Period: Bronze Age (1700-500 BC)

Project title: Tosidede lerforme til støbning af bronze i yngre bronzealder

Researchers: Peter Hansen, Denmark

and Bo Jensen, Ph.D. student, Copenhagen University, Denmark

E-mail: peter_lys(at)hansen.mail.dk or bbj(at)hum.ku.dk

Year: 2002

Abstract:

A small number of sites from the Bronze Age have provided abundant traces of bronze casting. These include bi-lateral clay moulds. The moulds were used to cast simple tools such as knives and spear heads and they can be used several times. The question is whether these finds can tell us something about possible mass production. The experiment will show how the clay mould behaves after repeated use in order to illustrate how many times it typically could have been used.

Reference number: HAF 18/02

Project title: Forsøg med støbeforme fra bronzealderen

Year: 2001

Abstract:

In 2001 investigations were carried out into how the various compositions of cast artefacts can be deduced from the artefacts’ microstructure. For this purpose, casts were made in two different mould materials and with three different sizes of artefact. 10% tin-bronze was cast in a mould at 1100ºC and all the casts were carried out outdoors at a reconstructed casting site. The experiment revealed that the choice of mould material has a significant influence on the microstructure of the artefact. It seems obvious to expand the data to investigate the influence of other parameters such as the thickness of the mould and the casting temperature etc.

Reference number: HAF 02/01