of Valle Lagorara (Liguria--Italy). Accordia Research Papers 5 (1994): 73-96.

MAGGI, R. & A. DEL LUCCHESE. 1989. Aspects of the Copper Age in Liguria. Rassegna di Archeologia 7 (1988): 331-8.

MAGGI, R. & V. FORMICOLA. 1978. Una grotticella sepolcrale dell'inizio dell'eta del bronzo in Val Frascarese (Genova). Preistoria Alpina 14: 87-113.

MAGGI, R. & M.R. VIGNOLO. 1984. Val Frascarese, Tana delle Fate, in P. Melli (ed.). Archeologia in Liguria II, Scavi e scoperte 1976-81: 81-3. Genoa: Soprintendenza Archeologica della Liguria.

MCCULLAGH, M. & M. PEARCE. 2004. Surveying the prehistoric copper mine at Libiola (Sestri Levante--GE), Italy, in R. Balzaretti, M. Pearce & C. Watkins (ed.). Ligurian landscapes: studies in archaeology, geography and history: 83-95. London: Accordia Research Centre.

PEDROTTI, A. 2001. Il Neolitico, in M. Lanzinger, F. Marzatico & A. Pedrotti (ed.). Storia del Trentino, L Lapreistoria e laprotostoria: 119-81. Bologna: Il Mulino.

RENFREW, C. 1969. The autonomy of the south-east European Copper Age. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 35: 12-47.

--1970. Tree-ring calibration of radiocarbon. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 36:280-311.

ROTHENBERG, B. & A. BLANCO FREIJERO. 1980. Ancient copper mining and smelting at Chinflon (Huelva, S.W. Spain), in P.T. Craddock (ed.). Scientific studies in early mining and extractive metallurgy. 41-62. London: British Museum. Occasional Paper 20.

RUIZ-TABOADA, A. & I. MONTERO-RUIZ. 1999. The oldest metallurgy in western Europe. Antiquity 73 (282): 897-903.

SKEATES, R. 1994. Early metal-use in the central Mediterranean region. Accordia Research Papers 4 (1993): 5-48.

STUIVER, M., P.J. REIMER, E. BARD, J.W. BECK, G.S. BURR, K.A. HUGHEN, B. KROMER, G. McCORMAC, J. VAN DER PLICHT & M. SPURK. 1998. INTCAL98 radiocarbon age calibration, 24,000-0 cal BP. Radiocarbon 40 (3): 1041-83. (M. Stuiver & J. van der Plicht (eds.), INTCAL98: calibration issue.)

TALMA, A.S. & J.C. VOGEL 1993. A simplified approach to calibrating C14 dates, Radiocarbon 35 (2): 317-22.

VOGEL, J.C., E. FULS, E. VISSER & B. BECKER. 1993. Pretoria calibration curve for short-lived samples, 1930-3350 BC. Radiocarbon 35 (1): 73-85.

Received: 10 April 2002; Accepted: 4 April 2004; Revised: 17 February 2004

Roberto Maggi (1) & Mark Pearce (2)

(1) Direzione Regionale per i beni culturali e paesaggistici della Liguria, Via Balbi 10, 16126 Genova, Italy (Email: rmaggi@benicultumli.it)

(2) Department of Archaeology, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG72RD, UK (Email: mark.pearce@nottingham.ac.uk)