Silver Hoards Research Articles

Lead isotopes may link the earliest silver hoard from Megiddo to the military campaign of Thutmose III

AbstractDuring the University of Chicago excavations at Megiddo, a 135 g hoard of silver fragments wrapped in cloth and enclosed in a small clay jug was unearthed in a room with an earthen or plastered floor, in a focal point of the Middle Bronze (MB) city. It was affiliated by the excavators with Stratum XIIIA, dated to the MB I. The hoard is published here for the first time, along with various possibilities for its dating, the weights of the items, and the chemical composition and isotopic ratios of a selected number of them. Although the hoard could be associated with several overlying MB II strata, the isotopic ratios of the silver, combined with archaeological considerations, suggest that it be placed in the Late Bronze Stratum IX and associated with the siege and takeover of Megiddo by Thutmose III in the mid‐15th century bce.

One Thousand Years of Mediterranean Silver Trade to the Levant: A Review and Synthesis of Analytical Studies

AbstractSilver exchanged by weight for its intrinsic value was the most important measure of value and means of payment in the southern Levant, starting from the Middle Bronze Age II–III through the Iron Age (~1700/1650‒600 BC). Since silver is not available locally in the Levant, its ongoing use as currency in the region triggered long-distance trade initiatives, and its availability or lack thereof had a direct impact on the economy. The continued use is evidenced in 40 silver hoards found in various sites across the region. A comprehensive study of lead isotopes and chemical analyses of samples obtained from 19 hoards enabled us to trace the origin of silver in the millennium during which it was extensively used as currency in the southern Levant and to identify constantly changing silver sources and concomitant trade routes. The results indicate that silver originated initially in Anatolia and Greece (~1700/1650–1600 BC) and shortly after from an unknown location in the Aegean/Carpathian/Anatolian sphere (~1600–1200 BC). After the collapse of Late Bronze Age Mediterranean trade routes, during Iron Age I (~1200–950 BC), there was a period of shortage. Silver trade was revived by the Phoenicians, who brought silver to the Levant from Sardinia and Anatolia (~950–900 BC), and later from Iberia (~900–630 BC). Further change occurred after the Assyrian retreat from the Levant, when silver was shipped from the Aegean (~630–600 BC). Following the devastation caused by the expanding Babylonian empire, silver consumption in the Levant practically ended for a century. Considering the isotopic results, combined with a detailed study of the context, chronology, and chemical composition, we demonstrate that all these factors are essential for the reconstruction of developments in the supply of silver in the southern Levant, and more generally. The changes in trade routes closely follow political and social transformations for over a millennium; exchange in this case was not only, not even mainly preconditioned by the environmental/geographic circumstances, as has often been argued for the Mediterranean. From an analytical point of view, we offer a protocol for the provenance of silver in general.

A silver deposit from Niedźwiedź – another premise in the study of the origins and function of a stronghold in steklin in Dobrzyń region

The article concerns an early medieval silver hoard, recently (and accidentally) discovered at a suburb settlement in Niedźwiedź in Dobrzyń region. The settlement is a part of a large complex with a stronghold and a developed lake shore, identified with the historical Steklin mentioned in the so-called Mogilno Falsification. The hoard, consisting of 28 coins and six pieces of jewelry, was deposited after 1080. The factual scope of the article includes primarily the results of numismatic analyses of one Arabic coin and the remaining Western European coins, including the prevailing group of so-called cross denarii. The discovery is interpreted in a broad socio-economic and political context

Development of settlement in the Kalisz region in the eleventh and twelfth centuries based on research on the Słuszków I and Słuszków II hoards

The article presents considerations on the role of single and mass monetary finds in exploring the changes in early medieval settlement structures related to Kalisz and theregion. Archaeological excavations has so far been conducted mainly in Kalisz. Other sources of knowledge about the settlement network: fieldwalking surveys carried out as part of the Polish Archaeological Record (AZP) and the few historical sources from the early Middle Ages made it possible to create only a preliminary reconstructionshowing the historical, cultural and settlement processes taking place in the region. The 2020 discovery of the second silver hoard in Słuszków and the subsequent excavations provided interesting material for the assessment of the settlement structures of the Kalisz region and their evolution in each distinct phase of early medieval habitation.

