A large number of ancient bronze artifacts has been excavated in the territory of Azerbaijan SSR and from analytical study of these it is the intention to establish the date of origin of the bronzes and further to determine what metals and alloys preceded the use of tin-bronze. It is worthy of note that a number of publications report local sources of tin in the Caucasus, but our studies have demonstrated such claims to be without scientific foundation. For the study of ancient metallurgy involving systematic historico-analytical investigation we have found the use of optical emission spectrochemistry invaluable. Our work commenced in 1952-53 with the development of analytical procedures for quantitative spectroscopy reported bt the author in 1960. It should be mentioned that previous examinations of ancient metal artifacts of Azerbaijani origin were conducted by wet chemical procedures with limited success and indeed, no clear characterization of ancient Azerbaijani metals resulted.