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A series of 56 brass statuettes from Benin has been analysed by emission spectrography and atomic absorption spectrometry. Since from already published analyses of memorial heads and relief plates it is obvious that there is clear relation between the composition of a brass object from Benin and its date of manufacture, there was a considerable interest to check whether the alloys used for the statuettes fit into this already established system. The metal analysis of the statuettes showed that most of them have been made from a brass with very high amounts of zinc, which is a feature of products of the later phases of manufacture. But there are too some statuettes made of bronze or of a brass with low concentrations of zinc, characteristic for early objects. Besides the high concentration of zinc there are further arguments of a late production, like the high concentration of cadmium or the decrease of trace element concentrations, first of all of nickel and antimony. With respect to characteristic features of defined groups of statuettes, altar groups are rich in zinc, while statuettes of dignitaries contain less zinc. Among the statuettes of animals, those rich in zinc are frequent, but always there are a few examples with low concentrations of zinc, indicating an earlier origin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the Ethnological Museum of Berlin I98 relief plates have been analyzed by atomic absorption spectroscopy. It has been found, that they have been made from brass, which is in its composition entirely different from the brass which had been used for commemorative heads, but identical in their composition with that of Udo heads. The characteristic feature of the brass of the relief plates is an elevated amount of lead, while commemorative heads normally are relatively poor in lead. Further. it became obvious that relief plates with animals and Europeans usually are poorer in zinc and lead than most of the relief plates with Africans. The supposition of Sydow (1932) that flat plates are earlier than those plates with a marked relief is supported, since an increase of zinc is a sign for a later production. A considerable number of relief plates could be found which have an identical composition, due to a joint production from one batch of brass. This leads to a determination of the sequence of brass cargos brought from Europe to Benin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]