Lead isotope tracing of metal traffic in the Chełmno land (north-central Poland) during the Early Iron Age

Abstract During the ca. 750 year-long period spanning the Late Bronze Age to Early Iron Age (1200–450 BC), the Chełmno land ( Kulmerland ) in north-central Poland housed one of the northernmost group of the Lusatian culture, archaeologically defined as a spread of (sub)cultures and regional groups which continued the legacy of the Urnfield culture into the Early Iron Age (800–450 BC) across many regions in Poland, Slovakia, northern Bohemia and eastern Germany. During this period, the access to metal and widespread metal-hoarding may have played a significant role in political and socio-economic competition and negotiations among the Lusatian power elites, thereby influencing their cultural interactions and technological choices. However, until now the metal traffic and cultural shifts in the region of Chełmno during the Early Iron Age could not be firmly set into an archaeometallurgical context due to the lack of available evidence that can be provided by lead isotope analyses of metal artefacts. Based on new elemental and lead isotope data for 45 bronzes from various archaeological contexts related to the Lusatian culture in Chełmno land, we present compelling evidence that this region of northern Poland was involved in a metal trading network that connected much of Europe in the 8 th –5 th c. BC, stretching from southern Spain to southern Turkey via North Tyrol, and extending south to Sardinia and north to the copper mines at Great Orme in Wales.