Il torques tipo Canegrate di Fondo Paviani (Verona) alla luce delle indagini archeometriche

During the 2009 field work in the embanked site of Fondo Paviani, carried out by Padua University, a bronze torques was found, belonging to the typical north-western Italian productions of the late RBA. The artefact finds comparisons with specimens from north-western Lombardy and southern Piedmont. A series of archaeometric analyses were carried out on the Fondo Paviani torques and on other three similar artefacts from the Canegrate cemetery, in order to identify the composition and provenance of the metal. This aspect is indeed crucial for a better understanding of the relationships between the Po Plain area and north-western Italy at this time. Chemical and textural analyses with SEM-EDS and EPMA were carried out, as well as the measurement of the Pb isotopics ratios, in order to identify the source of the metal, with a spectrometer MC-ICP-MS. The resulting data show how all the torques were made with bronze with similar amounts of Sn (10-12%); there are no significant trace elements, with the exception of Ni in the Fondo Paviani torques and Fe in the Canegrate-gr. 75 one. The analysis of the isotopic data suggests the sources of copper, in all the artefacts, probably had a similar source, located in the south-eastern Alps. It must however be noted that, as of now, there are not any isotopic data for mineralisations of central Lombard Alps.