A specialised Bronze Age casting site in Aubervilliers (France, Seine-Saint-Denis), c. 1150-950 BC

The study of the organisation of metalworking in the Bronze Age is often limited to the study of bronze objects. Evidence of casting is rather scarce and by far not representative of metal masses known in the archaeological records. The discoveries made in Aubervilliers, Rue Saint-Denis (France) during an excavation realised by Arkemine in 2014, give a new insight about a Bronze Age craftsman and his workshop, about the chaine operatoire of production and the distribution of the products. The artefacts of a substantial workshop dating of the second part of the French Late Bronze Age (c. 1150-950 BC) were unearthed, revealing an unprecedented centre of metal production in terms of quantity of objects made on site. Those artefacts, fragments of moulds made of clay in particular, are abundant and sufficiently well preserved to allow the discussion of the specialisation of the workshop of Aubervilliers at Rue Saint-Denis: indeed, among other objects, pins and chapes were particularly produced. The technical skills of the craftsman are observed through the production of such objects (long and thin), but also through the casting techniques implemented. Several analysis were made on clay and metal remains linked to the workshop, allowing the discussion of the origin of the raw material employed and also allowing the restitution of a chaine operatoire upstream from the casting itself. Finally, the cultural affinities of the produced objects, well characterised typologically, authorise to address the question of the distribution networks in which stands the workshop of Aubervilliers, Rue Saint-Denis