[{"command":"openDialog","selector":"#drupal-modal","settings":null,"data":"\u003Cdiv id=\u0022republish_modal_form\u0022\u003E\u003Cform class=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form ecl-form\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 action=\u0022\/en\/article\/modal\/6305\u0022 method=\u0022post\u0022 id=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 accept-charset=\u0022UTF-8\u0022\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHorizon articles can be republished for free under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EYou must give appropriate credit. We ask you to do this by:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 1) Using the original journalist\u0027s byline\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 2) Linking back to our original story\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 3) Using the following text in the footer: This article was originally published in \u003Ca href=\u0027#\u0027\u003EHorizon, the EU Research and Innovation magazine\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003ESee our full republication guidelines \u003Ca href=\u0027\/horizon-magazine\/republish-our-stories\u0027\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EHTML for this article, including the attribution and page view counter, is below:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022js-form-item form-item js-form-type-textarea form-item-body-content js-form-item-body-content ecl-form-group ecl-form-group--text-area form-no-label ecl-u-mv-m\u0022\u003E\n \n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n \u003Ctextarea data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 aria-describedby=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 id=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 name=\u0022body_content\u0022 rows=\u00225\u0022 cols=\u002260\u0022 class=\u0022form-textarea ecl-text-area\u0022\u003E\u003Ch2\u003ESophisticated scans unlock Bronze Age mystery\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018This new alloy \u2026 appeared first in a region where there is no geological tin, mainly in Mesopotamia,\u2019 explained Dr Ernst Pernicka from the Heidelberg University in Germany. He is leading a team seeking the answer through a new technique that can detect small variations in tin to obtain a kind of fingerprint for an artefact.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAll elements have isotopes \u2013 varying versions that have the same number of protons but different numbers of neutrons.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EDr Pernicka said:\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/span\u003E\u201820 years ago nobody would have believed that the isotope ratios of tin are variable in nature. However, with new instrumentation and analytical progress they have now been confirmed, if you can measure precisely enough.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018We can distinguish via tin isotope ratios between two major tin ore deposits in Europe, mainly Cornwall (in the southwestern tip of England) and the Erzgebirge (Ore Mountains, at the German-Czech border).\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThat already led to one interesting discovery in 2010 \u2014 that the tin used to make an ancient calendar sky disc from Bronze Age Germany probably came from a Cornish mine, while other objects from the same area used the regional tin sources.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELong before the age of pirates from Penzance, seafarers were likely carrying tin from England to ports throughout the Mediterranean Sea. The BRONZEAGETIN project, funded by the EU\u2019s European Research Council (ERC), is able to perform such measurements because of a recent tool: plasma source mass spectrometry.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe team dissolves the metal and then purifies it. Then the sample of a few billionths of a gram of tin is introduced into an argon plasma that reaches temperatures of 6 000 degrees Celsius and then it is analysed to determine the different isotopes present.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESo far, the team has examined artefacts from central Germany and Mesopotamia, and it turns out that the tin trade may have been broader than they had previously thought.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003E(Article continues after the image)\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cfigure role=\u0022group\u0022 class=\u0022@aligncenter@\u0022\u003E\n\u003Cimg alt=\u0022Bronze Age trade may have been broader than researchers previously thought. Sources: M. Otte (2007) Vers la Pr\u00e9histoire, de Boeck, Bruxelles. M. Benvenuti et al. (2003), \u0026quot;The \u0026quot;Etruscan tin\u0026quot;: a preliminary contribution from researches at Monte Valerio and Baratti-Populonia (Southern Tuscany, Italy)\u0026quot;, in A. Giumlia-Mair et al, The Problem of Early Tin, Oxford: Archaeopress. R.G. Valera \u0026amp; P.G. Valera, P.G. (2003), \u0026quot;Tin in the Mediterranean area: history and geology\u0026quot;, in A. Giumlia-Mair \u0026amp; F. Lo Schiavo, The Problem of Early Tin, Oxford: Archaeopress.\u0022 height=\u0022568\u0022 src=\u0022\/research-and-innovation\/sites\/default\/files\/hm\/BronzeAge2-01_3.jpg\u0022 title=\u0022Bronze Age trade may have been broader than researchers previously thought. Sources: M. Otte (2007) Vers la Pr\u00e9histoire, de Boeck, Bruxelles. M. Benvenuti et al. (2003), \u0026quot;The \u0026quot;Etruscan tin\u0026quot;: a preliminary contribution from researches at Monte Valerio and Baratti-Populonia (Southern Tuscany, Italy)\u0026quot;, in A. Giumlia-Mair et al, The Problem of Early Tin, Oxford: Archaeopress. R.G. Valera \u0026amp; P.G. Valera, P.G. (2003), \u0026quot;Tin in the Mediterranean area: history and geology\u0026quot;, in A. Giumlia-Mair \u0026amp; F. Lo Schiavo, The Problem of Early Tin, Oxford: Archaeopress.