M. Járó - L. Költő szerk.: Archaeometrical research in Hungary (Budapest, 1988)
Analysis - BAKOS Miklós, BAUMANN Miklós, GEGUS Ernő: Results of archaeometric examination of prehistoric copper artifacts found in Gorzsa
It is well known that the discovery of the reduction of copper ores and jointly the discovery of melting and moulding may be put at ca.4000 B. C. Nevertheless the question arises how the artifacts examined were fabricated: by moulding or by hammering of the native copper. We have tried to find an answer to this question by meims of a transmission electron-microscope . Chips of several mg were cut off by a sharp knife from the artifacts. These chips were embedded in acrylate resin as usual and slices of a thickness of 20 nanometer were made from the embedded samples by use of an ultramicrotome . These slices were examined by transmission electron microscope. The examination was directed both to morphological analysis of the fine structure of the samples and to determining the crystal structure by means of electron diffraction. From the results it can be concluded that all the artifacts were produced by hammering, namely with different intensity and lasting different time. At the present time we are not aware of any such method by which the problem can be solved concerning whether the native copper was formed by direct hammering or whether a moulded, semi-manufactured product was shaped by hammering. Electron diffraction measurements utilizing a transmission electron microscope have also been performed for detemiining the composition and crystal structure of the loose corrosion product found on the surface of the uncleaned artifacts. By determining the lines of diffraction and searching for their values in the catalogue of diffraction lines it has been found that within the limits of measuring errors they correspond to basic cupric carbonate, Cu 2 (OH) 2 C0 3 , i. e. to malachite. The characteristic lines measured are as follows: Data of the catalogue Data measured  5.993 6.00 5.055 5.08 3.693 3.71 2.857 2.88 2.520 2.50 2.468 2.48 For verification of this result the diffraction lines of the samples examined have been photographed on the half field of the slides, thereafter the diffraction lines of the standard malachite sample on the other half field. This procedure has yielded pictures of entirely congruent circular tine series. Notes and references 1. The photos were taken by Zsuzsanna Tósoki (Veszprém University) 2. Bakos, M. and Gegus, E.: Acta Arch. Hung. 31 (1979) pp. 3-8. 3. Witter, W. : Ausbeutung der mitteldeutschen Erzlagerstätten in der frühen Metallzeit. Curt Kabitsch Verlag, Leipzig 1938. 4. von Cotta, B.: Die Erzlagerstätten Ungarns und Siebenbürgens. In: Gangstudien, Teil IV. Freiberg 1861. 5. von Márton, L.: Dolchstäbe aus Ungarn. Praehist. Zeitschrift XXII (1931) pp. 18—40-
