ARCHAEOMETALLURGY OF TIN BRONZE IN THE DEH DUMEN BRONZE AGE GRAVEYARD, SOUTHWEST OF IRAN

摘要

The recent archaeological excavation in the Deh Dumen Bronze Age graveyard in the Zagros Mountain, southwest of Iran, has led to find various objects including metallic artefacts. Based upon archaeological studies, this graveyard belongs to the Early/Middle Bronze Age (e.g. 3rd Millennium BC). To identify manufacturing process in archaeological metal finds of Deh Dumen, 10 samples from 8 broken vessels were studied and analysed by Scanning Electron Microscopy coupled with Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) and Metallography methods. The results show that all the vessels were made of Cu-Sn alloy with variable amount of tin. On the other hand, arsenical copper is used to make the metallic core of the base of two vessels. The microscopic observations show that the vessels were shaped by cycles of working and heat treatment operations that are obviously apparent from the microstructure including recrystallized and twinned grains. Significant amount of elongated sulphidic inclusions as well as lead globules are visible in the metallic microstructure. In fact, the results show the use of tin bronze alloy in South-western Iran in the Early/Middle Bronze Age and show the development of bronze metallurgy in the 3rd Millennium BC in the southwest of Iran at the Zagros region.