Development, Technology & Usage of Bronze Age Defens. Armour

Weapon design often applies the most advanced technologies a society has to offer after they have been experimented with and refined by working jewellery and ornaments. They can therefore be used as an indicator of the technological and socio-cultural complexity of a society or culture. Most studies on Bronze Age defensive weaponry (cuirasses, greaves, helmets and shields) in Eastern Europe were carried out over 20 years ago, and even the latest publications on defensive armour tended to focus on typology and the analysis of distribution patterns. Many fundamental aspects of their manufacture, use and functionality have not been comprehensively investigated and we are still left with a very incomplete picture of this aspect of Bronze Age craftsmanship. This project will enhance our understanding of the social, cultural and technological milieu in which the earliest metal defensive armour in Europe was developed and used. The study will focus primarily on the processes of manufacture of helmets, greaves and cuirasses. By analysing their material properties, shape and manufacture we will gain further insights into the capability of these weapons to withstand impact during combat. The study area is the Carpathian Basin and the eastern Alpine-Carpathian area, where the earliest European Bronze Age defensive armour is found. All armour from this area will be documented and studied. Sampling permissions have already been granted for the majority of selected sites. The bronzes will be studied at the museums, documenting traces of manufacture and usage (e.g. impacts of offensive weapons as swords, axes or spearheads). Surface analyses will be carried out by using a reflected-light microscope and a digital camera in each of the museums concerned. Parts of the armour that have been cast will be studied using x-ray. Radiography does not only reveal the procedure and quality of the casting technique, it also shows how different parts of bronzes were fixed together. Working at the Dipartimento di Chimica e Chimica Industriale (DCCI) in Genoa, Italy, the best Italian institute for archaeometallurgy, the following methods of analyses will be used to study alloy composition, microstructure and corrosion types of the armour: (portable) XRF, SEM-EDXS-EBSD, Microstructure analyses (microprobe analyses, metallographic analyses using optical microscopes), (portable) hardness measurements, Raman microspectroscopy, Colorimetry and Impedance Spectroscopy. Portable equipment for analysing the armour in a non-invasive way shall be used whenever possible. Where sampling has been authorised, the analyses of the microstructure as well as the alloy of selected bronze armour will be carried out using optical microscopy and SEM-EDXS-EBSD. A separate proposal was submitted to the FP7 CHARISMA program to carry out non-invasive PGAA and PIXE of Hungarian finds in Budapest. This project with its innovative and trans-national scope will achieve radically improved knowledge about the development, manufacture and usage of the first metal defensive armour in the European Bronze Age. It will not only allow us to explain technological changes through time and space, but also contribute significantly to our understanding of the social and economic impacts of these objects as part of the extensive networks of trade and as testimonies of conflict that permeated later Prehistory. Another aspect of the proposed project is the study of the impact of restoration and storage methods during the last decades or centuries, which will be of direct help to museum curators.

Since the earliest antiquarian and archaeological research, the study of ancient weapons and warfare has been of great interest, and has remained a popular and attractive topic. This is primarily as a consequence of the ubiquitous role that conflict has played in the history of the 19th and 20th centuries, but also a fascination with the high level of technological skill and craftsmanship that is represented by the production and use of such weapons of war. However, the defensive elements of this Bronze Age armoury, such as greaves, cuirasses and helmets, have rarely received the same level of detailed study, particularly in their usage. Their publication has dealt primarily with chronological and typological issues, and often relied on old, inaccurate drawings as the basis for their interpretation.The project recognised the need for the direct detailed analysis and recording of these elements of bronze armour in their respective museum collections and institutions, in order to provide a reliable study of European Bronze Age armour. This documentation process included material from over 12 European countries, providing a full photographic and archaeological record. This process increased the known number of examples, revising their distribution and contributing to the overall understanding of the nature of European Bronze Age body armour. This process included their archaeometallurgical analysis, providing the opportunity to take physical samples from most of this armour to better understand the chemical composition of the bronze and their manufacturing process. Non-invasive analysis was also conducted on a number of finds, primarily those from Hungary, which included PGAA (Prompt-Gamma Activation Analyses), PIXE (Particle-induced X-ray emission) and ToF-ND (Time of Flight Neutron Diffraction) at the Budapest Neutron Centre. These analyses were generously funded by two CHARISMA-projects (www.charismaproject.eu).The results of this project, which have so far been presented in six single-authored articles, five co-authored articles, one article in a conference proceeding, as well as one full monograph, provide for the first time an overview of all Bronze Age body armour known, taking into account armour sold to private collections. These also present for the first time all available analyses carried out on all helmets, greaves and cuirasses of the European Bronze Age. These analyses comprise not only those undertaken as part of this project but also all previously published studies, with which they have been compared. This substantial set of metallurgical data contributed significantly to the revision of typological and chronological aspects and allowed an additional connection with metallographic and alloy compositional features of metal body armour across Europe. The on-site documentation of the body armour in combination with these material analyses also gave a greater insight into the manufacture and use of each of these armour types and how these changed according to chronology or geographical range. With its innovative and international scope, this project significantly increased our knowledge about the development, manufacture and use of the first defensive metal armour of the European Bronze Age. This greater understanding also contributes to further interpretations of the social and economic impact of these artefacts as part of the extensive European trade networks, and their utility as testimony to the conflict that permeated later prehistory. It also allows us to explain technological changes through time, connecting them with social and economic changes particularly concerning warfare. The results of this project have also aided in the production of more accurate replicas of Bronze Age armour in order to test their functionality, in terms of their mechanical and material properties. In turn, the results of such experimental archaeology using these replicas will further enrich our knowledge of Bronze Age warfare and society.