From the early deposition of copper axes or daggers often found in Beaker-associated graves (e.g. Fitzpatrick 2011), and also Early Bronze Age barrows and hoards (Bradley et al. 2018), through to the metalwork hoards of the Middle and Late Bronze Age (Nebelsick 2000; Yates and Bradley 2010), there is evidence for the circulation of copper and bronze artefacts (Needham 1988; Barber 2003). There is a well-defined typological scheme for the Beaker period and Bronze Age (Needham 1996; 2009; Needham et al. 2006), showing the adoption first of copper daggers from c.2450 cal BC in the early part of the Beaker period, then the development of tinned bronzes from c.2200 cal BC, e.g. Racton (Needham 2017). There is a seemingly quick uptake of this alloy (Needham et al. 1989), and finally the addition of lead to tin bronze in the final stages of the Bronze Age c.1100 cal BC (Roberts et al. 2015; Bray 2012).
The chronological sequencing of artefacts has been complemented by significant advances in the understanding of Beaker period and Bronze Age mining practices across Britain and Ireland. There have been significant discoveries about sources of copper in the Beaker period from 2400 cal BC at Ross Island (O'Brien 2004; 2012) and also Early Bronze Age/Middle Bronze Age mines, e.g. Cwmystwyth, Ecton Park, Alderley Edge (Timberlake 2003; 2014; Timberlake and Pragg 2005), the Great Orme (Smith et al. 2011), and potentially southwest Britain (Budd et al. 2000). The sources of early tin are less well-known and there are no identified tin-working sites, although it is believed (Haustein et al. 2010) that tin was obtained from southwest England, with Middle Bronze Age artefacts recovered during later periods of tin streaming (Penhallurick 1986, 173–224). Recent archaeological analyses in Cornwall recovered large quantities of cassiterite pebbles, granules and ore from two Early Bronze Age pits (Taylor forthcoming) and tin residues have been identified on a Beaker-period stone tool-working assemblage (Carey and Jones forthcoming) associated with a short-lived structure and a hearth. On one level, then, the mining of metal resources is reasonably well understood.
The circulation of these metals during the Beaker period and Bronze Age is recognised by the innovative analysis of metal artefacts (Bray 2016; Bray and Pollard 2012), demonstrating an increasing reworking of copper alloys in Britain and Ireland from c.2000 cal BC onwards, which builds on previous identification of recycling through lead isotope analysis (e.g. Rohl and Needham 1998). Ross Island is the dominant source of this early metal in the Beaker-using period (although sites in north Wales and subsequently northwest England may also have been important (Timberlake 2016)), with a characteristic trace impurity signature centred on tin (Sn), antimony (Sb) and arsenic (As). Over time there is evidence for increasing depletion of these trace metals (Sn, Sb and As), which is indicative of more smelting and recasting, and this depletion increases with distance from the Ross Island mine source (Bray 2016).
It is also apparent that from the onset of the British Beaker period through to the Late Bronze Age, metalworking became more widely practised, with increasing numbers of metal artefacts in circulation. As the Bronze Age progressed, it appears that more people had access to metals, and significantly, they had an increasing knowledge of how to transform these metals, with increasing levels of craftsmanship. This craftsmanship is demonstrable not only in metal goods, but also in other materials, such as jet, amber and shale from the Early Bronze Age onwards (Roberts 2013, 536; Sheridan and Shortland 2004), with a rise not only in the number of bronze artefacts but also the diversity of forms (Roberts 2013, 539–40).
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