Bronze is the defining metal of the European Bronze Age and has been at the center of archaeological and science-based research for well over a century. Archaeometallurgical studies have largely focused on determining the geological origin of the constituent metals, copper and tin, and their movement from producer to consumer sites. More recently, the effects of recycling, both temporal and spatial, on the composition of the circulating metal stock have received much attention. Also, discussions of the value and perception of bronze, both as individual objects and as hoarded material, continue to be the focus of scholarly debate. Here, we bring together the sometimes-diverging views of several research groups on these topics in an attempt to find common ground and set out the major directions of the debate, for the benefit of future research. The paper discusses how to determine and interpret the geological provenance of new metal entering the system; the circulation of extant metal across time and space, and how this is seen in changing compositional signatures; and some economic aspects of metal production. These include the role of metal-producing communities within larger economic settings, quantifying the amount of metal present at any one time within a society, and aspects of hoarding, a distinctive European phenomenon that is less prevalent in the Middle Eastern and Asian Bronze Age societies.

中文翻译：

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欧洲青铜时代金属的起源，使用和流通：辩论状态

青铜是欧洲青铜时代的标志性金属，并且在一个多世纪以来一直是考古和科学研究的中心。考古冶金研究主要集中在确定组成金属，铜和锡的地质来源以及它们从生产者到消费场所的转移。最近，时间和空间上的循环利用对循环金属原料组成的影响已引起广泛关注。另外，关于青铜的价值和感知的讨论，无论是作为个体还是作为ho积的材料，仍然是学术辩论的焦点。在这里，我们汇集了几个研究小组在这些主题上有时会出现的分歧观点，以期寻求共同点，并确定辩论的主要方向，以利于将来的研究。本文讨论了如何确定和解释进入系统的新金属的地质来源。现存金属在时间和空间上的循环，以及如何在变化的成分特征中看到这种现象；以及金属生产的一些经济方面。其中包括金属生产社区在较大的经济环境中的作用，量化一个社会中任何时间存在的金属量以及of积方面的问题，这是一种独特的欧洲现象，在中东和亚洲青铜时代的社会中较不普遍。