First, two questions (that are not intended to be sarcastic):
1. Why would you assume that the coins were made from a single source of
silver and that the lead isotope composition is reflecting the source?
Silver seems very likely IMO to have been recycled throughout antiquity.
2. How good are the provenance/find conditions of the coins? From an
actual archaeological context, or via the art/coin market with a reputed
findspot?
Best, Mark Hall
On 3/24/2007, "Ponting, Matthew" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>I'm after some information about Anatolian silver sources. I have lead
>isotope data that seem to indicate an Anatolian origin for 97% silver
>coins struck in Tyre. Trace element data include high gold and
>exceptionally high cobalt (0.4%), chromium (0.01%) and nickel. As far
>as I can tell so far, these sort of figures indicate either dry-ore or
>nickel-cobalt-native silver ore types of the sort found in Canada, USA,
>Mexico, Sardinia, Norway, Sweden, Alsace and the Erzgebirge (as far as I
>can glean from the literature). Anatolia is not included and DeJesus is
>of no help. Dayton (1993) entertains the idea that cobalt-rich silver
>from Saxony was being traded to Mycenae along with its by-product
>cobalt-blue glass as far back as 1400 BC.
>
>However, I understand that this sort of mineralization is often
>associated with granite masses, schists and basalt formations with tin
>veins and therefore may therefore be similar to the geology of the
>Taurus region of Anatolia where tin was extracted in antiquity. I'm
>hoping that this may in turn indicate that such silver deposits could
>have existed in antiquity, but, as you can probably tell, I'm no
>geologist. I'm hoping that someone with more geological knowledge than
>I can help point me in the right direction.
>
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>Matthew
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>Dr Matthew J. Ponting
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>Lecturer in Science-Based Archaeology
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>School of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology
>
>University of Liverpool
>
>Hartley Building
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>Liverpool L69 3GS
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>
>
>Tel: 0151-794-4393
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>
>
>http://www.liv.ac.uk/sace/organisation/people/ponting.htm
>
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