The Chrysokamino Metallurgy Workshop and Its Territory

Philip P. Betancourt, Eleni Armpis

ASCSA, 2006 - History - 462 pages

This detailed report describes archaeological fieldwork conducted between 1995 and 1997 in rural northeast Crete. Excavations were made in two locations: a metallurgy workshop (abandoned in EM III) and a nearby rural habitation site, perhaps a farmhouse (used until LM III). An intensive survey of the vicinity revealed other activities in the area from the Early Neolithic onwards, and placed the sites in a micro-regional context. A publication of the Minoan farmhouse will appear subsequently, but this volume stands on its own as both an overview of the project and as a detailed study of the copper smelting workshop.

Contents

• INTRODUCTION: 3
• THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT: 19
• THE EXCAVATION OF THE METALLURGY WORKSHOP: 47
• THE APSIDAL STRUCTURE: 55
• THE POTTERY: 67
• THE STONE TOOLS: 99
• THE FURNACE CHIMNEY FRAGMENTS: 109
• THE POT BELLOWS: 125
• MISCELLANEOUS CERAMIC ARTIFACTS: 133
• OTHER METALLURGICAL MATERIALS: 137
• FAUNAL REMAINS: 149
• EVIDENCE FOR THE USE OF THRESHING REMAINS AT THE EARLY MINOAN METALLURGICAL WORKSHOP: 153
• CHRYSOKAMINO IN THE HISTORY OF EARLY METALLURGY: 155
• DISCUSSION OF THE WORKSHOP AND RECONSTRUCTION OF THE SMELTING PRACTICES: 179
• INTRODUCTION TO THE SURFACE SURVEY: 193
• TOPOGRAPHY OF THE CHRYSOKAMINO REGION: 197
• A SUMMARY OF THE HABITATION SITE AT CHRYSOKAMINOCHOMATAS: 205
• EDITH HALLS EXCAVATIONS IN THE THERIOSPELIO CAVE: 215
• CHRYSOKAMINO IN CONTEXT A REGIONAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY: 221
• THE GEOGRAPHIC BOUNDARIES OF THE CHRYSOKAMINO FARMSTEAD TERRITORY: 233
• LAND USE ON THE CHRYSOKAMINO FAMRSTEAD: 241
• SURVEY CONCLUSIONS: 257
• PETROGRAPHY AND XRAY DIFFRACTION ANALYSES OF SLAGS AND FURNACE CHIMNEYS: 281
• SEMEDAX ANALYSIS: 293
• LEAD ISOTOPE AND CHEMICAL ANALYSES OF SLAGS FROM CHRYSOKAMINO: 299
• ARSENIC CONTENT OF COPPER PRILLS A STUDY APPLYING PIXE: 321
• SLAG ANALYSES BY WAVELENGTH DISPERSIVE SPECTROMETRY: 325
• RECONSTRUCTION OF THE COPPER SMELTING PROCESS AT CHRYSOKAMINO BASED ON THE ANALYSIS OF ORE AND SLAG SAMPL...: 329
• REGISTER OF ANTHROPOGENIC FEATURES: 355
• THE MINOAN POTTERY FROM THE SURVEY: 377
• EVIDENCE FOR BEEKEEPING: 391
• THE BYZANTINE OF OTTOMAN POTTERY FROM THE SURVEY: 393
• THE EXCAVATION OF CAVE AF 9 AND TERRACE AF 22b: 399
• SOILS AND SEDIMENTS FROM NATURAL DEPOSITS AT CHRYSOKAMINO: 403
• ORGANIC RESIDUE ANALYSIS OF POTTERY SHERDS FROM CHRYSOKAMINO: 413
• PETROHRAPHIC ANALYSIS OF TWO FINAL NEOLITHIC SHREDS FROM THE CHRYSOKAMINO METALLURGY LOCATION: 429
• References: 433
• Index: 457

About the author

Philip P. Betancourt is Laura H. Carnell Professor of Archaeology and Art History at Temple University.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Chrysokamino Metallurgy Workshop and Its Territory; Volume 36 of Hesperia (Princeton, N.J.).: Supplement; Volume 36 of Hesperia Supplement, ISSN 1064-1173; Hesperia. 36
• Authors: Philip P. Betancourt, Eleni Armpis
• Contributor: American School of Classical Studies at Athens
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: ASCSA, 2006
• ISBN: 0876615361, 9780876615362
• Length: 462 pages
• Subjects: History / Ancient / Greece; Social Science / Archaeology