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

The metal properties including hardness can be influenced by alloying and/or changing its texture. Those aforementioned show that in the composition of studied articles there are no such significant differences which could explain the multiple changes of hardness. This fact leads to the conclusion, that for the studied objects the hardness determining the serviceability was obtained by changing the texture with annealing and consecutive processing. Regarding the measured Hv-values the data show definite groups which are observable also in the analyses of polished surfaces. Hardness of cast articles varies from 32,5 Hv to 102,5 Hv. According to texture and material composition studies, the diversity can be explained mainly with the speed of cooling and less with the type of crystallisation. Hardness of dendritically crystallised plate fragment amounted up to 32,5 Hv, while the hardness of a more quickly crystallised texture shown on the cut of the ring (No. Ill) /Fig. 1.3./ containing rather small alpha-dendrite arms and a few alpha+delta eutectoid is as much as 102.5. The hardness of a polygonally crystallised plate stripe (No. 154) is near to that, and amounts to 95,9 Hv. Hardness of ingots, forming a particular group of moulds varies in a fairly narrow range from 63,9 to 97,96 Hv. Processed objects offer good opportunity to study on a single article the difference of hardnesses of basic material and of the processed parts. For objects with cold processing e.g. the sickle (No. 47) the hardness of the mould basic material of 92,3 Hv was increased by compacting the edge up to 126,3 Hv, while one could measure 112,6 Hv on the back which was also hammered. On the edge of cased axe (No. 21) the original hardness of 68,1 has been increased to 168.1 Hv. The serviceability could be most strongly enhanced in the case of a dagger at which the hardness of the stiffener is 78,4 compared to that of 177 Hv at the very edge. Based on the measured values one can conclude that with the cold-worked articles the upper limit of hardness amounts to about 180 Hv. Highest differences of the hardness values occurred with the annealed articles. The lowest value (31.9 Hv)

i3 has been measured on the disc of a melt fibula (No. 89), while the highest value, 303 Hv, has been found at the edge of a splendidly heattreated and then also processed knife (No. 10). As it is demonstrated by the data, the bronzes softened to 75-100 Hv during the annealing were upgraded by strong compacting during the following processing. The hardness of annealed and worked bronzes falls over the upper limit of cold-worked articles, i.e. over 300 Hv. The hardness 234 Hv and 303 Hv for excellently annealed and worked knives proves a very high value in use. As for a small sharp tool, its hardness of 271 Hv should have made it suitable to engrave or punch with its edge most of articles, not only the cast but also the cold-worked ones. On the articles studied so far one can follow with both unaided eyes and instrumental observation - as it is unambiguously indicated also by tool prints and texture changes showing the way of processing, and occurring within similar conditions - that these phenomena occur within narrow frames and in accordance with the metallurgical rules. Many particularities observed in the RegölyVeravár treasure finds of mixed composition, taking into account the properties of base material, completed with the data of material investigation, archaeological observations and with experiments, along with using the research results of past few decades, offer a possibility to outline on an interdisciplinary basis the metallurgical technical and technological knowledge of Urnfield Culture. METALLURGY OF THE TRANSDANUBIAN URNFIELD CULTURE AS REFLECTED IN THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCHES AND ARCHAEOMETALLURGICAL STUDIES Comaring thep data ever obtained on domestic bronze articles in the frames of archaeological studies with those observed for finds of Regöly-Veravár selected as standard for first complete domestic archaeometallurgical studies, it is striking, that tin contents obtained at the turn of the century with wet analytical processes

14 are in agreement with the newest results, and at the same time one set of data linked steadily to the same laboratory and to the same methodology, show considerable differences compared with them.

15 The question arises whether the different measurement results are due in fact to different tin content, or the reason for the differences should be revealed in the method of measurements or in the measuring instrument itself. We regard unavoidable to raise the problem, because: 1. Relying on the alloying content gives an opportunity to distinguish the various groups of domestic articles of late Bronze Age according to place of manufacturing and ways of use only by having authentic set of data. 2. This is the primary condition to comparing our results with foreign ones.