Occasional high levels of Ni in EBA Aegean artefacts were noticed by Aegean
archaeologists in the 1970's, and wrongly interpreted as indicating the use
of Cretan copper deposits (which in fact hardly exist). In fact high Ni
contents were later found in copper prills within slags from the then newly
discovered EBA copper smelting site on the Cycladic island of Kythnos.
Papers discussing this briefly, and the question of deliberate or accidental
production of arsenical copper in the EBA Aegean, were published by Gale et
al. 1985 (BM Occasional Paper 48, London, 81-102) & Gale et al. 1989
(Mineria y Metalurgia en las Antiguas Civilizaciones Mediterraneas y
Europeas, Madrid, 21-36.). These papers do not solve the 'Ni question', but
do add some evidence and discussion. "Arsenic, Nickel et Antimoine", Cahiers
d'archeologie romande 63 & 64, 1995, by V. Rychner and N. Klantschi, are
relevant from the European perspective.
----- Original Message -----
From: Paul V. Heinrich <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, November 11, 1999 2:48 AM
Subject: Where Did The Ni Come From in a Cu-As-Ni Alloy?
>
> With the very little Spanish that I know and some
> dictionaries and textbooks, I have been doing the
> best I can to read the article by Lechtman (1997)
> about the bronzes of the Horizonte Medio of the
> South American Andes. One of the things that I
> noted was a grouping of bronze artifacts at Tiwanaku
> and Lukurmata consisting of a copper-arsenic-nickel
> alloy. The nickel content of this alloy ranges from
> about 1.4 to 3.6 percent.
>
> Looking at other papers that give detailed analyses
> of Andean copper ores, I find that the nickel in different
> ores is typically not detectable and at most around 70
> to 300 ppm. Other analyses give nickel content for
> copper ores as ranging from 0.002 to 0.006 percent
> nickel. These low figures suggest that the nickel isn't
> being concentrated from the ores. I haven't found
> anything in either the smelting process, e.g. Lechtman
> and Klein (1999), or would be added that would
> account for the "high" nickel content of the Cu-As-Ni
> alloy.
>
> What could have been the source of the nickel in
> this Cu-As-Ni alloy?
>
> References
>
> Lechtman, H., 1997, El bronze arsenical y el Horizonte
> Medio. in Varon Gabai, R., and Flores Espinoza, J., eds.,
> pp. 153-186, Arqueologia, Antropologia e Historia en
> los Andes: Homenaje a Maria Rostworowski. Instituto
> de Estudios Peruanos, Lima Peru.
>
> Lechtman, H., and Klein, S., 1999, The production of
> copper-arsenic alloys (arsenic bronze) by cosmelting:
> modern experiment, ancient practice. Journal of
> Archaeological Science. vol. 26, no. 5, pp. 497-526.
>
> NOTE: I am still waiting on interlibrary loan for
> Lechtman's 1998 article in "Metallurgica Antiqua."
>
> Yours,
>
> Paul
>
> Paul V. Heinrich
> LGS-LSU
> P.O. Box G
> University Station
> Baton Rouge, LA 70893-4107
>
>
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