Studies on the beginnings of metallurgy (SAM)

In 1947 the so-called Stuttgart Group was formed, which by 1970 had examined a total of 22000 metal objects (copper and bronze) for their chemical composition. The finds from Europe and the Near East that were investigated date back to the Copper and Bronze Ages. The results were published in three volumes under the title “Studies on the beginnings of metallurgy” and today form the basis for many archaeometallurgical questions. The data help us to better understand and research the spread of metallurgy in the Old World.

Participants: S. Junghans, E. Sangmeister und M. Schröder

Report

After 1970 the analyses were continued with a focus on gold, so that approx. 5300 analyses of gold objects could be prepared. After the dissolution of the Stuttgart group at the end of the 1970s, the work was continued at the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg, among others, and with significant participation by Ernst Pernicka.