• Delqué-Količ, Emmanuelle
• Aubert, Michel
• Fluzin, Philippe
• Berranger, Marion
• Leroy, Stéphanie
• Dillmann, Philippe
• Vega, Enrique

Abstract

Semi-ferrous products, such as metal reserves supplying forging workshops, are privileged markers of the circulation of goods and the organization of trade networks. Several thousand of these products, attributed to the Iron Ages, are shaped like flat irons ending in a rolled end, and are also known as currency-bars. In the context of this article, an exceptional collection of more than 70 currency-bars, found in an area extending from the Val de Saône to the surroundings of Salins-les-Bains (Jura), has been studied by applying the latest methodologies developed in the fields of dating iron objects, the characterization of materials and provenance studies. The results obtained allow us to reconsider the interpretations resulting solely from the study of discovery contexts and shed new light on their chrono-cultural context, which is much older than previously assumed. The use of archaeometric methods has also made it possible to specify the nature and quality of the materials, to define the know-how and to identify the chemical markers characteristic of the sources of production. These interdisciplinary approaches enable us to propose a new analysis of the conditions of production, circulation and deposition of these objects.

Topics

• Deposition
• impedance spectroscopy
• laser emission spectroscopy
• iron
• forging