Dani János - Hajdú Zsigmond - Nagy Emese Gyöngyvér szerk.: MÓMOSZ I. (Debrecen, 2001)

Szabó Géza: Újabb eredmények és módszerek a Kárpát-medence késő bronzkori tárgyainak archaeometallurgiai vizsgálataiban

indications, the ingots are presented mostly incorrectly, laying on their flatter side. Refining the raw ingots of blistered structure and with high iron content was performed by poring sand onto the melt during the refounding. The fayalitic dross floating on the melt, which had been formed from iron adhered to the quartz grains, can be easily removed with a stick along with the iron bound to it. Purified bronze mould in a closed form supplied with slag catcher was pure enough and of homogeneous structure suitable for tool manufacturing. Composition and texture studies of Regöly treasure find along with practical considerations indicate, that these refound ingots were used mainly to manufacture cast articles. Raw material supply of late Bronze Age metallurgy in addition to the ingots was ensured also by many other objects which could be used as raw material and also for other aims. Above the simplest loaf, tongue and bar-shaped raw material pieces, in the domestic find sets one can find pieces of particular forms and destinations. For archaeological investigations pieces with easily traceable territorial occurrence (due to their ornaments for which special manufacturing knowledge was needed) are of particular importance.

27 Recently a ring-shaped piece of particular ornaments and appearance, and of multifunctional destination was studied in detail.

28 Due to its area of occurrence and multiple serviceability it was particularly important raw material for articles made of bronze pins. Rewieving the positions shaped out in the past nearly one and a half century concerning the Hungarian ring finds, one can conclude, as it was remarked also by A. Mozsolics, that they also belong to the class of enigmatic articles.

29 Solution of this puzzle has been facilitated by two ring finds at Szakály-Fütyülös and Kisdorog-Hegyiszántók, respectively.

30 Among the articles there is a lot of pieces with circular cross section and a spiral-shaped ornament consisting of 9 nearly parallel lines engraved very slightly. The ornament is missing in the proximity of the end of ring. The engravers seem smeared even on the outer side, but on the inner side they can be hardly notices. At the ends of the rings one can observe a fracture surface with uneven, slurred edge on one side, and a rounded end on the other. Similar forms often occur in the Transdanubian treasure finds but one can observe them also in finds of the Great Plain, both in the environment of large metallurgical centres and in small settlements consisting of several buildings alike. On the decorated rings one can often clearly observe the traces of hammering, forming or cutting, which indicate consecutive processing. During the analysis of the texture of archaeological finds it was already striking that the hammering technique was very important means in shaping out late Bronze Age articles and enhancing their serviceability. The same can be seen on find sets where beside the hammers one found also the hammered articles and mostly tools of agriculture: sickles and sacketed axes. For their sharpening, compacting of their materials was indispensable. International measurement data

31 show that hardness of pure cast copper begins at 30 ÏHB

32 and the low alloyed material with 0-1,5% additive content, which practically can yet be regarded as copper, the hardness amounts up to 180 HB

33 depending on processing method. Among the additives studied particularly the arsenic has an advantageous effect on the hardness. With merely tin addition the speed of cooling of the cast influences considerably the hardness. In the case of slow cooling the hardness can hardly be rised to double of its original value, whereas with fast cooling it can rise up to four or five times, amounting to 150 HB. Naturally this material also could be annealed to some extent. Theoretically, with 14 per cent of tin content coldworking can result in a hardness of nearly 300 HB.

34 In the archaeological material, however, with prevailing agricultural tools (sickles, sacketed axes) of a consecutively low tin content of several per cent, the theoretical limit of hardness is not more than 180 HB.

35 For bronzes of similar composition but heat treated and processed bronzes limit of hardness is higher, 220 HB, but with high tin content it can exceed also 300 HB, though Scott puts this limit to 220 Hv with 12 per cent tin content.

36 Data measured on the articles of Transdanubian Urnfield Culture reach these values at an essentially lower additive value in every category, or even exceed them in many cases. Moreover, the edge of cold hammered tools well spread over our territory, with its value of 126 to 168 Hv exceeds for example the hardness of a grooving chisel made of ferritic iron amounting to 129 Hv and that of perlitic and ferritic iron sickle which is equal to 171 Hv.

37 Hardness of 303 Hv at a heattreated knife exceeds e.g. the value 269 measured on a perlitic-ferritic iron axe, and approximates 323 Hv, the hardness of the steel with 0,93 per cent.

38 Comparison of hardness values measured on bronze articles found in Hungary with those of data of European studies and with serviceability level of