Copper smelting in the early Bronze Age southern Aegean : a technological and contextual analysis.

This thesis is a study of copper-smelting technology in the southern Aegean during the Early Bronze Age. The aim is to develop a framework and methodology that can help promote the integration of archaeological and archaometallurgical research in this area. To investigate the social dynamics of early metal technology, a three-fold approach is employed. Firstly, an analytical methodology for the reconstruction of prehistoric smelting processes is developed and used for the study of metallurgical remains from the Early Bronze Age site of Chrysokamino in northeastern Crete. Secondly, a comparative analysis of copper-smelting techniques in the Early Bronze Age southern Aegean is undertaken, shedding light to the range of alternative technical strategies employed in the various tasks of the production sequence. Finally, a contextual analysis of coppersmelting activities, their spatial organisation and contextual associations, helps to reveal some of the social and political underpinnings of technological choices in early copper production in the Aegean.