In the metalwork tradition of the Isthmo-Colombian area, which in its core comprises Costa Rica, Panama and north-western Colombia, copper plays an essential role. It was added to (argentiferous) gold to produce guanín (also known as tumbaga), the primary material used in the metallurgy of the Isthmo-Colombian Area, and more rarely made into unalloyed copper artefacts. This data-driven study combines our material-based investigations of metal objects from the museum collections of the Museo Nacional de Costa Rica, the Ethnologisches Museum der Staatlichen Museen Berlin and the Museo del Jade y de la Cultura Precolombina with previously published legacy data. By comparing the distribution, types and technological characteristics of gold-copper alloy and copper objects, we aim at shedding light at the use of copper in the Pre-Columbian metallurgy of Costa Rica from different perspectives.

Local types of coinage testify to the emerging use of silver in the Balkan interior, possibly related to abundant ore deposits in the region. Here, we present Pb isotope data for silver coins minted by local tribes and settlements (anepigraphic coins attributed to the Derrones/Laeaei, Damastion, Pelagia, Kings of Paeonia) between the 5th and 3rd centuries BCE. For comparison, we analysed coinage of the potential Greek emporia Dyrrhachium and Apollonia for their main element and Pb-Ag isotope compositions. Statistical data evaluation demonstrates close material connections between coins from the Balkan interior and identify a predominantly local raw material provenance. The majority of Damastion’s issues defines a tight cluster fitting Strabo’s (VII.7.8) account that the settlement possessed nearby silver mines in the Balkan interior. Novobërdë/Novo Brdo (Kosovo) can be plausibly hypothesised among the available reference data to have been one of the main ore districts supplying the mint. Mixing is evident for coins from the Kings of Paeonia and coinage attributed to the Derrones/Laeaei. Virtually identical end-members suggest that Paeonian regal coinage recycled tribal issues with contribution of metal obtained from Damastion’s hypothesised mines. Contemporaneous coinage struck by Dyrrhachium as well as end-members calculated for Thasos and the Macedon kingdom (Albarede et al. in Bullion mixtures in silver coinage from ancient Greece and Egypt, J Archaeol Sci 162:105918, 2024a) signal metal sourced from the Balkans, presumably the Macedonian/Paeonian border area. Comparison of data from Greek city-states and coinage issued by Apollonia and Dyrrhachium for the Romans demonstrates a change in the type and origin of raw materials and bullion composition, indicating a shift in monetary customs and possibly metal production technology.

The wealth of pre-Columbian gold, copper and guanín (an alloy consisting mainly of gold and copper; also tumbaga) artwork of Costa Rica suggests that exploitation of its abundant ore deposits goes back way before the Spanish conquest. The name of Costa Rica itself in fact alludes to the large numbers of golden metal objects worn by the indigenous peoples upon arrival of the conquistadors. Up to now, however, very little is known about pre-Columbian mining in the country or the raw material provenance of these artefacts.In a transdisciplinary project, we aim to reconstruct the metallurgical process chain by combining (mining) archaeological research with geochemical analysis of local ores and metal artefacts using a combination of different techniques. We identified four major gold and copper districts with different mineralisation types, which are the focus of our fieldwork-based research. They are surveyed for potential signs of pre-Columbian metal production and sampled for ores and their processing remains. On the other side of the process chain, we focus on the metal artefacts in museum collections. They are systematically registered in a database, which serves as a basis to identify correlations with the geochemical signatures of the artefacts, and to retrace potential links to possible areas of origin or different workshops. Once the necessary basic data have been collected, we will focus on economic and socio-cultural aspects of metal production and circulation. The results from Costa Rica will be put into perspective of New World early metallurgy and can provide a starting point for future research between Mesoamerica and the Isthmo-Colombian region.

