Identifying Archaeological Metal

"What is this made of?"

Identification on sites

• Iron, copper, lead, tin and zinc (can be plated with silver or gold)

Type of objects

1 What is the function of the object?2 How it was made?

- appearance, hardness, resiliency, ease of working, weight, chemical reactivity, melting point…

example –›

Type of objectsWrought and cast and iron – difficult to distinguish

tough and resilient heavy

Colour of the metal• Colour - an indication of its composition

Colour of the metal

Plating

• Plating - applying one metal on another – many methods and reasons

• Utilitarian and decorative

Plating• Most common types of plating prior to the 19th

century were tin, silver,gold and the base metals copper, copper alloys and iron.

• Early forms of plating were applied by dipping a base metal into molten plating metal or by fusing sheets of the plating metal over the base.

The ancient Roman key made of bronze

The end