copper mining and smelting in the british bronze age

CHAPTER 29

COPPER MINING AND SMELTING IN THE BRITISH BRONZE AGE: NEW EVIDENCE OF MINE SITES INCLUDING SOME RE-ANALYSES OF DATES AND ORE SOURCES Simon Timberlake and Peter Marshall

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Twelve Early Middle Bronze copper mining sites have now been identified within the UK as a result of archaeological excavation and the radiocarbon dating of fire setting remains, namely bone and antler mining tools. This evidence suggests a fairly widespread phase of small-scale mining and prospecting for local ore sources within the coastal and upland areas of western Britain, beginning around 2000 BCE and terminating around 1500 BCE—this termination perhaps coinciding with the opening-up of new deposits of chalcopyrite ore in the Alps and the import of metal from Europe. An improved comprehension of the sequence of metal exploitation in Britain has recently been acquired through Bayesian modelling of more than 91 extant radiocarbon dates from these mines. Current re-examination of the totality of this excavation evidence has since provided us with a more realistic model of the mining process, the types of ores extracted, and with the strategies adopted for prospection during a significant period of metal exploitation beginning with the Beaker phenomenon in Britain and Ireland.

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INTRODUCTION

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Over the last 25 years the discovery and excavation of some 12 Bronze Age metal mines or prospection sites, and the probable identification of at least eight others within England and Wales, have provided a suitable time-frame for the first exploitation of metal within the UK (Timberlake 2009, 2010). This exploitation consisted of a widespread phase of early prospection, most of which took place between 2000 and 1650 BCE, followed by production at a very limited number of sites (such as the Great Orme in North Wales) which continued right up until the Late Bronze Age (Lewis 1996; Timberlake 2009). All of these investigations, except for that on the Great Orme, form part of a long term program of study by the Early Mines Research Group (EMRG, Crew and Crew 1990). The majority of these mining sites lie on or close to the western seaboard of Britain, with a concentration in North and mid-Wales, but particularly in mid-Wales, where these sites seem to be associated with both lead and copper veins, where the copper mineralization lies close to the surface (Fig. 29.1). Most of these mines were originally identified on the basis of finds of cobblestone tools, the majority of which were collected as beach pebbles along the coast. Only at distances greater than 20 km from the coast do we find the regular use of river pebbles and glacial erratics. Both morphometric analysis and archaeological experiment have suggested there could have been distinct advantages in the choice of beach cobbles over riverine cobbles, in terms of shape, smoothness and competency (lack of flaws), wherever the former were available (Jenkins and Timberlake 1997; Timberlake and Craddock 2013: 42).

Chapter 29: Copper M ining and Smelting in the British Bronze Age

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pr Fig. 29.1: Map of British Isles showing occurrence of stone mining hammers and locations of Bronze Age copper mines. Inset map shows the group of eight Bronze Age mines within Central Wales (drawing B. Craddock).

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Simon T imberlake and Peter M arshall

Given that we know that mining in southwest Ireland began around 2400 BCE at the Ross Island Mine, Killarney (O’Brien 2004), it would seem reasonable to view the current pattern of sites as simply an eastward migration of copper prospecting and mining into mainland Britain following the decline of production at the former site, yet in reality this pattern is far from simple.

BRONZE AGE COPPER MINES

ISLE OF MAN

NORTH WALES

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We find evidence for copper prospection on the Isle of Man, at a location close to one of the shortest sea crossings between Ireland and Britain. Traces of this exploitation are found on the stunning cliffs of Bradda Head, where stone hammers were first found in 1989 (Pickin and Worthington 1989; Doonan and Hunt 1999). The mineralization here can be seen far out to sea, much as it would have been when Bronze Age peoples crossed in their plank boats or perhaps skin curraghs from Ireland. The presence of this “metal route” seems all the clearer when we examine the Copper Age/Early Bronze Age metalwork from the island, which shows affinities with both Irish and early Welsh and Scottish (Migdale) axes, along with the mixing (or recycling) of Ross Island metal with copper from other sources (Rohl and Needham 1998; Davey et al. 1999).

