Forming bronze by plastic deformation around the 1~(st) millennium BC in Western Europe

摘要

A lack of information about the organization of workshops and the forming processes employed therein is first pointed out. Underlining the use of plastic deformation, some features of the art of ancient craftsmen are presented. Different processes of hammering copper-tin alloys were used for the manufature of thin sheet items. For instance, a vessel can be made either directly, mainly by "sinking", or by shaping several sheet pieces, that are later joined by crimping or by riveting. With a simple mode, it is shown from archaeological examples that the hammering processes involved large strains of around 2. The differences between industrial and ancient alloys, and between metallurgical and archaeometallurgical approaches, are detailed.