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•pXRF analysis on a set of 80 Late Antique copper artefacts from southern Iberia.•LIA of primary produced high Zn brass objects revealing local production.•Differential productive patterns.•Primary production of brass vs recycling of bronze, gunmetal or leaded alloys.

Metallurgy is a common topic when discussing Early Bronze Age societies, as its social impact has been traditionally used to support the appearance of social inequality. Different models have been proposed for the Bronze Age Argaric society of SE Iberia. One includes a highly centralised hierarchical production system, and the other consists of decentralised production at a local scale.

•A new Late Bronze Age sword from Mallorca.•New data on Western Mediterranean sword’s technology and manufacture.•Archaeological, chronological and social interpretation of swords in the Talayotic culture.•Multiple characterization of cultural heritage objects by XRF, ICP-MS, LIA, X-Rays methods.