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On the island of Anglesey just off the North Welsh coast, evidence of Early Bronze Age copper mining has been found in at least four to five locations underground on Parys Mountain (Fig. 29.2), where David Jenkins has been working since the early 1990s (Jenkins 1995, 2002). The first miners here may have worked in opencast drifts dug from the surface to depths of over 20 m with the help of fire setting and stone tools, mining small shoots of oxidized minerals along faults close to the junction with the sulphide zone (Timberlake 2010). In the 18th century CE when the deposit was rediscovered, lumps of native copper weighing up to 15 kilos were found close to the surface (Lentin 1800), most probably near the contact of the gossan/supergene zone. Some 20 km to the southeast of Parys Mountain, along the North Welsh coast, lie the important Bronze Age mines located on the Carboniferous Limestone headland of the Great Orme. These form the largest Bronze Age copper mines in the British Isles, and are arguably among the largest in Europe. Within the area of the main opencast in the Pyllau Valley close to the summit of this headland a stock work of intersecting copper veins carrying oxidized ores (mostly malachite together with goethite in dolomite and calcite) within a weathered and partly-rotted dolomitic limestone were worked by Bronze Age miners by means of an opencast linked to several kilometers of narrow galleries and larger chambers underground extending to depths of over 30 m (Lewis 1990; Dutton and Fasham 1994). Estimates of Bronze Age copper production here range from 30 to nearly 1800 tons of metal in total (Lewis 1996; Timberlake 2009: 97).

CENTRAL WALES Copa Hill, Cwmystwyth Approximately 60 km due south of Parys Mountain and the Great Orme is the mid-Wales group of mines, chief among which is the Comet Lode opencast on Copa Hill, Cwmystwyth (Fig. 29.3). This is a good example of a small to medium sized Bronze Age mine that is also unique in terms of its more or 420


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Fig. 29.2: Bronze Age mining site underground on Parys Mountain, Anglesey, north Wales. David Jenkins excavating (photo ST).

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Fig. 29.3: View of Copa Hill, Cwmystwyth in the Cambrian Mountains of Central Wales. The Bronze Age opencast shows up in sunlight on the distant hill (photo ST).

less complete survival, and also lack of later disturbance (Timberlake 2002). Its pristine state made it an ideal choice for archaeological investigation; 5000 tons of prehistoric mine spoil cover the hillside below the top of the 10 m+ deep opencast (Timberlake and Switsur 1988). Some 2.5 m below the surface of the now infilled working, a short fire sett gallery with the very wellpreserved marks of stone tools in its roof (Fig. 29.4) was uncovered when this site was first excavated in 1989 (Timberlake 1990). Since then almost a third of the mine has been excavated, and many thousands of stone tools have been recovered and recorded, with a significant percentage of these tools showing a range of utilitarian uses. With the exception of just one or two examples, none were grooved, and only 9% showed some evidence of modification for the purposes of hafting (Timberlake and Craddock 2013). However, more than 41% appear to have been re-used, some up to three or four times, and all for different purposes (ibid.: 91). The toolset includes mining hammers, chisels, wedges, crushing stones and ore anvils—and very rarely grindingstones (ibid.: 49, Fig. 29.13). 421


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Fig. 29.4: Roof of mine gallery within the Bronze Age mine on Copa Hill. The imprint of the stone tools used in mining can be clearly seen (photo ST).

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The waterlogged condition of the mine sediments overlying some of the rock floors within the Comet Lode Opencast on Copa Hill have enabled the survival of many of the objects and tools of daily working life. This includes some of the twisted handles made of hazel that once held hammerstones used as mining tools, fragments of kreel-type baskets used to carry or to wash ore, ropes for lifting bags or for carrying wood, and the remains of antler picks also used as mallets with wedges and stone chisels. When these were discarded, some were also thrown as fuel onto the fires used to break up the rocks (Timberlake 2003). Clearly, however, the most sensational find from these excavations was the discovery of the hollowedout 5 m-long log launder (Fig. 29.5), perhaps one of the very earliest examples of mine drainage known. One of three such launders excavated was found in situ in its last functional position within the entrance cutting to the mine. The sides reveal the marks of the metal axes used to carve it (ibid.: 70, Fig. 75a). The original intention of these launders may have been to tap and channel away the water coming into the working at a spring located on the southern edge of the opencast. For instance, we know that flooding was a serious problem in the deeper workings, and that this contributed to the eventual demise of the mine in or about 1500 BCE. Nevertheless, this same water may also have been used for washing and separating the crushed ore within the entrance cutting (working floor) located at the front of the opencast; it was here that some of the ore was separated from the gangue, and perhaps lead minerals from copper, and possibly also the malachite from the chalcopyrite. Micro-excavation of some of the lenses of crushed mineral present within the Bronze Age mine spoil has revealed considerable amounts of relict chalcopyrite (part of this oxidized to goethite), most of this apparently discarded during the hand-picking and concentration of ore (Jenkins and Timberlake 1997). This evidence supports the idea that secondary copper minerals such as malachite, but perhaps also native copper and copper oxide, could have been the minerals preferentially sought. If this was the case they would have been very thoroughly collected, with the result that little or no trace of these survive today. However, a recent investigation by Alan Williams (see Chapter 28, this volume) has identified small amounts of all of these minerals surviving as a relict ore within the prehistoric tips on

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Fig. 29.5: Views of the 4000 year old wooden drainage launder in the entrance cutting to the Bronze Age mine, Copa Hill (photos ST).

