Technical aspects of South Arabian raised bronze inscriptions: new data from Sumhuram (Sultanate of Oman)

During the 2005 excavation campaign on the site of the ancient South-Arabian city of Sumhuram (modern Khor-Rori, Sultanate of Oman), some fragments, presumably from an inscribed bronze bowl were unearthed. The fragments have been dated to the III-IV century AD on a stratigraphical basis, but stylistically they seem to be more coherently dated to the I-II century AD. Most of these fragments still showed the presence of some South-Arabian letters, originally part of a raised inscription decorating the upper part of the body of the vessel.. The question of how these inscriptions, found on many different types of artefacts, were produced, has already been faced in past researches: the analysis carried out on these new samples can help to define if they were cast at the same time with the vessel body or if they were added later. Therefore, the main aim of the study was the identification of the alloy and the technology used for the production of both the vessel and the high-relief inscription around the upper part of its body. The results indicate that the inscribed vessel consists of a leaded bronze alloy (Cu-Sn-Pb). The analysed fragments have been recognised as belonging to different artefacts on the basis of their composition and microstructure. However, all the fragments with inscriptions were produced by lost wax casting with the wax-thread moulding process.