Bronze-casting and organization of production at Kalnik-Igrisce (Croatia).

Bronze-casting and organization of production at Kalnik-Igrisce (Croatia). Recent excavations at the Late Bronze Age Bronze Age,period in the development of technology when metals were first used regularly in the manufacture of tools and weapons. Pure copper and bronze, an alloy of copper and tin, were used indiscriminately at first; this early period is sometimes called the settlement site ofKalnik-Igrisce, northwestern Croatia, have brought to light evidence ofsmall-scale bronze-casting. From that evidence, and the pattern ofsimilar evidence from other sites in the southwestern part of the MiddleDanubian Basin, conclusions can be drawn about circulation of metal andits control by an elite.One key issue in recent discussions of production organization inhierarchical societies is the relationship between craft specialists andthe social elite (Clark & Parry 1990; Costin 1991). Most studiesdistinguish two basic categories of products: utilitarian and prestige.Monopolizing access to prestige items should be of concern to the elite,as these objects define status and legitimize le��git��i��mize?tr.v. le��git��i��mized, le��git��i��miz��ing, le��git��i��miz��esTo legitimate.le��git power. Workshops producingelite goods should be fairly few in number and located in majorsettlements, where they could be supervised by the central authority. Wewould expect them to be operated by a restricted number of mastercraftsmen, 'attached specialists' sponsored by the elite(Brumfiel & Earle 1987: 5). Production of utilitarian items - lesstightly controlled or even left to the individual initiative ofindependent specialists - will be more widespread across the landscape(Wells 1984: 52, 65-70).During the Middle Danubian Late Bronze Age, bronze continued in usefor producing exquisite luxury items, such as bronze vessels, swords,defensive weaponry and elaborate decorative pieces. By that time it isalso common enough to be widely used in agricultural and wood-workingtools, in less ostentatious os��ten��ta��tious?adj.Characterized by or given to ostentation; pretentious. See Synonyms at showy.os decorative elements and for other mundanepurposes.Presently available evidence of metallurgical activities from thesouthwestern part of the Middle Danubian Basin lends general support tothe production model outlined above. New data related to this issuecomes from the Late Bronze Age settlement of Kalnik-Igrisce.Kalnik: the site and the evidence for bronze-castingKalnik is a group of steep wooded hills drained by small rivers, some50 km northeast of Zagreb in northwestern Croatia [ILLUSTRATION FORFIGURE 1 OMITTED]. Elevation varies between 500 and 600 m abovesea-level, reaching the highest point in Vranilac (641 m). The LateBronze Age site of Igrisce is situated directly beneath the main summit,at about 500 m above sea-level, on a 2-km long and 100-200-m wideinclined bench which breaks the steep south-facing slope. The rockysummit ridge protects it from the northern winds, while its positionprovides a controlling view of the wide valley below. Several springsare located in the immediate vicinity (Homen 1988).A series of surface scatters (mostly potsherds, some animal bones,occasional small bronzes) can be observed along the entire length of thebench (Majnaric-Pandzic 1990: 63). A greatly varying density of surfacefinds, as well as their character, suggests that the settlementconsisted of fairly dispersed individual residences. There were not verymany of them, probably a few dozen at most, and possibly less, for somemight have shifted location during the occupation. There is no evidenceof unusually rich or elaborate households, of a 'central area'within the settlement, defensive works, or any other indication ofelite-organized central authority.The excavated area (about 80 sq.m) is situated on a 10-15 [degrees]slope. The upper part of the cultural accumulation containing pottery ofvarious periods and a large quantity of limestone rocks, has beendisturbed by slope wash. The lower part (0.5 to 0.9 m thick) remainslargely in situ In place. When something is "in situ," it is in its original location. , as the well-preserved remains of several substantiallybuilt hearths shows. It contains large quantities of pottery (over 300sherds per cu. m on average), numerous animal bones, as well as smallbronzes. Except for hearths, its general character suggests a householdmidden middendungheap. .By its formal stylistic traits, the pottery belongs to theBaierdorf-Velatice group of the Middle Danubian Urnfield Culture Urnfield cultureLate Bronze Age culture of Europe, so called because its people placed their cremated dead in urns. This culture spread from east-central Europe and northern Italy in the 12th century BC and later to Ukraine, Sicily, Scandinavia, France, and Spain. (Pittioni 1954; 'Zagreb group' after Vinski-Gasparini 1983)which covers the earlier part of the Late Bronze Age, Br D-Ha A2, or13th-11th centuries BC (Muller-Karpe 1959). Two of the four availableradiocarbon determinations support this chronological assignment(Z-2161: 2980[+ or -]70 b.p., or 1307-1062 BC; Z-2163: 2890[+ or -]90b.p., or 1251-921 BC, 1[Sigma] range). The other two might be related tosome later event, either cultural or natural, which left fewarchaeological traces (Z-2162:2650[+ or -]60 b.p., or 832-794 BC;Z-2160:2540[+ or -]60 b.p., or 797-539 BC, 1[Sigma] range) (Srdoc et al.1992: 158-9).The excavation exposed remains of seven hearths made of compactedclay, scattered across the midden in no apparent order, at differentelevations, later hearths sometimes overlying overlyingsuffocation of piglets by the sow. The piglets may be weak from illness or malnutrition, the sow may be clumsy or ill, the pen may be inadequate in size or poorly designed so that piglets cannot escape. the earlier ones[ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 2 OMITTED]. Those better preserved were oval inshape, 1-1.5 m across. Beneath their plastered clay surface was areinforcing layer of potsherds (typologically identical to those foundthroughout the midden) or small angular limestones, intensively burned.There were traces of a clay lip encircling one of the hearths, but theexistence of a substantial superstructure seems highly unlikely.Several categories of evidence suggest that these hearths wereemployed