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Copa Hill. More significantly, wherever we find weathered vein outcrops that were not discovered (or at least worked) in the Bronze Age (such as at Guefron Mine to the east of Plynlimon) malachite and the other secondary copper minerals are more abundant. On Copa Hill drill cores were taken in 1996 from the sides of the emptied Bronze Age workings. These cores show that the prehistoric miners worked through the relatively oxidized carbonate-quartz vein right up to the solid, unaltered sulphides and galena, then stopped (Jenkins and Timberlake 1997: 33–35).

CENTRAL–NORTHWEST ENGLAND Alderley Edge Early in the second millennium BCE people were also exploiting the malachite and azurite impregnated sandstones and shale bands present within the Triassic (Bunter) sandstones of Alderley Edge in Cheshire, a site close to present day Manchester (Timberlake and Prag 2005). This mine lies more than 100 km to the east of the Great Orme and the Central Wales Orefield. A Bronze Age wooden shovel was recovered from here in the 19th century (Sainter 1878), while the sometimes complex-grooved stone mining hammers from this locality are unique within the British Isles (Timberlake 2005a). Pit workings containing grooved stone tools were found at Brynlow in 1874 (Dawkins 423


1875) and at Engine Vein in 1901 (Roeder 1901), while another undisturbed example was discovered and archaeologically excavated close to the southern edge of Engine Vein in 1997 (Fig. 29.6) (Timberlake and King 2005). This has provided us with an interesting record for the prospection for copper dating from around 1900 BCE, and the subsequent use of this pit for ore processing, and then finally as a hearth around 1700 BCE. Within this and some of the neighboring emptied-out pit workings on Engine Vein it is still possible to see the imprint of the use of these stone tools within the baritized sandstone, while the base of the excavated pit preserves the soot stains from fire setting. In its base a layer of placed cobbles was found, which included some neatly broken and deposited fragments of worn stone tools (Timberlake 2010). The mines of Alderley Edge may have produced as little as one to two tons of copper metal during the Early Bronze Age.

Ecton Copper Mine

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The most recent archaeological work carried out by the EMRG has focused on the survey and excavation of several small prehistoric workings which form part of the Ecton Copper mines in northwest Staffordshire, the latter located on the edge of the limestone Peak District of Central England. Here three possible sites of Bronze Age extraction for copper carbonate ores were identified on the mineralized outcrops close to the summit of Ecton Hill, two of which, Stone Quarry Mine and The Lumb, were investigated in 2008 and 2009. On the better preserved Lumb, one of at least four short bedding plane opencuts was partially

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pr Fig. 29.6: View of Engine Vein, Alderley Edge, Cheshire in England. On the left hand side of the opencut the remains of cut-away Bronze Age pit workings can be seen (photo ST).

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excavated to reveal a series of small working hollows mined using hand-held hammerstones, bone picks, scrapers and antler points (Timberlake 2010). The discovery of an Early Bronze Age flint scraper nearby was a rare find for this site. The bone tools from here have been dated and used to model the periodicity and sequence of mining within this series of hilltop sites. Some of these were recovered from the spoil of a 17th century re-working of the prehistoric Stone Quarry Mine, while the remainder come from re-deposited as well as original contexts that have been excavated on The Lumb. The dating of these mining tools suggest a main period of working between 1800–1700 BCE.

RADIOCARBON DATING

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Following the fieldwork we have established a research framework to help guide future investigations and link the results of this with future ore and metal provenancing studies (see Alan Williams, Chapter 28, this volume). An equally important role has been to provide a more meaningful analysis of the radiocarbon chronologies. The latter study has proved extremely important on account of the absence of cultural and chronologically meaningful finds (such as pottery) at the mines themselves, alongside the negative evidence for associated smelting and metalworking sites. Because of the lack of any chronological phase markers, the date ranges for these sites have been both broad and overlapping, the latter covering many hundreds of years, with quite uncertain start and end dates for the mining activity. The current dating project by Peter Marshall has to some extent helped to resolve these difficulties, and while still probabilistic, the trends presented here are generally more meaningful. The resulting model charts a phenomenon of indigenous exploitation which appears to follow the adoption of metallurgy spreading from mainland Europe through Ireland into Britain.

