From commodity to money: The rise of silver coinage around the Ancient Mediterranean (sixth-first centuries bce).

F Albarède,M Vaxevanopoulos,F De Callataÿ,J Blichert‐Toft,K Westner,S Klein,P Télouk,C Malod‐Dognin,L Gentelli,F Kemmers,P Debernardi,J Milot,G Davis,H Gitler

doi:10.1111/arcm.12615

Abstract

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.

Highlights

Silver has been highly prized in the Mediterranean and Near East region for millennia
Some consider that minting facilitated trade (Kim and Kroll 2008; Davis 2012), and, the abundance of shipwrecks in the Mediterranean as a proxy for economic performance correlates with Pb peaks observed in the Arctic ice (Parker 1992)
The present study uses Ag and Pb isotopes to further inform the debate by investigating the transition between two modes of silver utilization around the Mediterranean: an early mode in which silver was considered as a simple commodity and traded by weight, and a later monetary mode

Summary

ALBARÈDE

J. BLICHERT‐TOFT Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, CNRS, Université de Lyon, Lyon, France. 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. 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

INTRODUCTION

MATERIALS AND METHODS