Snapshot of a Final Bronze Age metalworker: Archaeometallurgical study of the hoard and the working tools from Chusa di Pesio, Cuneo, Italy

An important bronze hoard dated to the Final Bronze Age (FBA, X-IX century BC), has been recently discovered in Chiusa di Pesio, Cuneo, Northern Italy. It contains about 300 metal objects. Most of the bronze materials are ornaments and ornamental pieces, but also objects with specific functions, such as sword fragments and cup, and items related to the metallurgical activities (metal working tools and slag) are present. Several ornaments are the products of mould casting, whereas pieces were stored for metal recycling. An extensive archaeometallurgical characterization is presently in progress on 120 objects. A systematic non-destructive chemical investigation has been carried out on 90 samples by portable energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) spectrometry. Microsamples taken from 70 objects selected by typology, state of preservation, and preliminary compositional results have been investigated by optical microscopy (OM); scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS); electron probe micro analysis (EMPA), particle induced x-ray emission (PIXE) and conventional metallographic analysis. The materials exhibit a great variety in the composition of the alloy, crystal inclusions and working process. The chemistry and the manufacturing features of the objects analyzed to date, will be discussed in relationship to the age and to the typology of the objects.