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BAYESIAN MODELLING

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In order to identify the accurate measurements (i.e., where the radiocarbon concentration in the sample has been accurately measured) and the accurate dates (i.e., those accurate measurements from samples with good taphonomic provenance) an assessment of the existing 91 radiocarbon determinations from early mining activity in Wales and England was undertaken in 2012. Following this assessment a series of site-based Bayesian models were constructed for interpreting the chronology from the following sites: Alderley Edge, Copa Hill, Ecton, Parys Mountain and the Great Orme. This approach (which is encapsulated by Bayes’ theorem) is fundamentally probabilistic and contextual, and incorporates both our existing knowledge as well as our data (or “posterior beliefs”) (Bronk Ramsey 2009). The Bayesian model for Ecton incorporates radiocarbon dates (shown in outline) from two areas of the mine working. The samples are all from fragments of tools used for mining (and therefore have excellent taphonomic integrity), although there is no stratigraphic relationship between them, the “prior belief” incorporated into our model is that they are all related. This model therefore provides a series of estimates for the dates of the tools used for mining (shown as solid distributions), and for archaeologists more importantly, an estimate of the beginning and ending of activity – i.e., start, The Lumb. If one assumes that mining might have shifted from one of these locations to the other, then there is a good correlation here with the model which suggests that Stone Quarry tools are older than those on The Lumb, therefore the duration of mining within the deeper workings at Stone Quarry may have been greater (between 30 and 120 years) than on The Lumb (between 30 and 75 years). The probability of course is 425


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that mining was much shorter than this at both locations. Interestingly, there seems to have been a short recurrence of mining or prospecting activity on The Lumb sometime during the Middle Bronze Age. A model for the currency of early mining in Wales and England is presented here which has been constructed by taking estimates for the start and end of mining activity at individual sites and then combining these with some of the dates from these sites. This model shows good overall agreement between the radiocarbon dates and the prior information, suggesting that this activity most probably started in the last quarter of the third millennium cal. BCE. British mines fall into three spatially distinct groups—mid-Wales (the Plynlimon area), the north Wales coast and northwest central England. By estimating the first dated mining activity within each of these areas (i.e., First mid-Wales) an evaluation of the temporal spread of mining activity can be determined. It is clear from this that the earliest dated mining activity took place in the mid-Wales group of mines (80% probability). The spread of mining activity across Wales and England might best be depicted in Fig. 29.7. It shows the most likely order for the start of mining activity in these three areas as follows: mid-Wales>north Wales coast> northwest central England> =43.3% probability. The statistical trend shows an obvious movement eastwards from mid-Wales to England over a relatively short period of time. When compared with the similarities in mining methods and tools used, this suggests that a mutual knowledge and experience once linked the miners of mid-Wales and central England. Currently all of the Irish mine dates are in the process of being amalgamated into a chronological model for the British Isles. Although it is early to draw a finite conclusion, the evidence would seem to suggest that mining and the search for metals migrated to mainland Britain during the most active period of exploitation of the Ross Island mine, rather than just being a consequence of its demise; i.e., it would appear that the Mount Gabriel-type mines appeared somewhat later than the transmission of mining expertise and prospection interests to west-central Wales. Recent re-analysis of the dates for the Great Orme Mines suggests that mining began there around 1700 BCE but then had its most active period around 1500–1300 BCE, when most of the copper was being produced. Some of the latest Middle Bronze Age–Late Bronze Age dates appear to come from the deepest levels in the mine.

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DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS

The adoption of this approach of pan-regional fieldwork to the investigation of prehistoric mining in Britain has met with some success in helping to provide sufficient dating evidence and archaeological data to understand the ore deposits, the ores mined, the technology adopted, and just as important, the spread of indigenous mining and extractive metallurgy eastwards across Britain from the end of the third millennium to the middle of the second millennium BCE. Bronze Age copper mines have still not been identified in Scotland (although a grooved stone “mining tool” was found at the Wanlockhead Mine in 1929 (Pickin 2008) and others are alluded to in earlier 19th century discoveries (Hunter 1884), the Lake District or in Cornwall, while tin extraction in SW England (judging from finds of prehistoric antler picks and other objects within later “stream works” (Penhallurick 1986) appears to be almost exclusively alluvial, and because of this the sites have almost certainly been destroyed by later re-working. It is possible therefore that we might be dealing with the totality of the surviving evidence. A summary of what we currently know might thus provide a useful and moderately reliable account of the “story” of early mining and the beginnings of metallurgy in the British Isles. 426


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pr Fig. 29.7: Bayesian modelled dates (posterior density estimates shown in black) for the main British Bronze Age mines. The changes in start and end dates indicate the probable timewise shift in prospection and mining: Central Wales >North Wales> Central England (P. Marshall, English Heritage).