The earliest silver currency hoards in the Southern Levant: Metal trade in the transition from the Middle to the Late Bronze Age

The earliest use of silver as a means of payment in the Levant is generally overlooked, and hoarded silver for use as currency is often considered an Iron Age phenomenon. Based on context, typology, and chemical and Pb-isotopic analyses of silver from Megiddo, Gezer and Shiloh, we show, for the first time, that the earliest material evidence for the use of silver as a means of exchange and value in the Southern Levant dates to the MB III (∼1700/1650–1600/1550 BCE). Further developments are gleaned from the analysis of silver hoards from Tell el-‘Ajjul, a site on the southern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, which continued to thrive shortly later (MB/LB–LB I; ∼1600/1550−1400 BCE), while many others sites in the Levant were destroyed or abandoned. Lead isotope analysis (LIA) of silver from these hoards reveals a change in the ore sources of silver, from the MB III, in which silver probably originated from Anatolia, to a different source in the Anatolian-Aegean-Carpathian sphere during the MB/LB–LB I. Comparing the results from Tell el-‘Ajjul with silver from the contemporaneous Royal Shaft Graves in Mycenae in the Greek Peloponnese, we suggest that silver in both assemblages likely originated from the same ores, possibly through Cypriot mediation.

Silver Isotopes in Silver Suggest Phoenician Innovation in Metal Production

The current study presents Ag isotopic values of 45 silver artifacts with known Pb isotopic composition from the Southern Levant. These items originate from seven pre-coinage silver hoards, dating from the Middle Bronze Age IIC to the end of the Iron Age (~1650–600 BCE). These are the earliest silver artifacts analyzed for Ag isotopes; all former studies were performed on coins. All the sampled silver in this study contains relatively unfractionated Ag (−2 ≤ ε109Ag ≤ 1.5) that was more likely produced from hypogene, primary Ag-bearing minerals (e.g., galena and jarosite) and not from native, supergene silver. Four of the sampled hoards containing silver from Anatolia and the West Mediterranean (Iberia and Sardinia) are associated with the Phoenician quest for silver (~950–700 BCE). A significant amount of this Phoenician silver (12/28 items) plots within a narrower range of −0.5 ≤ ε109Ag ≤ 0.5. This is in contrast to non-Phoenician silver, which mostly underwent some degree of fractionation (16/17 items ε109Ag ≥ I0.5I). The results suggest that while all silver was exploited from primary ore sources, the Phoenicians dug deeper into the deposits, reaching ore minerals that did not undergo any weathering-associated fractionation. The results also call for further investigation regarding the influence of sealing and bundling in silver hoards on post-depositional fractionation of Ag isotopes.

A Preliminary Report on a Search for Artefacts and Verification Excavations Conducted within the Limits of the Old Village of Trójca in 2020 and 2021

In 2020–2021, within the limits of Trójca – a medieval village located near a ford on the Vistula River that is today part of Zawichost – artefacts were sought with the use of metal detectors. Next, a survey excavation was conducted, resulting in the discovery of e.g. two silver hoards from the 11th and 12th c., single coins from the 11th–12th c. (over 140 specimens) and from later times, merchant’s weights, adornments, minor devotional articles and military accessories (especially from the 11th–13th c.) and many other artefacts. Their discovery makes us suspect that Trójca was one of the most important supralocal trade centres of Lesser Poland in the early Middle Ages. The conducted excavations and research are only the first stage for future archaeological prospections to be conducted in Trójca and will be continued in the years to come.

