Iron Age and Roman Metallurgical Activities at the Spasovine Placer Tin Deposit, West Serbia

Abstract

Spasovine, on the south flank of Mt. Cer in West Serbia, is one of the rare localities where Late Bronze Age placer tin mining activities have been documented. Archeological pedestrian surveys on this river terrace unearthed ceramic fragments with irregular vitreous coatings, thought to be fragments of technical ceramics. Grey-bodied ceramics are typologically datable to the Roman Period ca. 200-300AD, while black-bodied sherds are consistent with prehistoric ceramics of western Serbia. SEM-EDS analysis has shown that the fragments are enriched in metallic residues (Zn, Sn, Cu, Pb in various combinations). Of the fourteen sherds studied, 10 Roman samples contain deep-penetrating interior Zn coatings, consistent with Zn cementation for brass. Three of these also contained younger enrichments of Sn, indicating that they were repurposed for bronze production at Spasovine. The prehistoric sherds contain tin along with Cu and Pb, consistent with the production of leaded tin bronze, which is not known from the area until the Iron Age (ca. 800-600BC). Thus, Spasovine was the site of mining and metallurgical activity, at least sporadically, over a period of 1700 years from the Late Bronze Age (14th century BC) to the Roman Period (2nd-3rd century AD). This demonstrates that small deposits of placer tin can have long-term impact on regional tin economies in ancient Europe.

Keywords: prehistory, Archaeometallurgy, Brass, bronze, Roman period, Iron Age, tin mining