By Olta Çakaj, Teuta Dilo, Gert Schmidt, Nikolla Civici, Frederik Stamati
ABSTRACT
Albania is situated west of the Balkan Peninsula while Shkodra and Durrës are respectively north-western
and western cities. The objects of this study are a fibula (IX-VIII BC) found in Shkodra and a snake bracelet
(III-I BC) found in Durrës. The purposes of this research paper are to study the chemical composition, production
technology, corrosion products, microstructure and the possible minerals used for the objects’ manufacture.
To fulfil these tasks the objects’ samples have been analysed with μ-XRF, OM, Vickers microhardness
tester and SEM-EDS. Both objects resulted authentic copper-tin alloys with less than 2% of lead. They
have approximate microhardness values (116.2HV and 113.6HV), with corrosion products from the first and
second oxidized layer. The fibula and the snake bracelet has been casted, hot and cold worked to obtain the
final shape. Both objects have lead and copper-iron-sulphur inclusions which suggest the possible use of
copper-iron sulphite minerals.
