Developments in the Early Bronze Age metallurgy of southern Britain

Abstract This discussion paper raises some theoretical issues of approach and presents selected results from an analytical programme on the early bronze metalwork of southern Britain. The analyses, performed by atomic absorption spectrophotometry, are assessed against a fine chronological model to show for example that tin bronze alloying was introduced swiftly towards the end of the third millennium BC. The consistency of tin alloying thereafter is unrivalled elsewhere in Early Bronze Age Europe, and suggests that insular metalworkers followed well regulated practices to maintain tin levels. It is argued that much recycling took place throughout the period under review, but that, despite mixing, new inputs to the metal stock in circulation can sometimes be identified. The effect of such new inputs on the average composition of the general stock is also discernible. More refined and currently hypothetical questions regarding metalworking practices are broached in the context of future avenues of research.