Laurion

Laurion, U.S. Pat. No. 3,847,443, discloses an oma-mental wheel element which is designed to fit between the spokes, inside a wheel. Strazis, U.S. Pat. No. 4,682,821, discloses a semi-rigid, tension attached bicycle wheel cover assembly intended to improve the aero-dynamic efficiency of bicycle wheels. Monte, U.S. Pat. 

Figure 9.6 The theoretical effect of non-equilibrium evaporation of lead on the isotopic ratio of a typical sample from the Laurion field. The shaded area shows the extent of the Laurion field as commonly defined, and the diagonal line shows the effect of increasing non-equilibrium losses on the isotopic ratio of a sample from the centre of the field. (From Scaife, 1993, with permission of the author and the University of Bradford.)...

Pernicka, E and Bachmann, H.G. (1983). Archaometallurgische untersuchun-gen zur antiken silbergewinnung in Laurion III. Das verhalten einigerv spurenelemente beim abtreiben des bleis. Erzmetall 36 592-597. 

Barnes, I. L., Shields, W. R. S., Murphy, T. J., and Brill, R. H. (1974). Isotopic analysis of Laurion lead ores. In Archaeological Chemistry, ed. Beck, C. W., Advances in Chemistry Series 138, Washington, DC, American Chemical Society, pp. 1-10. 

Yang J, Fendler JH, Jao T.-C, Laurion T (1993) J Electron Microscopy Tech (in press)... 

These samples are particularly valuable for this study since the area is undoubtedly the source of much of the lead used in early times. It is not known exactly when mining first began there, but it was probably before 1000 B.C. Marinos and Petrascheck (8) have described the geology of the region, the nature of the ore deposits, and the history of mining at Laurion. According to them, the most important period of exploitation was from 483 B.C. onward, when the deposits at present day Kamarisa were discovered. They state that there are today more than 1000 ancient mine shafts and galleries, some of which are more... 

Figure 1. 208Pb/206Pb vs. 207Pb/206Pb for some Laurion lead ores. 

The narrow range of lead isotopic abundances in the Laurion area as shown in this study and the fact that major amounts of lead from this area were mined and used in ancient times indicate that these ratios should serve as a reasonable tracer. The data also justify the assumption previously made, but until now unproved, that the lead output of the Laurion mines was essentially of one uniform and recognizable type. 

We have analyzed about 20 ancient objects, which we know (with near certainty) were made of Laurion lead. For example, one of our... 

Figure 3. Relationship between the ores of Laurion and those of other areas are shown in a plot of 208Ph/206Pb vs. 207Pb/206Pb ratios. Each point represents the approximate size of the 95% limit of error for the individual analysis.

Ardaillon, E., Les Mines du Laurion dans l Antiquite, Paris, 1897. 

Hopper, R. J., The Laurion Mines A Reconsideration, Ann. Brit. School... 

Figure 1. Lead isotope compositions for ores and slags from Cyprus, Kythnos, and Laurion. The fields overlap in this two-dimensional diagram but can be separated by using all three available lead isotope ratios.

Figure 3. Stepwise discriminant analysis by M. Pollard of all three measured lead isotope ratios for ore samples from Cyprus, Kythnos, and Laurion ore...

Early Bronze Age. Our work on the Early Bronze Age metal sources started as an investigation of the sources of lead and silver for the Early Cycladic people (5). The result of this work, as shown in Figure 5, was proof that the dominant source of silver and lead for the Early Bronze Age Cyclades was the Cycladic island of Siphnos, and that in the later part of the Early Bronze Age the Laurion lead-silver deposits also provided these metals (16). 

The suggestion that Laurion copper came to western Crete via Kythera would get some archaeological backing if it was possible to decide unequivocally that the LMIB pottery of the Alternating Style originated in western Crete. Elisabeth Schofield (64) concluded that... 

The high level of arsenic seen in these samples and in the Laurion samples (23), in forms in which it may have been incorporated into copper metal, indicates copper, rather than tin, as the alloying metal source most responsible for the unusual data observed. A much smaller amount of gold could have been a characteristic of the tin, but it would have been masked by the higher concentration apparently residing with the arsenic-copper component. 

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