The “Dacian” silver hoards from Moesia superior. Transdanubian cultural connections in the iron gates region from Augustus to Trajan

The aim of this paper is to discuss some aspects concerning the ?Tekija-Bare hoards horizon?: their ?Dacian? origin, their significance, and the manner in which this phenomenon emerged after the practice of burying assemblages of silver body ornaments had ceased to the north of the Danube one or two generations earlier. The so-called Tekija-Bare group of hoards originates from the northern Danubian hoards containing silver body ornaments. This is demonstrated by the typology of some silver costume accessories and the tradition of burying them together with silver coins and metal or ceramic vessels. The appearance of these hoards south along the Danube in the second half of the 1st century AD was the result of the revival of some northern Danubian ritual practices. This revival can be ascribed to the ?Getae? who were moved to the south of the river by Aelius Catus at the beginning of the 1st century AD and were later known as Moesi, according to Strabo (VII.3.10). The displacement of a large number of people, including entire communities, resulted in the transfer of a number of ritual practices and beliefs from one territory to another. However, these were transformed and adapted according to the new social conditions from Roman Moesia.

The hoard of Dacian jewellery found at Uileacu de Criș (Bihor County)

The article presents the Dacian silver hoard found at Uileacu de Criş, Bihor County, composed of two necklaces, one made from a band, the other from a twisted bar, two rhombic plate fibulae kept fragmentarily, two pendants and a ring. According to custom, rhombic plate brooches represent the essential landmark in the dating of the hoard, but the proposed timeframes place them in different chronological phases: the years 75/50 BC-AD 25/30 (Kurt Horedt and Aurel Rustoiu) or 25 BC-AD 25 (Daniel Spânu). The attempt to date the rhombic plate brooches according to the association with other types of fibulae does not lead to a conclusive result. To clarify the dating of the hoard, we used the analysis of the necklaces and pendants in the broader context of adornments made with the two techniques: silver plates and twisted bars or wires. In conclusion, taking into account the methodological deficiencies and the changes in the chronology of Thasian tetradrachms, Dyrrhachium and Apollonia drachms and late Republican denarii, whose date of entry into Dacia goes down by about half a century the beginning of Dacian metalworking, it is found that the division of jewellery into clearly defined chronological groups is not possible. The hiding of the hoard from Uileacu de Criș could have taken place during the Augustan period, but the jewellery had been in use for several decades.

STUDY OF THE HOARD OF SILVER COINS NEAR HORODNYTSIA VILLAGE

Minting own coin is one of the attributes of state formation. The first coins of the Old Rus are represented by gold and silver specimens dating from the late tenth — early eleventh century. Gold coins are very rare, the silver ones are presented much more.
 Most modern researchers believe that the production of silver coins was started by Volodymyr Sviatoslavych and ended under Yaroslav Volodymyrovych after the beginning of his reign in Kyiv. In 2020 the third known hoard of silver coins was discovered near Gorodnytsia village, Novohrad-Volynskyi district, Zhytomyr region. It was found accidently by local resident S. M. Komar who in the next day after discovery handed it over to the authorities which was recorded in the relevant documents.
 The expedition of the Institute of Archaeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine conducted archaeological research at the hoard location. The place where the silver coins have been occurred was recorded. Several more coins were found in the pit where the hoard was and nearby. Surrounding area was examined. Near the hoard the presence of land- and waterways, which functioned in the medieval period, was recorded. Near the river Sluch there are convenient places for crossing.
 During the exploration of the area adjacent to the hoard in order to study the archaeological context the settlement was discovered. The artifacts found on it date it to the 9th—13th and 16th—18th centuries. Powerful fortifications in the form of moats, ramparts and escarpments have been preserved. Probably, the formation of the silver hoard is connected with the ancient roads along the Sluch River and the Old Rus settlement on the site of the modern settlement of Gorodnytsia.
 In total 38 silver coins were in the hoard. 31 of them belonged to the minting of Volodymyr Sviatoslavych, and 7 to Sviatopolk Yaropolkovych. Vladimir’s coins are presented in three types — II (6 copies), III (16 copies) and IV (9 copies). Sviatopolk’s coins represent all three of his existing numismatic types — I (4 copies), II (2 copies) and III (1 copy). 10 silver coins of Volodymyr and 1 of Svyatopolk are represented by previously unknown stamp pairs. 2 coins of Vladimir, which have an unknown combination of stamps, are of particular scientific interest.

