Aegean

Anglo-Saxon, Seolfor siolfur L. argentum) Silver has been known since ancient times. It is mentioned in Genesis. Slag dumps in Asia Minor and on islands in the Aegean Sea indicate that man learned to separate silver from lead as earl as 3000 B.C. 

In a recent study, Zellmer et al. (2000) found a zero-age U-Th isochron for the 1940 Kameni dacite in Santorini (Aegean volcanic arc). The existence of ( Ra/ °Th) ratios lower than 1 in Kameni dacites suggests that plagioclase fractionation took place less than 1 ka before eruption, in agreement with estimates based on Sr diffusion profiles in plagioclases (Zellmer et al. 1999). 

Zellmer G, Turner S, Hawkesworth C (2000) Timeseales of destraetive plate margin magmatism New insights from Santorini, Aegean volcanic arc. Earth Planet Sei Lett 174 265-281... 

In the Mediterranean Sea and Middle East area, for example, there are obsidian outflows only in Italy, in some islands in the Aegean Sea, and in Turkey. Artifacts made of obsidian, however, are widely distributed over much of this vast area. Chemical analysis of many of these artifacts has shown that most of the obsidian used to make them originated in one or another of the outflows mentioned, but also in far-distant places such as Armenia and Iran. Plotting on a graph the concentration of selected elements in samples from obsidian sources against that in samples from sites where it was used, enables the identification of the source of the samples (see Fig. 22). Moreover, this type of analysis also makes it possible to trace the routes through which obsidian (and most probably other goods) were traded in antiquity (Renfrew and Dixon 1976). 

Arsenical copper alloys were widely used in antiquity, and arsenical copper finds have been reported in such places, among others, as the Dead Sea area in Israel, the Cyclades Islands in the Aegean Sea, and South America (Renfrew 1967 Lechtman and Klein 1999). The compositions of some arsenical coppers are listed in Table 47. 

Bieber, A. M., D. W. Brooks, G. Harbottle, and E. V. Sayre (1976), Application of multivariate techniques to analytical data on Aegean ceramics, Archaeometry 18, 59-74. 

Renfrew, C. (1967), Cycladic metallurgy and the Aegean early Bronze Age, Am. ]. Archaeol. 71,1-20. 

Torrence, R. (1986), Production and Exchange of Prehistoric Stone Tools Prehistoric Obsidian in the Aegean, Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, UK. 

Papadopoulou, C., I. Hadjistelios, M. Ziaka, and D. Zafiropoulos. 1981. Stable molybdenum in plankton and pelagic fish from the Aegean Sea. Rapp. P.-V. Reun. Comm. Int. Explor. Sci. Mer Mediterr. 27 135-138. 

Grimanis, A.P., D. Zafiropoulos, and M. Vassilaki-Grimani. 1978. Trace elements in the flesh and liver of two fish species from polluted and unpolluted areas of the Aegean Sea. Environ. Sci. Technol. 12 723-726. 

Fig. 2. Scatterplot of Zn and Li for Aegean Sea sediments. Open circles, harbour samples full circles, offshore samples. Short dashed trend, regression for complete dataset long dashed trend, regression for offshore samples solid trend, log-ratio trend for all samples.

Fig. 3. Biplots of log-ratio factor loading for Aegean Sea sediments. Upper plot, complete dataset lower plot, offshore samples. Percentages indicate variance accounted for by factor.

Aloupi, M. Angelidis, M.O. 2001. Geochemistry of natural and anthropogenic metals in the coastal sediments of the island of Lesvos, Aegean Sea. Environmental Pollution, 113, 211-219. 

High contributions of these sources are also experienced in the Baltic, Aegean and Adriatic Seas. Relatively low contributions were obtained for the northern part of the North Sea and the southwestern part of the Mediterranean Sea. This is caused by remoteness of the main anthropogenic sources. However, it should be noted that depositions from anthropogenic sources to the Mediterranean Sea are most likely underestimated because the anthropogenic emission sources in northern Africa and the Middle East were not taken into account. 

Aspinall, A., Feather, S.W. and Renfrew, C. (1972). Neutron activation analysis of Aegean obsidians. Nature 237 333-334. 

Carter, T. and Kilikoglou, V. (2007). From reactor to loyalty Aegean and Anatolian obsidians from Quartier Mu, Malia (Crete). Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology 20 115-143. 

Keller, J., Rehren, T. and Stadlbauer, E. (1990). Explosive volcanism in the Hellenic arc. In Thera and the Aegean World III, Volume 2, Earth Sciences, ed. Hardy, D.A., Thera Foundation, London, pp. 13 26. 

Kilikoglou, V., Bassiakos, Y., Doonan, R.C. and Stratis, J. (1997). NAA and ICP analysis of obsidian from Central Europe and the Aegean source characterisation and provenance determination. Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry 216 87-93. 

Renfrew, C. and Aspinall, A. (1990). Aegean obsidian and Franchthi Cave. In Les Industries Lithiques Taillees de Franchthi (Argolide, Grece). Tome II Les Industries de Mesolithique et du Neolithique Initial, Fasicule 5, ed. Perles, C., Indiana University Press, Bloomington, pp. 258-270. 

The second of these assumptions has been the subject of some debate (Budd et al., 1995a), and is discussed further below. Despite these possible complications, the method of lead isotope provenancing was applied enthusiastically to copper alloy artefacts, especially those from the Late Bronze Age of the Aegean (e.g., Gale and Stos-Gale, 1992, and references therein) up until the late 1990s, when this activity virtually ceased, in part because of the contradictory interpretations which were being proposed. 

Figure 9.7 Map of some of the more important prehistoric copper sources in the eastern Mediterranean. (Adapted from Stos-Gale and Gale, 1990 Figure 1, in Thera and the Aegean World III, published with permission of the Thera Foundation, London, and the authors.)... 

Figure 9.9 Bivariate lead isotope ratio diagram for copper ores from some Aegean and Anatolian deposits, as defined by the Oxford group (Gale and Stos-Gale, 1992 Figure 13). (Reproduced with permission from Proceedings of the British Academy, vol. 77, New Developments in Archaeological Science. The British Academy 1992.)...

Gale, N.H. and Stos-Gale, Z.A. (1992). Lead isotope studies in the Aegean (The British Academy Project). In New Developments in Archaeological Science, ed. Pollard, A.M., Proceedings of the British Academy 77, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 63-108. 

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