While lead isotopes serve to determine potential ore provenance, silver isotopes help evaluate if a specific ore flagged by Pb isotopes has actually been exploited as a silver source of bullion in antiquity. The combination of Ag and Pb isotopes thus constitutes a powerful tool to address provenance and identify potential ore sources. It has recently been observed that the vast majority of silver isotopic abundances in hundreds of silver coins from different historical periods (pre-Roman and Roman, Middle Ages, early modern times) and different localities (Persia, Greece, Rome, Western Europe, England, Spanish Americas) falls in a remarkably narrow interval (± 0.1 permil, or ± 1 on the epsilon scale used by geochemists to enhance the visibility of small isotopic differences, group 1). Five Greek coins and some pieces from Levantine hacksilber hoards dated to the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages have isotopic abundances somewhat below the range of group 1 (–0.2 to –0.1 permil, or -2 to -1 on the epsilon scale, group 2). The coverage of Ag isotopes in ores from the western Mediterranean, with the exception of Iberia, is inexistant. Here the above-mentioned approach is illustrated with new Pb and Ag isotopic analyses of samples from southern Sardinia and southern France. The majority of Ag isotope compositions of galena samples from Sardinia belongs to group 2 and none to group 1. While scholarly works imply that Sardinia may have provided silver to the Levant during the Iron Age, the exact location of the Sardinian ores that contributed to classical and archaic Greek coins is still unknown. Galena samples from southern France (the Pyrenees, Montagne Noire, Cévennes) are characterized by Ag isotope compositions from both groups 1 and 2, indicating that silver-bearing ore deposits in Gaul could be considered a potential source for silver bullion, both before and during the Roman era.

Ore deposits in the Balkan Peninsula were intensively mined for silver and other metals in the Roman and medieval periods. Coinage mainly issued by tribal groups between the early 5th and the end of the 3rd century BCE provides indirect evidence that silver extraction predates the Roman conquest of the region. However, identification of centers of past metal production and reconstruction of large-scale silver fluxes can only be achieved using a comprehensive geochemical database of potential ores. Here, we present high-precision Pb-Ag-S isotope data and trace element systematics for 128 ore samples from 36 mineralizations from the Balkans as well as one semi-reacted ore from a settlement site (=archaeological sample) and one andesite analyzed as a whole-rock and as a K-feldspar separate. Each ore site was selected for its geological characteristics and documented or assumed historical and/or archaeological significance.The reported data reconstruct the formation of ore bodies from large pre-existing Pb stocks derived from upper crustal sources, modified by tectonic and metasomatic processes, and eventually remobilized by magmatic ac-tivity. Lead isotope maps establish distinct isotopic domains which are linked to geological characteristics and enable an enhanced assessment of potential metal sources in provenance studies. Silver isotopes underscore the importance of hypogene ores of hydrothermal origin comprising galena or sulfosalt minerals as the main silver carrier phases and they can circumscribe ore deposits to those actually used as bullion sources of ancient coinage. We show that the Ag isotope signatures and the silver content of the argentiferous galena-rich ores in the Kopaonik and Zletovo districts (Serbia, Kosovo, and North Macedonia), combined with field evidence for his-torical metal production and geographical considerations, make them the most likely sources of silver which could have been used for coinage issued by mints in the interior of the Balkans.

Wood et al. (2023), hereinafter WPB, unveils a number of historical issues relevant to Roman economy and metallurgy based on trace element and Pb isotope abundance data on a large set of important coins minted during the Roman Empire (Ponting and Butcher 2015). Here, we discuss several points which, in our view, misrepresent the work of other groups, ours included, and bias the overall interpretation of the WPB data set.

Lead isotope signatures of non-ferrous metals are a well-established approach to tracing ore sources, which can provide important information to reconstruct past exchange networks. Like many other provenancing methods, the usefulness of lead isotopes in provenance studies relies heavily on a comprehensive reference database. GlobaLID aims to provide an infrastructure for a central storage of lead isotope data. It consists of a comprehensively evaluated database with extensive geological and contextual information and of a web application that provides an intuitive interface to interact with the database, options for comparison with own sample data, and to design and download publication-ready lead isotope plots.

Lead isotope provenance studies of archaeological artefacts rely crucially on the availability of reference data from raw material sources. The OXALID database, a collection of Excel sheets with Pb isotope data of ores and artefacts, is still the most cited data source in archaeometry. However, OXALID has not been updated for several years and contains almost exclusively data from Europe, particularly from the Mediterranean area. Digitalisation and open science philosophy currently revolutionise the use of machine-generated data by developing digital data infrastructures. A modernised Pb isotope reference database, which is tailored for, but not limited to archaeometric research, is hence overdue. Here, we introduce GlobaLID, a FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable) and extendable database and a web application with interactive and statistical tools for user-friendly data handling up to publication quality. GlobaLID aims to be a collection point for worldwide Pb isotope data. It is designed as research infrastructure for Pb isotope studies in (for example) archaeometry, ore deposit and environmental geochemistry. As a community engagement project, GlobaLID invites scientists around the world to become active contributors to enable GlobaLID's rapid growth. We released GlobaLID as a pilot study to showcase the infrastructure we build and provide a starting point for community discussion.