Beside the Ocean: Coastal Landscapes at the Bay of Skaill, Marwick, and Birsay Bay, Orkney. Archaeological Research 2003–2018. By DavidGriffiths, JaneHarrison and MichaelAthanson. Oxford and Philadelphia: Oxbow Books. 2019. xxviii + 346 pp. £45. ISBN 978 1 78925 096 1 (hardback); ISBN 978 1 78925 097 8 (epub).

Beside the Ocean: Coastal Landscapes at the Bay of Skaill, Marwick, and Birsay Bay, Orkney. Archaeological Research 2003–2018. By DavidGriffiths, JaneHarrison and MichaelAthanson. Oxford and Philadelphia: Oxbow Books. 2019. xxviii + 346 pp. £45. ISBN 978 1 78925 096 1 (hardback); ISBN 978 1 78925 097 8 (epub).

Commentaria archaeologica et historica (III). Chronology of the Dacian Silver Hoards

These comments stem from the recent publication of a number of studies regarding the silver artefacts of pre-Roman Dacia, with important implications for the relative and absolute chronology of the late La Tène period in the region in question, and also for some cultural and historical transformations that happened in the same area. Some of the conclusions presented in these studies are insufficiently supported by arguments. Their publication requires a detailed analysis, which is meant to clarify a number of controversial aspects. For example, D. Spânu has recently divided the evolution of the Dacian silver hoards into two phases dated to the La Tène D2a and D2b (the period between ca. 75 – 65 BC and the Augustan age). To support this chronology, he chose to ignore a series of hoards, or only certain artefacts from other hoards, which did not fit into the suggested model. These efforts to push the chronology of the Dacian silver hoards within a particular time frame stem from his aim to use these discoveries as arguments for a series of a priori historical interpretations for which archaeological evidence is scant. This includes the idea that the local silver ornaments were all made exclusively of melted Mediterranean coins which supposedly reached pre-Roman Dacia massively only after the defeating of Mithridates VI Eupator and the fall of the Kingdom of Pontus. However, the analysis of the silver jewellery from pre-Roman Dacia is demonstrating that the artefacts in question were made using both locally-sourced silver and melted Mediterranean coins. Chronologically, these hoards can be divided into three phases: first group dated to the La Tène D1, 150/125 – 75/50 BC; second group belongs to the La Tène D2, 75/50 – 30/25 BC; third group dated to the Augustan – Tiberian period, 30/25 BC – AD 25/30. It can be therefore concluded that the scenario proposed by D. Spânu for the chronology of the end of the Late Iron Age in the lower Danube region and Transylvania, based on an erroneous dating of the silver hoards, is not credible. This kind of analysis requires the incorporation of different categories of archaeological evidence belonging to the last three centuries before the Roman conquest. Their contextual interpretation could provide a more reliable and detailed chronology of the evolution of the communities from each of the two territories in question. Lastly, this evolution was not uniformly equal across wide areas, as suggested by the typo-chronological tables and schemes drawn in the office by some researchers, since each community had its own history and evolution governed by a multitude of different social, economic, demographic or ecological factors.

Debasement of silver throughout the Late Bronze – Iron Age transition in the Southern Levant: Analytical and cultural implications

The study of silver, which was an important mean of currency in the Southern Levant during the Bronze and Iron Age periods (~1950–586 BCE), revealed an unusual phenomenon. Silver hoards from a specific, yet rather long timespan, ~1200–950 BCE, contained mostly silver alloyed with copper. This alloying phenomenon is considered here for the first time, also with respect to previous attempts to provenance the silver using lead isotopes. Eight hoards were studied, from which 86 items were subjected to chemical and isotopic analysis. This is, by far, the largest dataset of sampled silver from this timespan in the Near East. Results show the alloys, despite their silvery sheen, contained high percentages of Cu, reaching up to 80% of the alloy. The Ag–Cu alloys retained a silvery tint using two methods, either by using an enriched silver surface to conceal a copper core, or by adding arsenic and antimony to the alloy. For the question of provenance, we applied a mixing model which simulates the contribution of up to three end members to the isotopic composition of the studied samples. The model demonstrates that for most samples, the more likely combination is that they are alloys of silver from Aegean-Anatolian ores, Pb-poor copper, and Pb-rich copper from local copper mines in the Arabah valley (Timna and Faynan). Another, previously suggested possibility, namely that a significant part of the silver originated from the West Mediterranean, cannot be validated analytically. Contextualizing these results, we suggest that the Bronze Age collapse around the Mediterranean led to the termination of silver supply from the Aegean to the Levant in the beginning of the 12th century BCE, causing a shortage of silver. The local administrations initiated sophisticated devaluation methods to compensate for the lack of silver – a suspected forgery. It is further suggested that following the Egyptian withdrawal from Canaan around the mid-12th century BCE, Cu–Ag alloying continued, with the use of copper from Faynan instead of Timna. The revival of long-distance silver trade is evident only in the Iron Age IIA (starting ~950 BCE), when silver was no longer alloyed with copper, and was imported from Anatolia and the West Mediterranean.

