The significance of investigating metals technology through specific case studies is paramount as each one reflects directly onto the social choices behind utilizing strategic mineral resources, the different levels of economic and political organisation and the use of ritual connotations towards appropriation of resources and technical knowledge. The project’s objective is to address three crucial research questions corresponding to three technological breakthroughs :
a) The emergence and early development of copper and silver extraction within the Late Neolithic/Bronze Age cultural framework (5th-2nd mill. BC). Relevant sites include Promachon-Topolnica and Sitagroi on the mainland, Limenaria, Aghios Antonios and Skala Sotiros on Thasos, and Mikro Vouni on Samothrace that yielded important metallurgical assemblages. The study of such material will contribute significant information on issues of raw materials acquisition, processing/enrichment of minerals and metals production while examining the possible links with Balkan, Western Anatolian, Cycladic and Cretan metallurgical centres.
b) The introduction of iron metallurgy associated with increased connectivity between sites of the North Aegean and Anatolia around 1200-700 BC. Iron ore deposits from Thasos and the Rhodope mountain range will be studied and their chemical composition will be compared to the composition of Early Iron Age metallurgical finds from Kastri in Thasos and iron objects from sites in Xanthi and Drama prefectures. Such an investigation will enable us to approach the crucial issue of the emergence/adoption of iron technology in this region.
c) The intensification of mining and extraction of base and precious metals during the Archaic and Classical period (700-323 BC), triggered by the establishment of Greek colonies on the Thracian coastline. Metallurgical finds from Abdera and Pistyros will be studied in conjunction with evidence from the mining zones at Kimmeria and mount Lekani respectively. Characterization of mineral ores and slag will contribute to an evaluation of the technology applied in silver extraction that was so important for the minting of coinage. Such an investigation aims to elucidate the relations between Thracian indigenous populations inhabiting the mining zone and the Greeks of the colonies producing and trading metals through their far-reaching exchange networks.