Analisi isotopiche del piombo su reperti bronzei di Frattesina

The report presents 26 lead (Pb) isotope analyses on bronze, copper, and copper-lead objects and ingots from the Frattesina trove in order to constrain the provenance of the metal. The 207Pb/204Pb vs. 206Pb/204Pb and 208Pb/204Pb vs. 206Pb/204Pb isotopic correlation diagrams reveal that 23 out of 26 analysed objects derive from ores mined in the Southern Alps. Almost half of the objects match the small ore showings of the Valsugana (Trento/Belluno), which are isotopically well resolved from other mining districts. The other half of the items are slightly, but significantly different and match the ores of Veneto-South Tyrol (Trento/Bolzano). There are many copper ore deposits in the Eastern Alps, in the Veneto and in the Alto Adige/ Südtirol areas. Such deposits fostered an active mining and smelting industry in the Late Bronze Age. This area supplied Frattesina with most of its needs: the lead isotopic analyses carried out on the metal finds from the Frattesina hoards show that 12 artifacts (ingots and a socketed shovel) were made with copper from the Valsugana. Other items (ingots, socketed shovels, winged axes) were instead made with copper from the Veneto and the South Tyrol outcrops. Two objects only have disparate provenances: one from Cyprus and one from Murcia (Southern Spain) or from Tuscany. A pick ingot was made with Cypriot copper, while a flat ingot seems to be associated with the Iberian ore deposits from Cartagena in Murcia, the ancient Carthago Nova, or with the Italian ore deposits from Tuscany. The Iberian Peninsula was part of the trade route from the Levant to the Western Mediterranean during the Final Bronze Age, and the classical authors asserted a Phoenician presence in the far West some years after the Trojan War. Evidence of early mining and metallurgy were recovered in Etruria as early as the Late Neolithic - Copper Age. Copper could arrive to Frattesina via trans-Apennine commercial networks.