Trade
Metal moved as ingots, as finished objects and as broken scrap valued by weight. Distribution maps of Bronze Age metalwork are, to a first approximation, maps of navigable water.
4 entries · Routes, ingots, scrap and who controlled it.
Entries in this section
Listed in reading order
Routes and rivers
Water moved metal. Distribution maps of finds are largely maps of navigable water.
Ingots and scrap
Metal circulated as raw stock and as broken objects. A scrap hoard is a bank, not a loss.
Who controlled it
Control of a scarce alloy is control of weapons, and it shows in burials.
Weight and standard
Evidence for reckoning by weight, long before coinage.
How this section is written
Record and interpretation are kept apart
Every entry states what was found and what it is taken to mean as two separate things. Where the dating or the reading is contested, the entry says so rather than choosing for you.
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