%0 Journal Article %J Archaeometry %D 2016 %T Middle Bronze Age Arsenical Copper Alloys in Southern Portugal %A Valério, P.a %A Soares, A.M.M.a %A Araújo, M.F.a %A Silva, R.J.C.b %A Baptista, L.c %I Blackwell Publishing Ltd %P 1003-1023 %R 10.1111/arcm.12212 %U https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84945302290&doi=10.1111%2farcm.12212&partnerID=40&md5=44c585c7be0cc949bcf9e67d645ed2fd %V 58 %X 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–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 2000–1500 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. © 2015 University of Oxford %Z cited By 0