Experiments Concerning the Mold Materials Used in the Production of the Copper Ingots from the Late Bronze Age Shipwreck Excavated at Uluburun, Turkey

摘要

Underwater excavations of a Late Bronze Age shipwreck at Uluburun, Turkeyrecovered a combined 475 oxhide and plano-convex discoid copper ingots. While thehoard of ingots excavated at Uluburun brings the total number of copper ingots from theLate Bronze Age to over 1000, interestingly, only one ingot mold from the that periodhas been identified. Scholars have speculated over the means behind the creation ofthese ingots for decades, but with a relative absence of archaeological molds the mostpromising method of reaching any conclusions as to the types of molds used in antiquityseems to be experimentation.Experimental archaeology, has, in recent years been responsible for manybreakthroughs in how the past is viewed. In the face of an overwhelming disparity ofcopper ingot molds from the Late Bronze Age, trials designed around testing differentmold materials and casting techniques have the potential to determine, with relativecertainty, how copper ingots were cast over 3000 years ago. This thesis examines the possible materials used to create copper ingot moldsthrough a study of their prevalence in antiquity and also details experiments in whichthese materials were used, in concert with different casting techniques, to create copperingots. The results of these experiments are combined with analyses of the Uluburuningots in an effort to bring some closure to the debate surrounding copper ingot molds inthe Late Bronze Age.