Evidence of Copper and Iron Deposits of the Protohistoric City of Temesa

Quaternary

article

Virgilio Vecchio¹  Maurizio Cannatà³  Edoardo Proverbio⁴  Elpida Piperopoulos⁴  Lorenzo Torrisi¹  Letteria Silipigni¹ 

[1] MIFT Department ,(Mathematics, Computer Science, Physics and Earth Sciences), University of Messina;National Archaeological Museum of Reggio Calabria, Piazza De Nava, 26, 89123 Reggio Calabria;National Archaeological Museum of Vibo Valentia;Engineering Department, University of Messina

关键词: Temesa;    protohistoric metallurgy;    ore minerals;    copper minerals;    iron minerals;    Odyssey;    supergene enrichment;    low grade metamorphic rocks;    goethite paramagnetic transition;    polarized reflected light microscopy;    X-ray powder diffraction;   

DOI  :  10.3390/quat6010018

学科分类：自然科学（综合）

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

With the name ‘Temesa’ (Latin Tempsa), the ancients identified a settlement located along the Tyrrhenian coast of Calabria, cited by sources as an international metal exchange emporium. The town is mentioned by Homer as being famous in the ancient world for the production of bronze, and in the I century A.D. Strabo wrote that there were rich copper mines near the city. Many years of study led to the recognition of Temesa as a complex urban system located between the Oliva and Savuto rivers, near Amantea. To confirm this hypothesis, we searched, in the surrounding rocky outcrops, for the presence of minerals useful for the extraction of iron and copper. Samples of 3 different rock stratifications were taken near the protohistoric settlement of Serra Aiello. The observation under an polarized reflected light microscope and the X-ray diffraction patterns revealed the presence of many minerals useful for the extraction of iron and copper in every sample. The heating of samples under both oxidizing and reducing conditions helped us to better quantify copper and iron minerals content causing, at the same time, the appearance of a marked paramagnetic behavior that could be associated with the presence of goethite. X ray fluorescence analysis showed a high concentration of iron and a low copper content.

【 授权许可】

CC BY