Open AccessLocal provenance of raw materials for prehistoric pottery production at the Spasovine tin placer site (Western Serbia)
Author(s) -
Wayne Powell,
Lina Pacifico,
Terrence Mitchell,
Steffanie R. Cruse,
Arthur H. Bankoff
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
starinar
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2406-0739
pISSN - 0350-0241
DOI - 10.2298/sta2070041p
Subject(s) - cassiterite , pottery , prehistory , placer mining , archaeology , provenance , geology , placer deposit , bronze age , chalcolithic , archaeological science , tin , geochemistry , geography , materials science , metallurgy
Archaeological finds at Spasovine, on the south flank of Mt Cer, near the town of Milina, indicate that it was settled in the Eneolithic and seasonally inhabited for tin placer mining in the Late Bronze Age. The site is highly disturbed and abraded domestic pottery is the most common material found. An analysis of the mineralogical assemblages that comprise the temper sand in a subset of the prehistoric pottery sherds from the site indicate that the sand was obtained from the adjacent Milinska River. Key minerals that link the pottery to on-site production from local materials include almandine-spessartine series garnets, the tin-bearing mineral cassiterite (SnO2) and a microlite group mineral ([Ca,Sn,U]2[Ta,Nb]2O6(OH,F]). The unusually common occurrence of cassiterite within the pottery sherds relative to the abundance in the Milinska today suggests that the tin ore grade in the Milinska River may have been significantly higher in prehistory.