Dear George,
The adoption of leaded bronze in Europe was probably never universal until Roman times. In Britain leaded bronze was used briefly in the early Middle Bronze Age (1500-1400 BC say), then through the Late Bronze Age, say 1150 or 1100-750BC and then it went right out of use and there was a reversion to plain tin bronze. In other parts of Atlantic Europe (western France, western Iberia) leaded bronze was also used in the LBA. As you move east to the Alps and north to Germany and Scandinavia leaded bronze was basically not used as such although some leaded scrap from elsewhere did enter the metal circulation in those areas. In the Mediterranean area, e.g. Greece and Italy the use of leaded bronze was probably contemporary with our LBA.
Reverting to our LBA in Britain the best interpretation of the data is that in the Wilburton period (LBA I in Britain, BF II in FRance, Ha A2-B1 in central Europe) the bronze used was largely imported scrap re-alloyed with British lead.
Yours,
Peter
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Dr Peter Northover, Materials Science-Based Archaeology Group,
Department of Materials, University of Oxford
Tel +44 (0)1865 283721; Fax +44 (0)1865 841943 Mobile +44 (0)7785 501745
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