Stable lead isotope studies of central taurus ore sources and related artifacts from eastern mediterranean chalcolithic and bronze age sites

Abstract

This is the first paper in a series presenting stable lead isotope studies of geological and archaelogical specimens obtained in 7 years of archaeometallurgical surveys in Turkey. The geological specimens presented here are ore and slag samples taken from ancient mining sites in the Central Taurus mountain range. The archaelogical specimens are metal objects, dating to the Chalcolithic and Bronze Ages, from Anatolia, Syria, Mesopotamia, Greece and the Aegean. The isotopic measurements on these specimens have been made and statistically analysed as part of a collaborative effort between the Smithsonian Institution Conservation Analytical Laboratory and the United States National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). A comprehensive data base of approximately 1000 stable lead isotope measurements on such Eastern Mediterranean specimens has been formed by combining the accumulated measurements at NIST with analyses published in the literature. The overlap between specimens in the overall data bank and the Central Taurus source specimens provides a realistic evaluations of the effectiveness of the use of stable lead isotope measurements for metallic ore source characterization and for the recognition of exchange patterns of metal and metal artifacts in the formative periods of metallurgy.