The copper archaeometallurgy at Monte Novo dos Albardeiros (Reguengos de Monsaraz, Évora)

• Autor(a) principal: Gonçalves, Victor S.
• Data de Publicação: 2005
• Outros Autores: Valério, Pedro, Araújo, Maria de Fátima
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10451/40770
• topic: Copper archaeometallurgy; Copper arrefacts; Third millennium cal BC; Chalcolithic; Arqueometalurgia do cobre; Artefactos de cobre; 3.º milénio a.n.e.; Calcolítico

The site of Monte Novo dos Albardeiros is located near the village of Campinho (Reguengos de Monsaraz, Évora). A small tell situated next to the magazine of a farmstead was partially excavated, revealing several phases of occupation. The know phases of occupation are: a third millennium fortified farmstead; a funerary structure of tholos type, datable to the second half of the third millennium; and above the collapsed structure of the latter, two funerary deposits of the Early Bronze Age. Metal arrefacts were recovered from all of these phases, including traces of local copper metallurgy from the two earliest phases of occupation of the site. Through the EDXRF method, the composition of two awls, an axe and an alène, all manufactured from copper, was analysed. A brief technico-cultural study is also presented, stressing the «arehaeometallurgic continuity» of the site and the question of arsenical copper.