Posted on 05/12/2016 8:35:00 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Bronze tools found in Sweden dating from 3,600 years ago were made using copper from the Mediterranean, archaeologists have shown. They now also believe that rock carvings of ships found in Bohuslan, Sweden were visual documentation of trade between ancient Scandinavia and the Mediterranean.
Most of the copper circulating in Bronze Age Europe apparently originated from Sicily, Sardinia, the Iberian peninsula - and Cyprus, going by isotope analysis...
The precious copper was exchanged for Nordic amber, which was as cherished as gold in Mycenaean Greece and in the prehistoric Middle East...
The ancient Cypriot copper industry produced relatively pure stuff, which was smelted into "oxhide ingots"... Bronze Age copper slabs that looked like nothing so much as stretched hides, with four extruding corners that were used to carry them... about 37 kilos each.
Vast quantities of ingots have been found in Cyprus, Sardinia, mainland Greece and Crete. The biggest collection was found in the "Uluburun shipwreck," that sank in the late 14th century BCE off Turkey. Underwater excavation shows that the ship carried 10 tons of ingots, all of which seem to have originated in Cyprus...
Isotope analysis of some 70 bronze daggers and axes from Bronze Age Sweden by scientists from Sweden's University of Gothenburg, headed by Dr. Johan Ling, proved that at least some originated in Cypriot copper mines. Most probably, it was traded for amber.
"Bronze was as valuable a raw material as oil is today," says Prof. Kristian Kristiansen of the University of Gothenburg´s archaeological department. It and amber were the twin engines of the Bronze Age economy, to the extent that marriage alliances are believed to have been forged between powerful families in ancient Europe in order to secure the amber trade.
(Excerpt) Read more at haaretz.com ...
Ping a ling!
Evidence of an early EU ?
They got the ax!
They lived on the edge of civilization.
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/caphtor/index
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/keftiu/index
http://www.varchive.org/ce/baalbek/caphtor.htm
[snip] Caphtor — The island Caphtor is named in the Scriptures. The usual identification is Crete, because the Keftiu bringing presents (vases) to Egyptian pharaohs are thought to be Cretans. I prefer Cyprus as the biblical Caphtor and the Egyptian Keftiu. If Caphtor is not Cyprus, then the Old Testament completely omits reference to this large island close to the Syrian coast. The phonetics of the name also point to Cyprus. Separately I show that Tarshish was the name of Crete. It seems that the Philistines arrived in Palestine from Caphtor following the catastrophe that brought there the Israelites after their wandering in the Desert. [/snip]
http://www.varchive.org/nldag/tarshish.htm
[snip] The reason why the identification of Tarshish with Crete, so evident from the texts quoted above — the Old Testament narrative of the trading ventures of Solomon and Hiram, the prophecies of Isaiah and Ezekiel, the story of the voyage of Jonah, as well as the annals of Esarhaddon — was not made before is due to the fact that the end of Minoan Crete is considered by scholars who follow the accepted chronology to have occurred some four to six hundred years before these texts were written. [/snip]
I wonder instead if these were Phonecians as they had trading posts all over the Med.
[snip] Tarshish — References to the ships of Tarshish and to a place of that name, in the Old Testament, beginning with the time of Solomon (10th century), to the time of the prophets of the 8th and 7th centuries, make me think that by this designation the Cretan navigators and Crete itself were meant. The Minoan civilization survived until the great catastrophes of the 8th century and it would be strange if it and its maritime activities remained unmentioned in the Old Testament. The usual explanation puts Tarshish in Spain, though other identifications are offered, like Tarsus, in Asia Minor. One of the old names for Knossos sounds like Tarshish. [/snip]
Mining and manufacturing are different animals but you knew that.
But this article dies mention the possibility of northern Europe having direct and massive contact with the wider bronze age world. That is still amazing to think about.
The bull references is what ties it to Crete.
I didn't say there's zero evidence for precolumbian contact -- the situation is quite the reverse -- I'm just saying, if copper from upper Michigan made it to the Bronze Age Aegean, it passed through many hands. The only thing that makes it somewhat plausible is, the abandonment of the copper mining seems to have been sudden, and very long ago.
I wonder what #27 was?
.
I began learning to blacksmith about 9 months ago. You would be surprised how easy it is to start and get into making something real. Look up your states blacksmithing association and take an intro class on a saturday, (find an old blacksmith that will let you hang out and learn that is what i did) maybe 60-80 bucks... Until you make a knife ax or tool from your own hand you will never really know the joy of metal... :)
When men were men now they’re snowflakes who enjoy being slaves to muslim invaders, boy did they fall hard!
You are correct that it would have been indirect trade between the old world and with the Michigan area - I assume to the east coast somewhere was where the loading of the ships happened (if it happened).
You made a good point about the abruptness of the end of mining. The collapse of the Bronze age mining of copper as shown in the old world would not have applied to the new world at all. Do you know if they have a date to the end of the Michigan mining activity?
It is amazing what you can do with a chunk of metal
I value my axes as much as my firearms.
They lived on the edge of civilization.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Yes, and just a little later during the Viking era, they helped spread civilization!
They are never finnished! ( groan.)
Love these stories about ancient commerce and trade routes!
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