\u0022 width=\u0022586\u0022\u003E\n\u003Cfigcaption class=\u0022tw-italic tw-mb-4\u0022\u003EBronze Age trade may have been broader than researchers previously thought. Sources: M. Otte (2007) Vers la Pr\u00e9histoire, de Boeck, Bruxelles. M. Benvenuti et al. (2003), \u0022The \u0022Etruscan tin\u0022: a preliminary contribution from researches at Monte Valerio and Baratti-Populonia (Southern Tuscany, Italy)\u0022, in A. Giumlia-Mair et al, The Problem of Early Tin, Oxford: Archaeopress. R.G. Valera \u0026amp; P.G. Valera, P.G. (2003), \u0022Tin in the Mediterranean area: history and geology\u0022, in A. Giumlia-Mair \u0026amp; F. Lo Schiavo, The Problem of Early Tin, Oxford: Archaeopress.\u003C\/figcaption\u003E\n\u003C\/figure\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018My working hypothesis was that we would find very little variation, because I do not expect that many mines were active at the beginning of the Bronze Age. The result is, surprisingly, that we do have large variations among the bronze objects in the third millennium,\u2019 Dr Pernicka said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe next step will be seeing if they can match specific isotope signatures to specific mines, and broadening their list of mines to check.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EEgyptian puzzle\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDr Valentina Gasperini at the University of Liverpool has been working on solving a similarly ancient trade puzzle, this time involving not bronze but pottery imported to Bronze Age Egypt.\u003Cblockquote class=\u0022tw-text-center tw-text-blue tw-font-bold tw-text-2xl lg:tw-w-1\/2 tw-border-2 tw-border-blue tw-p-12 tw-my-8 lg:tw-m-12 lg:tw--ml-16 tw-float-left\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022tw-text-5xl tw-rotate-180\u0022\u003E\u201c\u003C\/span\u003E\n \u003Cp class=\u0022tw-font-serif tw-italic\u0022\u003E\u2018My idea is that we are still underestimating the amount of movements that were carried out.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cfooter\u003E\n \u003Ccite class=\u0022tw-not-italic tw-font-normal tw-text-sm tw-text-black\u0022\u003EDr Valentina Gasperini, University of Liverpool, UK\u003C\/cite\u003E\n \u003C\/footer\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EArchaeologists in the twentieth century found numerous imported items in an area southwest of Cairo known as the Faiyum, hinting that the area may have been an outpost for a desert trade.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018I think we underestimate the amount of movements and exchanges that were going on in the desert,\u2019 Dr Gasperini explained.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPrevious digs had shown that there was significant caravan activity in areas of the desert further south. As early archaeologists had brought many of their finds home with them, she began by making a comprehensive examination of artefacts in British and European museum collections that had been only briefly analysed by discoverers at the turn of the century.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018I created a database and analysed every single item, drew and took photographs, and dated the materials \u2026 from the old excavations,\u2019 Dr Gasperini said. As part of the EU-funded TRADES project, she was able to match them with their area of production by examining the elemental composition of the artefacts.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EShe was especially interested in a city known as Gurob, the site of a former palace and gateway to the Faiyum, which she thinks may have served as the trading post for a desert caravan.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESo far, her findings have hinted she might be right. She found the first evidence of oasis products in Gurob - amphora that could have been used to transport wine. That would suggest that there was a road leading through the desert. She is also examining satellite pictures in the hope of spotting ancient connections that could support such a route.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018My idea is that we are still underestimating the amount of movements that were carried out, even in peripheral areas,\u2019 Gasperini said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/textarea\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n \u003Cdiv id=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 class=\u0022ecl-help-block description\u0022\u003E\n Please copy the above code and embed it onto your website to republish.\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cinput autocomplete=\u0022off\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022form-4sixauqpmpf8zptb11krh8k6hzxoowi2hqinn7c7pl4\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_build_id\u0022 value=\u0022form-4sixAuqPMPf8ZPtB11krH8K6HzXOOWI2HqINN7C7Pl4\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003Cinput data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_id\u0022 value=\u0022modal_form_example_modal_form\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003C\/form\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E","dialogOptions":{"width":"800","modal":true,"title":"Republish this content"}}]