From Land’s End to the Levant: did Britain’s tin sources transform the Bronze Age in Europe and the Mediterranean?

Williams, R Alan; Montesanto, Mariacarmela; Badreshany, Kamal; Berger, Daniel; Jones, Andy M; Aragón, Enrique; Brügmann, Gerhard; Ponting, Matthew; Roberts, Benjamin W

Abstract

Project Ancient Tin has produced strong analytical and archaeological evidence that tin sources and trade from Southwest Britain played a fundamental role in the massive technological and cultural transition from copper to full tin-bronze across Europe and the Mediterranean during the 2nd millennium BC. Western and Central European tin ores and tin artefacts have, for the first time, been extensively analysed with three independent techniques (trace element, lead and tin isotopes). Only the tin ores and artefacts from Southwest Britain were fully consistent with Bronze Age-Early Iron Age tin ingots at four shipwreck sites from across the Mediterranean.

Citation

Williams, R. A., Montesanto, M., Badreshany, K., Berger, D., Jones, A. M., Aragón, E., Brügmann, G., Ponting, M., & Roberts, B. W. (in press). From Land’s End to the Levant: did Britain’s tin sources transform the Bronze Age in Europe and the Mediterranean?. Antiquity,

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 9, 2024
• Deposit Date: Jan 31, 2025
• Journal: Antiquity
• Print ISSN: 0003-598X
• Electronic ISSN: 1745-1744
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/3352969
• Publisher URL: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity