The flux of copper metal through the Late Neolithic and Eneolithic in Italy

A new study, led by Prof. Gilberto Artioli of the Department of Geosciences of the University of Padua and recently published in Scientific Reports, defined what happened with the ancient metallurgy in Italy.
Based on 49 new analyses of important archaeological objects from the Alpine region, the Po River Valley and Central Italy, mostly axes dated from the Late Neolithic to the Late Eneolithic, the study shows that the diffusion of copper in Northern Italy (approximately 4500-2200 BC) includes three major periods of metal use and/or production, each related to specific ore sources.
During the Late Neolithic all the objects were manufactured and imported from the Balkans. Then with the Rinaldone and the Remedello Cultures, about 3600-3500 BC, there is the starting of copper production in Tuscany and there is no firm evidence of exploitation of the Alpine deposits, which actually started to yield copper only around the middle of the 3rd millennium BC, in connection or slightly earlier than the Beaker cultural event.
"What we found is definitely a new model for the ancient introduction of copper in the region", Prof. Artioli points out.
Videomaker: Barbara Paknazar