2015/02/01 by Verena Leusch, Bárbara Armbruster, Ernst Pernicka +1 · 1 citation
Social Sciences · Arts and Humanities · Engineering · #Metallurgy and Cultural Artifacts #Cultural Heritage Materials Analysis #Ancient and Medieval Archaeology Studies #Creativity #Metallurgy #Engineering #History #Ancient history #Materials science #Political science #Law
paper · doi:10.1017/s0959774314001140
openalex publication_date 2015/02/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/22
This paper discusses the invention of gold metallurgy within the Southeast European Chalcolithic on the basis of newly investigated gold objects from the Varna I cemetery (4550–4450 cal. bc ). Comprehensive analyses, including preceding gold finds, shed new light not only on the technical expertise of the so far earliest known fine metalworkers, but also on the general context and potential prerequisites in which the invention of gold metallurgy may be embedded. Here, these structural trajectories as well as the unprecedented inventions connected to this early gold working will be highlighted in order to contextualize the apparently sudden appearance and rapid development of this new craft.