Middle Bronze Age axes from the eastern Adriatic: towards the reconstruction of copper supply networks in the 2nd millennium BC

Abstract This study presents chemical (ED-XRF) and lead isotope (HR-MC-ICP-MS) analyses of 29 bronze axes recovered along the eastern Adriatic coast, offering new insights into the metallurgical background of archaeological types with distinct distribution patterns. The analysed axes date from the Middle to the early Late Bronze Age (17th − 14th centuries BC), a crucial period marked by intensified copper production in emerging Alpine mining districts and the decline of other metallurgical centres, such as those in eastern Serbia. Due to scarcity of analytical data and lack of closed contexts, the role of the eastern Adriatic within the dynamic copper supply networks of Bronze Age Europe has remained poorly understood so far. The region’s intermediary position between copper production centres in northeastern Italy and the inland Balkans, which from at least the beginning of the Late Bronze Age (14th century BC) were largely supplied with Italian copper is of particular relevance. The results presented here contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of regional metallurgical practices and help refine our reconstruction of the chronological and spatial dynamics of copper distribution across Central Europe, Italy, and the Balkans.