What is it about?
New research presents over 300 new analyses of bronze objects, raising the total number to 550 in 'the archaeological fingerprint project'. This is roughly two thirds of the entire metal inventory of the early Bronze Age in southern Scandinavia. For the first time, it was possible to map the trade networks for metals and to identify changes in the supply routes, coinciding with other socio-economic changes detectable in the rich metal-dependent societies of Bronze Age southern Scandinavia.
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Why is it important?
This research shows that the Únětice downfall (the dominant cultural group in central Europe) at 1600 BC resulted in a raw materials shortage in northern Europe. However, the missing cultural border opened the way to new sources across the Alps.
Perspectives
"This multi-disciplinary approach - based jointly on conventional archaeological methods and novel scientific methodologies processing large data quantities - allows us to detect these correlating changes and identify contemporaneity with societal changes recognised by colleague researchers".
Dr. Heide Wrobel Nørgaard
Moesgaard Museum, Department of Archaeology
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Shifting networks and mixing metals: Changing metal trade routes to Scandinavia correlate with Neolithic and Bronze Age transformations, PLoS ONE, June 2021, PLOS,
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0252376.
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