From the Editors

This issue of JEMAHS describes a variety of new approaches to the archaeology of the Levant. At the same time, it also examines a fundamental perspective that has fascinated scholars since the beginning of archaeology—cultural connections.This perspective, in particular, has always distinguished the archaeology of the ancient eastern Mediterranean and, in different ways, the articles in this issue emphasize the concept without overstating it. Putting aside antiquated notions of hyper-diffusion, no one working in this region today can deny that trade, diplomacy, conquest, and a host of other factors have linked it to other civilizations in significant ways. The current authors focus on various aspects of these ancient human contacts—the material remains of which circumscribe a world in which goods flowing into, and out of, the Levant from far and wide were commonplace.In “The Origin of Tel Dor Hacksilver and the Westward Expansion of the Phoenicians in the Early Iron Age: The Cypriot Connection,” Jonathan R. Wood, Carol Bell, and Ignacio Montero-Ruiz present compositional and lead isotope data from the early silver hoards of the southern Levant (ca. twelfth–ninth centuries BCE) in a new light, determining that much of the hacksilver from Tel Dor probably came from Kalavasos on Cyprus where, as they conclude, also the technology required to extract the metal originated. They further propose that the people who had the knowledge to exploit such a resource were also the people with “an archaeological footprint in both Cyprus and Iberia in the Early Iron Age.” Not surprisingly, they look to the Phoenicians, the intrepid international commodities brokers of the ancient Near East, as the likely candidates.Scott Bucking and Tali Erickson-Gini's article “The Avdat in Late Antiquity Project: Report on the 2012/2016 Excavations of a Cave and Stone-Built Compound along the Southern Slope” describes the town's monastic community during a time in which the Levant became a focus for religious migration and a period of prolific ecclesiastical construction. They explore the role played by topography in defining patterns of settlement, a factor that is often overlooked in the archaeology of historical periods. Focusing on urban monasticism in late antique Palestine, they conclude that the site exemplifies the “social and economic agency of the town's monks” who took an active role in the region's wine trade and pilgrimage industry.The wine trade was a constant in the economies of the ancient eastern Mediterranean, and this commodity was even more essential for the imperial powers that controlled the Levant, as Norma Franklin, Jennie Ebeling, Philippe Guillaume, and Deborah Appler tell us in “An Ancient Winery in Jezreel, Israel.” They postulate that the military nature of the demand for wine under the Assyrian hegemony was the stimulus for increasing production at Jezreel during that period. With reliably productive soil and a perennial water supply, Jezreel became an important wine production center in the Iron Age and continued to be so for almost one thousand years.The inevitable transition from discussions of wine and its importance in the ancient world to food is made by the article “Heads or Snails? A Rustic Feast at Hellenistic Philoteria (Tel Bet Yeraḥ, Israel), circa 150 BCE.” Miriam Pines, Alol Dor, Daniella E. Bar-Yosef Mayer, Sarit Paz, Oren Tal, and Raphael Greenberg propose that the consumption of edible molluscs and gazelle and pig cranial parts, the latter evoking images of the traditional “boar's head” feasts of much later times, at a single, perhaps festive, meal suggests a culture that was more Mediterranean than Levantine. The consumption of pork points to a more cosmopolitan outlook on food that would later be superseded by the ethnocentrism of the Hasmonean kingdom.Two book reviews in this issue take us from a prehistorian's ruminations on “space archaeology,” to analyses by Near Eastern archaeologists seeking new insights from some of the earliest transmitters of human communication, ancient seals. Dr. Space Junk vs the Universe: Archaeology and the Future by A. Gorman is reviewed by Mitchell Allen. Siobhan Shinn assesses Seals and Sealings in the Ancient World: Case Studies from the Near East, Egypt, the Aegean, and South Asia, edited by M. Ameri and others.We hope that you will find much to intrigue and inspire you in this issue.

