The provenance of copper ore in Moravia in the Late Bronze Age based on metal hoards from Blučina and Borotín

Abstract

The sites of Blučina-Cezavy and Borotín in south Moravia are known by archaeologists mainly because of hoards of metal objects. On the basis of 18 documented hoards, the first mentioned site is considered a regional centre of bronze metallurgy, while the assemblage of objects from Borotín is considered interesting because of the find of chalcopyrite ore directly in the hoard. Both collections also contain, apart from other artefacts, raw material in the form of ingots. The concentration of hoards in Blučina and evidence of primary metallurgy in the form of ingots and ore fragments in Borotín make these collections useful for solving the issue of the provenance of copper in Moravia in the Late Bronze Age with the help of modern archaeometallurgical analyses. The submitted paper informs the professional community of the preliminary results of chemical (ICP-MS, ICP-OES) and lead isotope analyses of selected ingots from the Blučina 1 and Borotín hoards. On the basis of the collected results, the authors discuss the possible origin of the copper ore from local deposits, mining regions in the area of the Eastern Alps as well as the Western Carpathians.