Die Metallanalyse der figürlichen Messingobjekte aus Benin im Ethnologischen Museum in Berlin.

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]