primary_scientific_research · src_bi_williams_veslud_2019
Boom and bust in Bronze Age Britain: major copper production from the Great Orme mine and European trade, c. 1600–1400 BC
R. Alan Williams, Cécile Le Carlier de Veslud · 2019
Reading ancient testimony
Ask who produced the document, for whom, and for what purpose. Distinguish its ancient creation from its modern edition or translation. Survival and excavation shape what can be read today.
Use the linked edition and reliability notes for the author, audience, transmission and limits of this particular source. Missing information is not an assurance of neutrality.
Document and modern access
- Type
- journal article and archaeometallurgical study
- Publication
- Antiquity, vol. 93, no. 371, 1178–1196
Records informed by this source
- date assertion South-west England archaeological search region — date assertioninforms · defines or contextualizes · Abstract; The Great Orme copper mine; Discussion; Conclusions; Figures 2 and 9
Integrates mine chronology, ore characterisation, metal analyses and production estimates to argue for a major Great Orme production peak and wide circulation.
- date assertion Wales archaeological search region — date assertioninforms · defines or contextualizes · Abstract; The Great Orme copper mine; Discussion; Conclusions; Figures 2 and 9
Integrates mine chronology, ore characterisation, metal analyses and production estimates to argue for a major Great Orme production peak and wide circulation.
- date assertion North Sea interaction zone — date assertioninforms · defines or contextualizes · Abstract; The Great Orme copper mine; Discussion; Conclusions; Figures 2 and 9
Integrates mine chronology, ore characterisation, metal analyses and production estimates to argue for a major Great Orme production peak and wide circulation.
- date assertion Great Orme copper mine — date assertioninforms · defines or contextualizes · Abstract; The Great Orme copper mine; Discussion; Conclusions; Figures 2 and 9
Integrates mine chronology, ore characterisation, metal analyses and production estimates to argue for a major Great Orme production peak and wide circulation.
- relationship Research record — associated withEvidence confidence: highinforms · provides evidence and date · Abstract; The Great Orme copper mine; Discussion; Conclusions; Figures 2 and 9
Integrates mine chronology, ore characterisation, metal analyses and production estimates to argue for a major Great Orme production peak and wide circulation.
- relationship Research record — associated withEvidence confidence: highinforms · provides evidence and date · Abstract; The Great Orme copper mine; Discussion; Conclusions; Figures 2 and 9
Integrates mine chronology, ore characterisation, metal analyses and production estimates to argue for a major Great Orme production peak and wide circulation.
- relationship Research record — associated withEvidence confidence: moderateinforms · provides evidence and date · Abstract; The Great Orme copper mine; Discussion; Conclusions; Figures 2 and 9
Integrates mine chronology, ore characterisation, metal analyses and production estimates to argue for a major Great Orme production peak and wide circulation.
- relationship Research record — associated withEvidence confidence: moderateinforms · provides evidence and date · Abstract; The Great Orme copper mine; Discussion; Conclusions; Figures 2 and 9
Integrates mine chronology, ore characterisation, metal analyses and production estimates to argue for a major Great Orme production peak and wide circulation.
- date assertion Peak copper production at Great Orme — date assertionEvidence confidence: highsupports · dates · Abstract; The Great Orme copper mine; Discussion; Conclusions; Figures 2 and 9
Integrates mine chronology, ore characterisation, metal analyses and production estimates to argue for a major Great Orme production peak and wide circulation.
- date assertion Reduced but continued Great Orme mining — date assertionEvidence confidence: moderatesupports · dates · Abstract; The Great Orme copper mine; Discussion; Conclusions; Figures 2 and 9
Integrates mine chronology, ore characterisation, metal analyses and production estimates to argue for a major Great Orme production peak and wide circulation.
- property Metal-production centreEvidence confidence: highsupports · defines · Abstract; The Great Orme copper mine; Discussion; Conclusions; Figures 2 and 9
Integrates mine chronology, ore characterisation, metal analyses and production estimates to argue for a major Great Orme production peak and wide circulation.
- property Research reconstruction, not a borderEvidence confidence: highsupports · defines · Abstract; The Great Orme copper mine; Discussion; Conclusions; Figures 2 and 9
Integrates mine chronology, ore characterisation, metal analyses and production estimates to argue for a major Great Orme production peak and wide circulation.
- property Contact evidence does not by itself prove migrationEvidence confidence: highsupports · defines · Abstract; The Great Orme copper mine; Discussion; Conclusions; Figures 2 and 9
Integrates mine chronology, ore characterisation, metal analyses and production estimates to argue for a major Great Orme production peak and wide circulation.
- entity Wales archaeological search regionEvidence confidence: highsupports · defines or contextualizes · Abstract; The Great Orme copper mine; Discussion; Conclusions; Figures 2 and 9
Integrates mine chronology, ore characterisation, metal analyses and production estimates to argue for a major Great Orme production peak and wide circulation.
- entity South-west England archaeological search regionEvidence confidence: highsupports · defines or contextualizes · Abstract; The Great Orme copper mine; Discussion; Conclusions; Figures 2 and 9
Integrates mine chronology, ore characterisation, metal analyses and production estimates to argue for a major Great Orme production peak and wide circulation.