The process temperature is a key parameter for the reconstruction of historic smelting operations since it can provide valuable information on the technological state-of-the-art as well as on intrinsically related aspects such as the type and availability of fuel (e.g. charcoal, wood) and metallurgical know-how. Slag compositions in lead-silver metallurgy can show a wide variation due to the utilisation of variable raw materials and possible addition of fluxes, but also since Pb oxide can be a major component, affecting the thermal behaviour and viscosity of the slag melt. This study presents results for liquidus temperatures determined by a range of different data-based and experimental techniques – phase diagrams, thermometry calculations, differential thermal analysis-thermogravimetry (DTA-TG) and hot stage microscopy (HSM) – applied to a suite of slags broadly representative of the compositional and mineralogical spectrum of metallurgical remains of lead-silver smelting. We propose suitable applications of the different techniques and provide generalised archaeometallurgical implications for the investigated slag types.

The large-scaled spread of coin use in the Mediterranean from the 6 th -5 th centuries BCE on created an unprecedented need for silver and firmly established supra-regional links between financial and political power. Gaining access to silver - or depriving rivalling civilisations thereof – incited territorial expansion and colonial (trade) contacts with indigenous peoples, associating monetization with wide-ranging societal, economic, and cultural transformations reaching far beyond the borders of the Greco-Roman world. Here, we present a dataset (compositional and Pb-Ag isotopic data) centered on silver coinages from the cities of Apollonia and Dyrrhachium/Epidamnos in Illyria (modern-day Albania), which were favourably located along major sea passages in the eastern Mediterranean (to Italy and the Greek mainland) and at terminal points of inland routes. Apollonia’s and Dyrrhachium’s minting activity (c. 5 th -1 st centuries BCE) spans from their foundation as Greek colonies to their time as Roman protectorates, with the largest output of currency from c. 120/100 BCE to the middle of the 1 st century BCE falling into the period of Rome’s military campaigns in the eastern Balkans [1]. Our preliminary analyses show that the cities were (largely) independent of bullion supplies from their parental city Corinth, and later the Roman Republic. Instead, the data strongly suggests that they exported silver from the Balkans, including regions in the interior inhabited by indigenous communities, and contributed this metal to the antique silver stock in form of their coins. These results have important implications for the role of Apollonia’s and Dyrrhachium’s coinages in the supply and

The reasons why the Western Mediterranean, especially Carthage and Rome, resisted monetization relative to the Eastern Mediterranean are still unclear. We address this question by combining lead (Pb) and silver (Ag) isotope abundances in silver coinage from the Aegean, Magna Graecia, Carthage and Roman Republic. The clear relationships observed between 109Ag/107Ag and 208Pb/206Pb reflect the mixing of silver ores or silver objects with Pb metal used for cupellation. The combined analysis of Ag and Pb isotopes reveals important information about the technology of smelting. The Greek world extracted Ag and Pb from associated ores, whereas, on the Iberian Peninsula, Carthaginians and Republican‐era Romans applied Phoenician cupellation techniques and added exotic Pb to Pb‐poor Ag ores. Massive Ag recupellation is observed in Rome during the Second Punic War. After defeating the Carthaginians and the Macedonians in the late second century bce, the Romans brought together the efficient, millennium‐old techniques of silver extraction of the Phoenicians, who considered this metal a simple commodity, with the monetization of the economy introduced by the Greeks.

Lead is a ubiquitous and ambiguous component of ancient copper-based artefacts as it can be a residue of the ore or could have been deliberately added. In this study, we present compositional and Pb isotope data of a set of Roman, Syracusan and south Italian indigenous bronze coins from the 5th to 2nd centuries BCE. We describe an approach that considers the Pb content and its potential implications for provenance and technology as a variable alongside Pb isotope source characteristics. By combining elemental with isotopic data of lead and, in a subsequent step, with trace element signatures, this method allows to identify endmembers of natural and/or anthropogenic mixing and to outline their possible provenance. In a wider context, our results show how the existing bronze currencies transform parallel to the changing political situation and how Rome's bronze monetary instruments develop from a combination of local tradition and Greek practices into a coinage in its own right.

