RECIPES FOR SARDINIAN BRONZES


Bronze figurines, perhaps the best known expression of the Nuragic culture on Sardinia, are associated with the numerous stone towers dotting the island, and are found in their burials and their shrines. Warriors, women, animals, boats, and other types are represented. Their chronology is problematic since so few come from specific, datable archaeological contexts, and there is no agreement on stylistic influence from mainland Italy and/or the eastern Mediterranean. Another problem results from recently conducted chemical analyses showing components of surprising formulation and dimensions. Indigenous production is now attested by lead isotope analyses matching Nuragic objects to Sardinian copper ores, and the excavation of a Nuragic metal workshop where fragments of the clay moulds used to cast the bronzetti by the lost-wax process have been found. We report here the results of elemental analyses of figurines in Sardinian and American museums. The questions of whether there existed recipes to produce bronzetti, and if so, what their components were and what additions might have been used are addressed by quantitatively comparing the alloy composition of an increasing corpus of analyzed Sardinian figurines. Metallurgical production is then discussed in the context of other evidence for Nuragic economic organization, and contrasted with contemporary Mediterranean metalworking practices.