The focus of the article is the Vatin culture settlement at the site of Vinča-Belo Brdo in Northern Serbia. The general idea is that this settlement, whose existence was relatively short in time, benefited from being established by the Danube — a great connective factor in the world of the Middle Bronze Age. It shares many characteristics with the contemporary settlements in the southernmost part of the Carpathian basin, starting from the position in the vicinity of the Danube, at the places which had already been settled in prehistory, prior to the Middle Bronze Age. Not only do they have pottery style in common, but the wider repertoire of finds illustrating the material culture. What’s more, comparison of the material remains from Vinča with the neighbouring sites from the left Danube bank enlightens how the Vatin culture was integrated into a wider space of the Bronze Age cultures of the Carpathian basin, influencing the Balkans hinterland, too.

One of the most interesting categories of artifacts for archaeometallurgical research includes deposits of bronze items, so-called “metallurgists hoards”. They contain, aside of final products, many fragments of raw material and, moreover, metallurgical tools. An important source for the studies on the history of metallurgical technology is hoard from Przybysław, Greater Poland district.
Thus, the aim of the work is the identification and interpretation of bronze-working practices and strategies adopted by prehistoric communities of the Late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age (ca. 600 BC). The examined objects are characterized in terms of their design, structure, and chemical composition. The methods chosen for the studies of artifacts include: metallographic macro- and microscopic observations using optical microscopy (OM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), the analysis of chemical composition with the methods of energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), and X-ray fluorescence (ED-XRF).
The thermodynamic analysis of the alloys was performed on the basis of the CALPHAD method. The experimental melts allowed to verify the theoretical considerations and to determine the characteristic temperatures of changes.
The old casting technology can be analyzed basing on computer modeling and computer simulation methods. Simulations in the MAGMASOFT® software are a good example to illustrate how to fill a mould cavity with a molten bronze for a hoop ornament. It is also an appropriate tool to determine temperature distribution in a mould. The simulations also show the possible disadvantages with this old technology.

The article presents chosen aspects of foundry engineering of the settlement dwellers, including the archaeometric characteristics and

metal science analysis of the artefacts, as well as an attempted reconstruction of the production organization. Discovered in Szczepidło

(Greater Poland), the foundry workshop is unique in Central European Bronze Age.

This workshop foundry operated roughly XIV-XII Century BC. Its production is evidenced by the presence of markers of the whole

production cycle: semi-finished and finished products, production waste, fragments of crucibles and casting ladles with traces of usage,

and tools. On this basis, the alloys and foundry technologies used have been described.

The analysis of foundry technology of copper alloys in the settlement area was carried out by observing the surface and structure of the

products, semi-finished artefacts and fragments of crucibles by applying optical microscopy (OM), confocal microscopy (CLSM) and Xray

radiography (RT). The investigations of compositions were made by means of the energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy

(ED-XRF) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with an energy dispersive X-ray analysis system (EDS).