Sheet metal working in the Bronze Age and Iron Age in Southern Central Europe

J. Fries-Knoblach

Institute of Prehistory, University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the diversity of pre- and protohistoric techniques of sheet metal working and to illustrate the high craftsmanship of the metallurgists by means of selected examples. Surviving tools and products with traces of the working process form the only sources of information, because no written evidence exists from the region and period under investigation (13th to 1st cent. B. C.).

Keywords: prehistory, archaeology, sheet metal working, sheet metal decoration