THE SEARCH FOR COPPER Our re-analysis of the radiocarbon chronologies of the mines suggests that early prospecting for new copper sources in Britain begins before the decline of the Ross Island Mine. Central Wales appears to have been one of the earliest areas of mining interest in Britain, suggesting trans-Irish Sea routes across to southwest Wales or north Wales via the Isle of Man, and along the coast to the area of the Dyfi Estuary (and the hinterland of Plynlimon). 427


Prospectors or perhaps just the ideas then spread rapidly northwards and also eastwards into north Wales and central-northwest England. Possibly we are looking at two phases or waves of prospection; a movement from southwest Ireland to central Wales, north Wales then northwest England, or simultaneously from Ireland to central Wales and Ireland to north Wales, then to northwest England. The Great Orme was probably discovered early on, at the very beginning of the second millennium BCE, but it was not worked on any significant scale until later.

THE EARLIEST MINES

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Both at Alderley Edge (campsites and flint tools) and at Copa Hill (some early radiocarbon dates associated with surface working) there is some minor evidence for a Mesolithic-Neolithic interest in minerals—possibly for pigments. At Alderley Edge some of mineralized soft sandstones are both varied and strongly colored (Timberlake and Prag 2005; Timberlake 2009). There may well have been a Beaker “association” with the initiation of metal mining at a number of sites (e.g., Ross Island, Copa Hill and Alderley Edge). The Banc Tynddol Bell-Beaker-type gold foil disc was found at the foot of the mineral vein on Copa Hill (Timberlake 2009: 102–104). The date of the latter find may be consistent with the very earliest metal mining taking place at this mine (i.e., 2200–2100 BCE). The earliest Bronze Age miners were perhaps pastoralists engaged in transhumance agriculture. They appear to have been working on Copa Hill mostly in the summer–autumn months, and at the beginning of each season they may have brought animals and fresh stone tools with them from the coast (Timberlake 2002). Wood for fuel came from the clearance of new pastures. The copper ore may never have been smelted by the miners, which might explain the lack of smelting sites. In fact, rich, hand-picked ore (concentrate) may even have been traded for metal, simply as a means to enter the exchange economy. By 1600–1500 BCE most of these upland mines (including Parys Mountain) were probably flooded and abandoned.

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COPPER MINING AND PRODUCTION IN THE MIDDLE–LATE BRONZE AGE The Great Orme Mine appears to have been the main source of British copper between 1600–1400 BCE. Here miners may have lived in or close to the mine; they were probably supplied with meat and tool material, and working may have been continuous (Lewis 1996; James 2011) The deepest workings on the Great Orme suggest that some mining took place in the Late Bronze Age, perhaps reaching the water table and the sulphide zone. By now metal was coming from other (Continental) sources.

METAL PRODUCTION From 2300 to 1800 BCE the arsenical signature of Ross Island-sourced metal within British copper and bronze artifacts becomes weaker as this metal is recycled and local metal is added (Bray 2012). Lead isotope analysis would seem to be problematic with regard to ore/metal provenancing studies in the British Bronze Age. There would appear to be an issue of overlap in lead isotope signatures for potential British ore deposits, while one also needs to consider the problem of “pooling of metal” from a number of different mined sources (Timberlake 2009; Bray 2012). 428


It now seems likely that much of the smelting of ore probably took place away from the mines themselves (Timberlake 2005b). Increasingly we are realizing that it is important to understand metalworking processes and also original compositions of ore and metals through experiment. Recent work is helping to frame models for smelting and simple metal artifact production as it might have been done in the Early Bronze Age (Timberlake 2005b, 2007). Great Orme metal might have been the source for the important Middle Bronze Age Acton Park metalwork industry (1500–1400 BCE) which appears to have a northeast Wales origin (Rohl and Needham 1998). New metal from Alpine sources (perhaps with its origin in the deeper-mined chalcopyrite being exploited on the Mitterberg and at other sites) reaches the UK as recycled scrap from 1400 BCE onwards.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

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We would like to thank David Jenkins and Andy Lewis for providing us with the 14C data for Parys Mountain and the Great Orme, and John Meadows (formerly English Heritage) for the original analyses of the Ecton dates. Alan Williams provided us with useful discussion on the subject of ores mined, while Brenda Craddock helped with the analysis of hammerstones and also the production of some of the graphics used in this paper. I am grateful to the entire team of the Early Mines Research Group and the many people who made these excavations and research projects possible.

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