preliminary metallurgical investigation of copper-based artifacts at tepe sagzabad in qazvin plain, iran (1500-800 bc)

tepe sagzabad, a site situated on the qazvin plain of north-central iran, was excavated from 1970 to 1998 by the institute ofarchaeology of tehran university. recent excavations by h. tala’i (1997-1999) yielded some metal artifacts dating to theearly iron age. ten of these copper-based samples were investigated using inductively coupled plasma optical emissionspectroscopy (icp-oes), scanning electron microscopy combined with energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (semedx)and optical microscopy (om). the results of these analyses showed that the metal objects at tepe sagzabad aremade of different copper alloys, including: pure copper, copper-arsenic and copper-tin. in addition, multiple procedures,including hot-working, cold-working, and annealing were used as manufacturing techniques. the copper-based objectsfrom tepe sagzabad provide evidence for the continued use of pure copper and arsenical copper alongside tin bronzes onthe iranian plateau during the early iron age.