- entity North Sea interaction zoneEvidence confidence: moderatesupports · defines or contextualizes · Abstract; The Great Orme copper mine; Discussion; Conclusions; Figures 2 and 9
Integrates mine chronology, ore characterisation, metal analyses and production estimates to argue for a major Great Orme production peak and wide circulation.
- entity Great Orme copper mineEvidence confidence: very highsupports · defines or contextualizes · Abstract; The Great Orme copper mine; Discussion; Conclusions; Figures 2 and 9
Integrates mine chronology, ore characterisation, metal analyses and production estimates to argue for a major Great Orme production peak and wide circulation.
- geography assertion Great Orme copper mine — geography assertionEvidence confidence: highsupports · locates or defines geometry · Abstract; The Great Orme copper mine; Discussion; Conclusions; Figures 2 and 9
Site maps and mine-location figures; generalized to protect against false precision.
- event Peak copper production at Great OrmeEvidence confidence: highsupports · provides evidence and date · Abstract; The Great Orme copper mine; Discussion; Conclusions; Figures 2 and 9
Integrates mine chronology, ore characterisation, metal analyses and production estimates to argue for a major Great Orme production peak and wide circulation.
- event Reduced but continued Great Orme miningEvidence confidence: moderatesupports · provides evidence and date · Abstract; The Great Orme copper mine; Discussion; Conclusions; Figures 2 and 9
Integrates mine chronology, ore characterisation, metal analyses and production estimates to argue for a major Great Orme production peak and wide circulation.
- property assignment Great Orme copper mine — has analytical property — Metal-production centreEvidence confidence: highsupports · supports assignment · Abstract; The Great Orme copper mine; Discussion; Conclusions; Figures 2 and 9
Integrates mine chronology, ore characterisation, metal analyses and production estimates to argue for a major Great Orme production peak and wide circulation.
- property assignment Great Orme copper mine — has analytical property — Contact evidence does not by itself prove migrationEvidence confidence: highsupports · supports assignment · Abstract; The Great Orme copper mine; Discussion; Conclusions; Figures 2 and 9
Integrates mine chronology, ore characterisation, metal analyses and production estimates to argue for a major Great Orme production peak and wide circulation.
- claim Great Orme's reduced later output does not form a single abrupt collapse at 1200 BCE.Evidence confidence: highsupports · supports claim · Abstract; The Great Orme copper mine; Discussion; Conclusions; Figures 2 and 9
Integrates mine chronology, ore characterisation, metal analyses and production estimates to argue for a major Great Orme production peak and wide circulation.
- claim Chemical compatibility links some British and continental bronze to Great Orme-type copper, but it does not identify every object as Great Orme metal or reconstruct a unique route.Evidence confidence: highsupports · supports claim · Abstract; The Great Orme copper mine; Discussion; Conclusions; Figures 2 and 9
Integrates mine chronology, ore characterisation, metal analyses and production estimates to argue for a major Great Orme production peak and wide circulation.
- claim Changes near 1200 BCE in Britain and Ireland were asynchronous and locally distinct rather than one synchronous island-wide collapse.Evidence confidence: highsupports · supports claim · Abstract; The Great Orme copper mine; Discussion; Conclusions; Figures 2 and 9
Integrates mine chronology, ore characterisation, metal analyses and production estimates to argue for a major Great Orme production peak and wide circulation.
- claim Great Orme was a major Bronze Age copper-production centre, with its highest output likely between about 1600 and 1400 BCE.Evidence confidence: highsupports · supports claim · Abstract; The Great Orme copper mine; Discussion; Conclusions; Figures 2 and 9
Integrates mine chronology, ore characterisation, metal analyses and production estimates to argue for a major Great Orme production peak and wide circulation.
- relationship Great Orme copper mine — within archaeological search frame — Wales archaeological search regionEvidence confidence: highsupports · supports relationship · Abstract; The Great Orme copper mine; Discussion; Conclusions; Figures 2 and 9
Integrates mine chronology, ore characterisation, metal analyses and production estimates to argue for a major Great Orme production peak and wide circulation.
- relationship Reduced but continued Great Orme mining — contradicts general model — Synchronous 1200 BCE collapse or invasion modelEvidence confidence: highsupports · supports relationship · Abstract; The Great Orme copper mine; Discussion; Conclusions; Figures 2 and 9
Integrates mine chronology, ore characterisation, metal analyses and production estimates to argue for a major Great Orme production peak and wide circulation.
- causal hypothesis Regionally asynchronous continuity and reorganization modelEvidence confidence: highsupports · tests hypothesis · Abstract; The Great Orme copper mine; Discussion; Conclusions; Figures 2 and 9
Integrates mine chronology, ore characterisation, metal analyses and production estimates to argue for a major Great Orme production peak and wide circulation.
- causal hypothesis Synchronous 1200 BCE collapse or invasion modelUnsupported explanationConfidence in this assessment: very lowConfidence in this assessment, not in the proposed storysupports · tests hypothesis · Abstract; The Great Orme copper mine; Discussion; Conclusions; Figures 2 and 9
Integrates mine chronology, ore characterisation, metal analyses and production estimates to argue for a major Great Orme production peak and wide circulation.