The Origin of Tel Dor Hacksilver and the Westward Expansion of the Phoenicians in the Early Iron Age: The Cypriot Connection

Abstract A recent reanalysis of compositional and lead isotope legacy data from the early silver hoards of the southern Levant (ca. twelfth–ninth centuries BCE) identified that not only was most of this hacksilver mixed but that it probably derived from the Pyritic belt of southern Iberia, the Taurus mountains in Anatolia, and a third unknown source. We propose that the unknown component of Tel Dor's hacksilver was silver potentially derived from ores mined at Kalavasos on Cyprus. The presence of Cypriot silver in the southern Levant complements finds of Phoenician pottery on Cyprus, supporting that there was continuity of trade from the end of the Bronze Age to the beginning of the Iron Age between Cyprus and the Levant. Furthermore, our findings suggest that the technology required to smelt and cupellate argentiferous jarosite ores was first practiced on Cyprus prior to risky and costly ventures to Iberia.

Gdzie ukrywano monety we wczesnośredniowiecznym Kaliszu i jego okolicach

The aim of this paper is to list all the places in which early medieval coins were deposited in Kalisz and the surrounding area (Kalisz-Szale, Kalisz-Zawodzie, Kalisz-Rajskow, Jastrzebniki and Kalisz Dobrzec). Recent research into the archaeological contexts of silver hoard assemblages deposited in the 10th, 11th, and the beginning of the12th century by Malgorzata and Miroslaw Andralojc, Patrycja Silska and Piotr Szyngiera has proved that deposits from Greater Poland were hidden principally outside of residential areas, either settlements and strongholds. Five assemblages are analyzed in the text. The places of their discovery are known in terms of their relationship to known areas of settlement of their time. The coins were been hidden in areas of early medieval settlements. Only the assemblage found at Kalisz-Dobrzec was deposed on the periphery of a former village. The majority of the assemblages come from large settlements which also functioned through the later Middle Ages down to modern times. Only the coins from Kalisz-Szale were hidden at a site which was settled for a short duration of time. Hoards from Kalisz and its surroundings were hidden in settlements located on important trade routes, which in early medieval times connected Kalisz with the East and the North.

The silver treasure of Marengo: silver provenancing and insights into late antiquity Roman and Gallo-Roman hoards

Lead isotopic ratios were measured on silver fragments extracted from several important objects of the hoard of Marengo. The hoard, known as the “treasure of Marengo”, is one of the most important silver assemblages of late antiquity. It is dated to the second half of the 2nd century AD-first half of the 3rd century AD. The interpretation of the resulting isotopic data based on extended reference isotopic databases of lead/silver ores indicates that most of the analysed objects from Marengo form a rather homogeneus stock of silver metal having a signature affine to the mines of French Massif Central. One of the objects, a large belt with figures of divinity and heroes, was made of Iberian silver, and the Pb-Ag-Cu alloy present in the filling of the arm of a female statuette is rich in Sardinian lead. The results are discussed in terms of the known circulation of silver metal in the Roman Empire in the 1st and 2nd century AD. The lead isotope data are compared with available data on coeval Roman silver hoards (Notre Dame d’Allencon, Berthouville, Graincourt-les-Havrincourt, Boscoreale), circulating silver denarii, and Roman lead ingots rescued from shipwrecks in the Western Mediterranean sea. The role of the Iberian and French mines in the silver production from the 1st to the first half of the 3rd century AD is discussed.

