Researchers have uncovered evidence of the earliest metal ore extraction and metallurgy in Poland by studying lead artifacts dated between 800 and 500 B.C.
The team included scientists from the Institute of Archaeology at Jagiellonian University, the University of Science and Technology in Krakow, the National Center for Nuclear Research in Otwock, and the University of Warsaw. To analyze the lead artifacts, the researchers employed isotopic methods to determine their origin, as reported by Arkeonews. The results indicated that these items were made from lead sulfide sourced from the Olkusz deposits.
A necklace made from a lead tube from the early Iron Age (800–500 B.C.), found in a cemetery in Jankowice, Lesser Poland.
What Did the Scientists Discover?
Overall, the researchers examined eleven lead artifacts from late Lusatian cultural burial sites. Material analysis confirmed that most of the artifacts were crafted from local ore. This suggests that the lead deposits in the area were exploited a millennium earlier than previously believed by scholars.
Dr. Karol Dzengelewski from the Institute of Archaeology at Jagiellonian University explained that historical records and geochemical data indicated the use of the Olkusz deposits during the Roman period and in the Middle Ages. However, recent findings have pushed back the timeline for the exploitation of these deposits to the first millennium B.C.
“It can be assumed that the extraction and smelting of metal ores in Poland began around the 8th or 7th century B.C., with lead being used initially rather than copper,” Dr. Dzengelewski noted.
A lead ring from the early Iron Age (800–500 B.C.), found at a burial site in Swieb, Silesian Voivodeship.
The team plans to continue their research and ultimately reconstruct the patterns of raw material distribution for metallurgy, particularly copper alloys, from the Bronze Age (around 2000 B.C.) to the end of the early Iron Age (around 450 B.C.).
The researchers aim to expand the database of isotopic signatures (lead and tin) associated with artifacts from this period. Regarding iron artifacts, the team will analyze the chemical composition of slag and apply innovative methods, including osmium and strontium isotopic analysis. In doing so, the scientists will compare their results with extensive geochemical data on the oldest metal ore deposits across Europe.
The findings of the study were published in the journal Archaeometry.