Early Iron Age copper-based funerary items from southern Portugal

Abstract

The recently excavated necropolises of Esfola (Beja) and Monte do Bolor 1/2 (Beja) display a characteristic architecture and distinctive funerary items that refer to the seventh to sixth century BC. The work comprises a microanalytical study of copper-based artefacts, some of them symbols of status, recovered in these necropolises (Tartesic belt buckles, body grooming instruments and different types of fibulae, bracelets and rings). The alloy composition was determined by micro-EDXRF and micro-PIXE analyses, while the colour distinction was estimated using the composition of different alloys. These funerary items disclose a metallurgy centred in low-tin bronze alloys (7.1 ± 2.4 wt% Sn, n = 41) with minor contents of lead, arsenic, nickel and iron. There are a few exceptions composed of copper or leaded bronze (c. 3.0 wt% Sn and 2.7 wt% Pb), in addition to arsenical copper (c. 5.6–6.5 wt% As), which is particularly remarkable due to the rarity of this last alloy in coeval contexts. A Tartesic belt buckle with rivets of distinct composition from the remaining components is other exception, as most composite artefacts have components of similar composition (e.g. pin, spring and axle of fibulae and body and decoration bead of bracelets and rings). Additionally, it was assessed that only a handful of examples were perceived as having a distinct colour and these outliers were mostly small body grooming instruments. Generally, the seventh to sixth century BC funerary items of southern Portugal disclose an indigenous metallurgy altered by earlier Phoenician stimuli, but the possibility to obtain different colours by changing the alloy composition was not commonly used.