Lead isotopes in silver reveal earliest Phoenician quest for metals in the west Mediterranean

When and why did the Phoenicians initiate long-term connections between the Levant and western Europe? This is one of the most hotly debated questions in ancient Mediterranean history and cultural research. In this study, we use silver to answer this question, presenting the largest dataset of chemical and isotopic analyses of silver items from silver hoards found in Phoenician homeland sites. Intertwining lead isotope analysis of silver items with precise archaeological context and chronology, we provide analytical evidence for the onset of Phoenician westward expansion. We suggest that the quest for silver instigated a long, exploratory phase, first in Anatolia (Asia Minor) and Sardinia, and subsequently in the Iberian Peninsula. This phase preceded the establishment of sustainable, flourishing Phoenician colonies in the West by over a century. In so doing, our results buttress the "precolonization" theory, accord it a firm chronological framework, and demonstrate that the quest for silver (and probably other metals) was an incentive for Phoenician westward expansion. Furthermore, our results show that the Phoenicians introduced innovative silver production methods to historic Europe.

From Iberia to the Southern Levant: The Movement of Silver Across the Mediterranean in the Early Iron Age

The origins of the silver trade across the Mediterranean, and the role of the Phoenicians in this phenomenon, remain contentious. This is partly because of difficulties encountered when trying to assign archaeological silver to its geological sources. Here we present a reanalysis of Iron Age silver hoards in the southern Levant, which demonstrates not only that recycling of silver was widespread in the Early and Late Iron Age, but that the components of this mixed silver originated from the Aegean, Anatolia and the western Mediterranean. An assessment of lead isotope analyses combined with compositional data allows the identification of mixing lines based on gold levels in the silver and the Pb crustal age (or, more loosely, geological age) of the ore from which the silver originated. It is shown that, from as early as the 11th century BC, these mixed silver signatures derive from the Taurus mountains in Anatolia, from Iberia and an unknown source—with Sardinia as an additional possibility—and Laurion in Greece in the Late Iron Age. In contrast to copper, which was deliberately alloyed with silver, gold appears to have been mixed unintentionally, through the melting down of silver objects with gold parts. It is suggested that vertical mixing lines (with constant Pb crustal age but variable Au), may indicate the melting down and mixing of silver in times of unrest, both here and in other contexts. Gold and lead concentrations in the silver indicate that native silver from Iberia was most likely used in the Early Iron Age, suggesting that the first people to convey silver to the southern Levant were not miners but traders who had acquired silver directly from the indigenous Bronze Age inhabitants of Iberia. However, evidence of the exploitation of jarosite also supports that silver ore mining and cupellation was ongoing in Iberia at a similar time, and continued in the Late Iron Age—potentially a result of technological transfer from the East. In essence, the western Mediterranean origin of the silver in these Early Iron Age southern Levantine hoards supports an emerging picture of Mediterranean interactions and trade relations in the increasingly bright Dark Ages (c. 1200–800 BC).

Trade in the Mediterranean Basin between the 8th and 6th century BCE, with Emphasis on the Dodecanese

Assyria’s growing power in the 1st millennium BCE led to an increase in its tribute demands addressed at Levantine cities; as a result, a need arose to intensify and expand further west the search for precious metals. Assyrian military and economic pressure mobilized the Phoenicians to expand their trade zone beyond the regional scale and to become the suppliers of basic resources to a vast empire. This can be seen in the Dodecanese. Rhodes but also Cos played an important part in that network of contacts and connections between the Aegean and the Near East, as is emphatically indicated by the artefacts found, especially those dating to late 8th and 7th centuries BCE. Due to its special geographic location, the island became a go-between and stopping point for the trade travelling from the eastern Mediterranean to Cyprus and mainland Greece. Objects dedicated in the sanctuaries at Ialysos, Kameiros, and Lindos attest to far-away Near-Eastern contacts. In this context, a large number of silver hoards have been attested in the southern Levant between the 10th-6th centuries BCE. The hoards contained, in varying proportions, silver ingots, nuggets, scrap metal, and small jewellery items, however, the silver itself originated from the territories of Greece (mostly Laurion), southern Anatolia and from Iberian sources.