Experimental design of the Cu-As-Sn ternary colour diagram
Authorized Users Only
2018
Authors
Radivojević, M.Pendić, J.
Srejić, A.
Korać, Marija
Davey, C.
Benzonelli, A.
Martinon-Torres, M.
Jovanović, N.
Kamberović, Željko
Article (Published version)
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The aesthetic appearance of metals has long been recognised in archaeometric studies as an important factor driving inventions and innovations in the evolution of metal production. Nevertheless, while studies of ancient gold metallurgy are well supported by modern research in colour characteristics of gold alloys, the colour properties of major prehistoric copper alloys, such as arsenical copper and tin bronzes, remain either largely understudied or not easily accessible to the western scholarship. A few published studies have already indicated that alloying and heat treatment change the colours of copper alloys, although they are mainly based on examples of prehistoric tin bronze objects and experimental casts. Here we present a procedure for building the Cu-As-Sn ternary colour diagram, starting with experimental casting of 64 binary and ternary alloys in this system. We used two types of information to produce two different ternary colour diagrams: one based on photographs of the sa...mples, and the other based on the colorimetric measurements. Furthermore, we developed a procedure for creating a graphic representation of colours in the Cu-As-Sn ternary diagram using QGIS. As an initial case study, we plotted the composition of the world's earliest tin bronze artefacts; the graphic representation further supports claims about the importance of a golden hue for their invention and demand, c. 6500 years ago. We argue that the presented colour diagrams will find wide use in future investigations of aesthetics of prehistoric copper alloys.
Keywords:
Colour / Copper alloys / Ternary diagram / Cu-As-Sn alloys / Colorimetry / Archaeometallurgy / Composition / Voronoi cells / Tin bronzeSource:
Journal of Archaeological Science, 2018, 90, 106-119Publisher:
- Academic Press Ltd- Elsevier Science Ltd, London
Funding / projects:
- Serbian Ministry of ScienceMinistry of Science, Serbia
- AHRC [AH/J001406/1]
- D.M. McDonald Fund - McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge
- Arts and Humanities Research Council [AH/J001406/1] Funding Source: researchfish
DOI: 10.1016/j.jas.2017.12.001
ISSN: 0305-4403
WoS: 000425564000008
Scopus: 2-s2.0-85038863385
Institution/Community
Tehnološko-metalurški fakultetTY - JOUR AU - Radivojević, M. AU - Pendić, J. AU - Srejić, A. AU - Korać, Marija AU - Davey, C. AU - Benzonelli, A. AU - Martinon-Torres, M. AU - Jovanović, N. AU - Kamberović, Željko PY - 2018 UR - http://TechnoRep.tmf.bg.ac.rs/handle/123456789/3954 AB - The aesthetic appearance of metals has long been recognised in archaeometric studies as an important factor driving inventions and innovations in the evolution of metal production. Nevertheless, while studies of ancient gold metallurgy are well supported by modern research in colour characteristics of gold alloys, the colour properties of major prehistoric copper alloys, such as arsenical copper and tin bronzes, remain either largely understudied or not easily accessible to the western scholarship. A few published studies have already indicated that alloying and heat treatment change the colours of copper alloys, although they are mainly based on examples of prehistoric tin bronze objects and experimental casts. Here we present a procedure for building the Cu-As-Sn ternary colour diagram, starting with experimental casting of 64 binary and ternary alloys in this system. We used two types of information to produce two different ternary colour diagrams: one based on photographs of the samples, and the other based on the colorimetric measurements. Furthermore, we developed a procedure for creating a graphic representation of colours in the Cu-As-Sn ternary diagram using QGIS. As an initial case study, we plotted the composition of the world's earliest tin bronze artefacts; the graphic representation further supports claims about the importance of a golden hue for their invention and demand, c. 6500 years ago. We argue that the presented colour diagrams will find wide use in future investigations of aesthetics of prehistoric copper alloys. PB - Academic Press Ltd- Elsevier Science Ltd, London T2 - Journal of Archaeological Science T1 - Experimental design of the Cu-As-Sn ternary colour diagram EP - 119 SP - 106 VL - 90 DO - 10.1016/j.jas.2017.12.001 ER -
@article{ author = "Radivojević, M. and Pendić, J. and Srejić, A. and Korać, Marija and Davey, C. and Benzonelli, A. and Martinon-Torres, M. and Jovanović, N. and Kamberović, Željko", year = "2018", abstract = "The aesthetic appearance of metals has long been recognised in archaeometric studies as an important factor driving inventions and innovations in the evolution of metal production. Nevertheless, while studies of ancient gold metallurgy are well supported by modern research in colour characteristics of gold alloys, the colour properties of major prehistoric copper alloys, such as arsenical copper and tin bronzes, remain either largely understudied or not easily accessible to the western scholarship. A few published studies have already indicated that alloying and heat treatment change the colours of copper alloys, although they are mainly based on examples of prehistoric tin bronze objects and experimental casts. Here we present a procedure for building the Cu-As-Sn ternary colour diagram, starting with experimental casting of 64 binary and ternary alloys in this system. We used two types of information to produce two different ternary colour diagrams: one based on photographs of the samples, and the other based on the colorimetric measurements. Furthermore, we developed a procedure for creating a graphic representation of colours in the Cu-As-Sn ternary diagram using QGIS. As an initial case study, we plotted the composition of the world's earliest tin bronze artefacts; the graphic representation further supports claims about the importance of a golden hue for their invention and demand, c. 6500 years ago. We argue that the presented colour diagrams will find wide use in future investigations of aesthetics of prehistoric copper alloys.", publisher = "Academic Press Ltd- Elsevier Science Ltd, London", journal = "Journal of Archaeological Science", title = "Experimental design of the Cu-As-Sn ternary colour diagram", pages = "119-106", volume = "90", doi = "10.1016/j.jas.2017.12.001" }
Radivojević, M., Pendić, J., Srejić, A., Korać, M., Davey, C., Benzonelli, A., Martinon-Torres, M., Jovanović, N.,& Kamberović, Ž.. (2018). Experimental design of the Cu-As-Sn ternary colour diagram. in Journal of Archaeological Science Academic Press Ltd- Elsevier Science Ltd, London., 90, 106-119. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2017.12.001
Radivojević M, Pendić J, Srejić A, Korać M, Davey C, Benzonelli A, Martinon-Torres M, Jovanović N, Kamberović Ž. Experimental design of the Cu-As-Sn ternary colour diagram. in Journal of Archaeological Science. 2018;90:106-119. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2017.12.001 .
Radivojević, M., Pendić, J., Srejić, A., Korać, Marija, Davey, C., Benzonelli, A., Martinon-Torres, M., Jovanović, N., Kamberović, Željko, "Experimental design of the Cu-As-Sn ternary colour diagram" in Journal of Archaeological Science, 90 (2018):106-119, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2017.12.001 . .