Metallurgy

Jade Ross, Cris Salazar, Thomas Sweeney created on this wiki page.

 

Metallurgy: The technique or science of working or heating metals so as to give them a desired shape or property. 

 

 

 [Mycenaean dagger blades from Shaft Grave IV Grave Circle A, Mycenae,Greece.c. 1600-1700 BCE. Bronze inlaid with gold, silver and black neillo, length about 9" long. National Archaeological Museum Athens. photo credit: Netschoolbook]

 

 

Dagger Blades

     -inlaid gold, silver, and black neillo into bronze

     -imply the war like nature of these people.

     -mainly cerimonial blades

     -1600- 1500 B.C

     -9" long

 

   

These dagger blades are significant in discussing Mycenaean metallurgy because they provide examples of the style employed by mycenaean artists as well as showing how the primary use for their metalworking techniques was to make weapons and armor for combat. The style of weaponry normally employed would be much less elaborate, however it would be crafted with the same techniques with which these blades were crafted. This also speaks to the Mycenaeans skills in refining bronze, however it also shows that they did not use iron yet.  

 

 

 

[Funerary Mask, from Grave Circle A. Mycenae, Greece. D rumored to be Agamemnon's, beaten gold, about 12" high, 1600-1500 BCE. National Archeological Museum, Athens. photocredit: Oklahoma University]

 

 

 

The Funerary Mask

     -beaten gold mask

     -1st attempt of Greeks to create a model of the human face at the life size scale

     -1600-1500 B.C.

     -12" high

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This mask shows the sheer artistic skill of the Mycenaean artists, and the amount of gold used suggests bustling trade routes with Egypt. It also shows Egyptian influence, the mask resembles the ones that were placed on the sarcophagi of Egyptian kings. It suggests a certain reverence for the dead as well. It also appears to have been made using a mold. 

 

 

 [Vaphio Cup (one of a pair), 1500 B.C.E. Gold with repousse decoration (pounded gold), about 3 1/2" high. National Archeological Museum, photo credit: University of Illnois at Urbana-Champaign]

 

 

Vaphio Cup

     -gold cup

     -contains 

     -picture of a captured bull

          -landscape motifs

               -rocks, trees, cloud

 

     -shows the technical experience of the metal workers

     -made with two plates

          -one was pounded gold to make the outside

          -the second was worked smooth for the inside

 

The Vaphio cup demonstrates the Cretean influence on Mycenaean metallurgy. The picture of the captured bull as well as the strong similarities between this and other Cretean pieces shows that the civilizations were in contact and perhaps were trading partners. The gold also again shows the trading routes with Egypt and the Middle East.

 

 

  

Bibliography

   

1. Kliener, Fred S., and Richard G. Tansey. Gardner’s Art through the Ages. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1996.
2. Pomeroy, John. “Mycenaean Art.” 18 Nov. 2008.