in bronze-casting. Slag occurs in small quantities throughoutthe area, with the highest densities around some better-preservedhearths (Vrdoljak 1992: 79, figure 1).Recovered from the same area were several fragments of bipartitecasting moulds. This type of molud consists of two identical halves madeof stone or clay, locating dowels, pouring cup and a core for shapingthe hollow portion of objects such as socketed axes (Coghlan 1975:53-5). These moulds first came into use in the Middle Danubian Basinduring the Late Copper Age (Durman 1983). They dominated the Late BronzeAge production, when lead was often added to the alloy in order tofacilitate casting by increasing the fluidity of bronze (Tylecote 1976:16). (The presence of galena galena(gəlē`nə)or lead glance,lustrous, blue-gray mineral crystallizing usually in cubes, sometimes in octahedrons. It is the most important ore and the principal source of lead. in Kalnik was confirmed by the geologicalsurvey The term geological survey can be used to describe both the conduct of a survey for geological purposes and an institution holding geological information.A geological survey .)Six of the seven casting moulds from Kalnik were made of light graytuff, one of phyllite phylliteFine-grained metamorphic rock formed by the recrystallization of fine-grained, parent sedimentary rocks, such as mudstones or shales. Phyllite has a marked tendency to split into sheets or slabs; it may have a sheen on its surfaces due to tiny plates of micas. . All exhibit grayish-black stains resulting fromtheir use. They include shapes for a socketed axe with a side-loop, aflat axe, small chisels and a knife [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 3 OMITTED].Due to fragmentation and extensive heat damage, other shapes could notbe identified with certainty.Another peculiar find from the same area is a 'channelledstone' [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 4 OMITTED]. Identical objects havebeen recovered from other central European Late Bronze Age settlements,often associated with artefacts related to metallurgic activities (Horst1986; Bolliger 1987; Smrz 1979). Their specific function remainsunknown.Kalnik-Igrisce also yielded a fair number of small bronze finds (45altogether), mostly plain or simply decorated pins, buttons and sewingneedles (Majnaric-Pandzic 1990: plates 1 & 2). Most show evidence ofuse, many are damaged or fragmented. They are definitely not mis-casts,and could have provided only a very small quantity of scrap metal forre-casting. Casual bronze finds from several locations along the benchprobably also belong to the midden, indicating that bronze was commonenough for small bronze objects to be lost or even discarded.The field evidence suggests that casting of simple bronze objects wasoccasionaly carried out in the activity area exposed at Igrisce. Hearthswould have been adequate for melting scraps of metal in crucibles(Tylecote 1980: 196-7). A low intensity of activity is attested to bythe low density of slag pellets. Occasional stratigraphic stra��tig��ra��phy?n.The study of rock strata, especially the distribution, deposition, and age of sedimentary rocks.strat superpositioning of hearths, with midden accumulation in between,testifies to an intermittent character. And selecting the midden areafor the unpleasant metallurgic activity makes sense.Bronze-casting in northern CroatiaEven though very few of the Late Bronze Age settlements in theCroatian part of the Middle Danubian Basin have been extensivelyexcavated, several have yielded evidence of bronze-working. Judging bythe casting moulds, production was in all of them restricted toutilitarian items and simple decorative pieces [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE5 OMITTED]. Only at Sveti Petar might the evidence indicate moreintensive production: its excavators reported both hearths and furnaces,as well as numerous moulds, including those for spear points. That sitedates to the very end of the Late Bronze Age (Ha B3); it might not bestrictly comparable with the rest (Simek 1979). Similar evidence forcasting of simple bronzes, possibly on a larger scale, comes fromVelemszentvid in neighbouring southwestern Hungary (Miske 1908: plates22-27; Foltiny 1958: 31).While information on regional settlement patterns and the internalstructure of the settlements is still unsatisfactory, it is clear thatsmall-scale metallurgical activity was not restricted to a few sites.Production of utilitarian bronzes was scattered across the landscape,most likely carried out by locally resident part-time specialists. Thequestion of elite control over this production remains open. It couldhave been maintained by restricting the access to the raw material as,apparently, in the Aegean Late Bronze Age (Ventris & Chadwick1956:352-6) (maybe partially circumvented by recycling locally availableold bronzes). Or the observed evidence comes from independentbronze-smiths, satisfying local demand through decentralized exchangemechanisms. Regional stylistic similarities of utilitarian bronzes canbe explained as a consequence of information sharing See data conferencing. , rather thanlong-distance redistribution from centralized workshops. Intensive studyof raw material sources and their circulation is a prerequisite forresolving these issues.There is presently no local evidence of major bronze workshops forprestige bronze items within the discussed region, although such objectsrepeatedly appear in hoards (Vinski-Gasparini 1973). This might be dueto the lack of systematic regional study of settlement sites.Alternatively, central workshops may have been absent from northernCroatia, and the local elite procured prestige items from other parts ofthe Middle Danubian Basin through long-distance exchange.Acknowledgements. Systematic excavations at Igrisce were conductedfrom 1988 to 1990 as a joint project of the Department of Archaeology,University of Zagreb, and the Krizevci Municipal Museum. 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It was named for Ezra Cornell, who donated $500,000 and a tract of land. With the help of state senator Andrew D. Press.Snjezana Vrdoljak, Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Philosophy,University of Zagreb, Ivana Lucica 3, 41000 Zagreb, Croatia. StasoForenbaher, Department of Anthropology, Southern Methodist University,Dallas TX 75275-0336, USA.