Copper-based artifacts, lead isotope

Seven years ago we started the first systematic research program on the application of the lead isotope techniques to provenance studies in archaeology. Particular stress was placed on the sources of metals in the Mediterranean Bronze Age. For the first 2 years we worked mostly on the sources of lead and silver in Bronze Age Greece, Cyprus, and Egypt (32-36). In 1982, we pioneered the application of the lead isotope method for prove-nancing copper-based artifacts (15, 37-38). 

Figure 6. Lead isotope compositions for the Kythnos Hoard and Early Cycladic copper-based alloy artifacts from Amorgos.

How then the metal artifacts from Troy II compare with those from Kastri on Syros Chemical analyses of 19 objects from Troy II (see also reference 42) revealed that 14 are high tin bronzes (6, pp. 39-40). Tin bronze was not common at this time in Anatolia, but it seems to have been quite abundant in Troy and in Thermi on Lesbos (43). The lead isotope analyses of copper-based objects from Troy show that Troy obtained copper from a surprisingly large number of sources (see also reference 42). 

Figure 9. Lead isotope compositions for Early Bronze Age copper-based alloy artifacts from Troy II and artifacts from Kastri and Chalandriani on Cycladic island of Syros. The lead isotope fields indicated by broken lines are approximate. Model ages calculated in millions of years on the basis of Cummings and Richards (1975) model Jit are indicated for each grouping of lead isotope data. (Reproduced with permission from ref. 6. Copyright 1984 Basil Blackwell...

Figure 15. Lead isotope compositions of copper-based alloy artifacts from the Unexplored Mansion, Knossos.

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