@article {Val{\'e}rio20161003, title = {Middle Bronze Age Arsenical Copper Alloys in Southern Portugal}, journal = {Archaeometry}, volume = {58}, number = {6}, year = {2016}, note = {cited By 0}, pages = {1003-1023}, publisher = {Blackwell Publishing Ltd}, abstract = {In the Iberian Peninsula, the copper metallurgy from the Chalcolithic to the Middle Bronze Age (MBA) was mostly characterized by low arsenic contents. A collection of 53 MBA artefacts from southern Portugal was analysed by micro-EDXRF, optical microscopy, SEM{\textendash}EDS and Vickers to investigate the metal composition and manufacture. No technological distinction was found between artefacts from domestic and funerary contexts, which were radiocarbon-dated to 2000{\textendash}1500 cal bc. The arsenic contents of almost 100 MBA artefacts from this region, including the above-mentioned set, have a Gaussian distribution with a high average (3.9 wt\% As). Possible explanations are discussed for this distinctive metallurgy at the south-western end of the Iberian Peninsula. {\textcopyright} 2015 University of Oxford}, issn = {0003813X}, doi = {10.1111/arcm.12212}, url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84945302290\&doi=10.1111\%2farcm.12212\&partnerID=40\&md5=44c585c7be0cc949bcf9e67d645ed2fd}, author = {Val{\'e}rio, P.a and Soares, A.M.M.a and Ara{\'u}jo, M.F.a and Silva, R.J.C.b and Baptista, L.c} }