The spread of the products and technology of metallurgy in the Carpathian Basin between 5000 and 3000 BC – Current questions

The origin of Neolithic and Copper Age copper finds could not be discussed independently from archaeological interpretation due to the lack of appropriate archaeometallurgical analyses from Hungary. The overall aim of our project is to provide new data about the sources of raw materials of copper finds. By the analysis of comparative geological samples, we are able to test the idea that considered the use of local sources as a basis of the wealth of metal in the Carpathian Basin during the Copper Age. We supplement the series of lead isotope analysis carried out on copper artefacts from secure find contexts by AMS dating in the frame of complex sampling strategy. This makes us possible to reconsider the typochronological system that classifies copper finds into the same time horizons from the Balkans via the Carpathian Basin to Central Europe. As results of the project, we can shed new light on social relations related to the spread of products and technology of metallurgy. We can find evidence for confirming, rejecting or refining some widely accepted topoi of the metallurgy in the Carpathian Basin.