The conventional approach to ore provenance studies of ancient silver coins and artifacts has been to first analyze and then try to match them to published data about mining districts, a difficult task given our incomplete knowledge of these. While literary sources are useful to identify possible provenances, they potentially bias interpretations proper because of a variety of limitations of their time. Archeological evidence in the form of mining shafts, galleries, spoil heaps, and tools also provides a tangible and reliable record of mining, but dating such activity can be problematic and the record is inconsistent. Here we propose a new approach driven by Pb isotopic data rather than numismatic groups. Statistical analysis of Pb isotopic data is used to identify ore-defined isotopic clusters. This new method is based on an algorithm that predicts the number of isotopic clusters necessary to fulfill the simple condition that variance within isotopic clusters is minimized whereas inter-cluster variance is maximized. Since each cluster reflects a discrete geological episode within a particular environment broadly datable to a specific Pb model age, it can be identified as a potential source exploited by ancient miners. We explore the potential of this method in two examples using data from coins and ores respectively. In the first example, Roman Republican silver coins form three 'end-member' clusters sourced in mining districts with Cenozoic, Mesozoic, and Paleozoic Pb model ages. The example demonstrates how sources of silver used to mint coinage of the Roman Republic shifted within 50 years of the end of the Second Punic War in 201 BCE. In the second example using Aegean galena samples, Pb isotopes distinguish components with model ages datable to the Hercynian basement, the recent Aegean tectonic province, and Cyprus, noting that significant silver mining districts may remain unidentified in either Spain or the Aegean world. We further clarify a number of potential analytical issues and advocate that users of Pb isotopes for tracing archeological artifacts measure all four lead isotopes and inspect the 12 proposed isotope combinations in order to select those that provide the best representation of the data. We also emphasize that full advantage should be taken of the geologically informed parameters (model age and Th/U/Pb relationships) to identify the geological context of metal sources.

This study presents the results of compositional and lead isotopic analysis of coinage issued by the Greek colonies of Syracuse, Metapontum, Taras and Thurium in the fifth to third centuries bce. The data suggest that each colony in Magna Graecia, regardless of its motherland roots and despite ongoing conflicts between the cities, had access to the same silver, and that this supply was stable overall throughout their period of minting and issuing coinage. The paper retraces the silver sources of the colonies and points out a potential supply route for the metal. It includes a method development for a multi-standard quantification approach for laser ablation-inductively coupled-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) analysis of silver.

We present the results of geochemical analysis of silver coinage issued by Rome and dated between the fourth and second century BCE, which are complemented by data of coinage issued by Carthage, the Brettii, and the Greek colony of Emporion. Each of these minting authorities represents one of the major parties involved in the struggle for hegemony in the fourth to second centuries BCE Western Mediterranean region. This study retraces how the metal supply shifts in response to the transforming power relations and how this change is related to Rome's rise to the virtually uncontested ruler of the region.

In situ chalcophile and siderophile major and trace elements were analyzed in sulfides from eight Moroccan Middle Atlas lherzolite xenoliths using electron microprobe and laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The sulfides occur enclosed in primary silicates, interstitial in the peridotite matrix, and associated with glass-bearing melt pockets. Monosulfide solid solutions are enriched in these xenoliths relative to pentlandite and intermediate solid solutions. Regardless of the textural occurrence, sulfide platinum-group element (PGE) patterns are distinguished into residual ([Pd/Ir]N < 1 and [Pt/Pd]N > 1 or [Pt/Pd]N < 1), melt-like ([Pd/Ir]N > 1), and unfractionated patterns. The coexistence of both residual and melt-like PGE signatures on a cm scale in a single sample implies that sulfides may record initial depletion and subsequent re-enrichment more effectively than constituent silicates do. Chalcophile and siderophile trace elements other than the PGEs are fractionated between the precipitated sulfide phases, but do not vary systematically with the PGE signatures, suggesting that the PGEs are comparatively sensitive to melting and depletion. In addition, Fe-rich hydroxides generated by sulfide breakdown due to atmospheric weathering display PGE systematics almost identical to their precursor sulfides, implying that they may be reliable tracers of mantle processes even after extensive weathering.

A joint project of the Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum, the Goethe-Universitat Frankfurt and the Archaeological Institute of Kosovo investigates ancient mining and metal production in the hinterland of the municipium Ulpiana in central Kosovo. A combination of mining archaeological and geochemical methods (i.e. geophysical-based surveys, drilling, excavations and (in situ) chemical and phase analysis) has been applied to reconstruct chronology-dependent technological and organizational structures. Within the study area, an ancient mining district with remains of numerous old workings, as well as several smelting sites with a preliminary Roman/late antique to medieval/early modern dating were located. Based on either the occurrence or absence of the by-products matte and speiss, two distinguishable process schemes corresponding to smelting of different ore types were found for the periods of Roman/late antique and medieval/ early modern metallurgy respectively.