Lead Isotope Analysis

Thirty-nine Neolithic and Early Bronze Age copper objects (primarily axe blades and daggers) from Central, southern and eastern Switzerland or eastern France were analysed typochronologically, chemically and with regard to their lead isotope ratios. This combination of methods allows for more differentiated and reliable conclusions about the provenances of the copper ores and metallurgies than the individual methods could provide in isolation. The primacy of the typochronological classification is paramount for assessing the scientific results appropriately. For the period between c. 4300 and c. 1800 BCE, there is evidence of at least seven different metallurgical traditions found in the Prealps, some of them stemming from faraway innovation hotspots. These metallurgies do not form part of a continuous tradition; instead, they emerge unexpectedly and disappear again just as abruptly. This could hint at the fragility and volatility of these strands of tradition and the groups who keep them. Between 4300 and 3500 BCE, there was a multitude of types, groups of copper compositions and isotope ratios. Arsenic plays an essential role in the composition of copper during this time. Such arsenic-enriched copper is generally referred to as ‘arsenic copper’. It is likely that a considerable share of the raw material used in arsenic copper from this first heyday of copper metallurgy originates from the Slovak or Saxon-Bohemian Ore Mountains. Nevertheless, it seems likely that arsenic copper was at least partially cast locally in the pile dwelling of the Prealps and forged into the shapes known from these areas. According to our analyses, the raw material of some of the objects found in the Swiss Prealps, whether they are arsenic copper or not, could also stem from the eastern Alpine region. Concentrations of crucible and axe blade finds are not necessarily evidence for ore deposits in close proximity, as was assumed in the case of Mondsee and Attersee; these finds could also be indicative of local salt sources, with the salt being exchanged for copper from other areas. The copper of the flanged axe blades from the last quarter of the 4th millennium BCE found mainly south of the Alps—in isolation also north of the Alps—is very similar to the early arsenic copper mentioned above. The axe blades’ distribution patterns and the ‘fingerprint’ of their lead isotope ratios suggest that this later arsenic copper has its origin in the metallurgical centres in South Tuscany. These innovations from the West Mediterranean inspired the metallurgical traditions in the South of France (e.g. Cabrières, Montagne Noire) and the south-western Alps (Massifs des Grandes Rousses, Saint Véran).

The aim of this article is to reinterpret a well-known underwater archaeological site located at Las Amoladeras, in La Manga del Mar Menor, near Cabo de Palos. For this purpose, after a historiographical review of the existing bibliography, we have studied, contextualized and undertaken isotopic analyses of some of the most interesting material from this archaeological site, as well as a plomo monetiforme (coin-like lead token) of the same type as those recovered at Las Amoladeras and the ones that circulated in the Balearic Islands. The lead isotope analyses carried out on the aforementioned artefacts allow us to determine the origin of the ore used in the first two objects as Cartagena – Mazarrón and the Sierra Morena respectively. However, the lead used in the manufacture of the plomo monetiforme seems to reflect a mixture of metals. Based on all the above, we interpret this site as the remains of a shipwreck dating from the 50-30 B.C. that was carrying a cargo composed in part, if not almost exclusively, of metallic items, mostly lead objects, probably to be sold and recycled. Las Amoladeras can therefore be contextualized in a very specific historical and economic framework, that of the commercialization and reuse of the lead in late Republican Hispania.

The Balkan Peninsula played a crucial role for the introduction of metallurgy during the Copper Age and numerous archaeometallurgical examinations have delivered highly interesting insights on this topic. However, there is a lack of systematic analytical research on copper ore smelting and metal exchange for the later Bronze Age. In this paper we focus on the first archaeometallurgical results of slags from the sites Ružana, Trnjane and Čoka Njica, Eastern Serbia, complimented by the discussion of XRF and lead isotope analyses carried out on 28 copper-based artefacts. Importantly, radiocarbon dating from these sites points to copper production already being undertaken at the end of the Early Bronze Age (19th–18th centuries BC), more than 500 years earlier than previously assumed. This enables us to investigate the flow of metal during the 1st half of the 2nd millennium BC. The analyses of the metallurgical slags indicate a copper matte smelting process in small open pit furnaces and the use of local sulfidic copper ore sources. The fact that these intensive smelting activities in Eastern Serbia can be paralleled with the early production hotspots in central Europe e.g. on the Hochkönig (Mitterberg mining areas) sheds new light on the development of copper based metallurgy in Europe. At the same time, the evidence from Eastern Serbia shows that this area was a source of raw material for copper and bronze alloys providing a regional and supra-regional perspective. Furthermore, our analyses revealed the remarkable result, that by the start of the Middle Bronze Age (ca. 1700 BC) copper from the Northern Italian mining areas in the Trentino region also reached the western and central Balkans:
...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................!!THE XRF and lead isotope data is added at the end of the article!!

This study deals with the remains of metal objects from the settlement of workers living and labouring at the Egyptian site of Giza in the reigns of Dynasty 4 Kings Khufu and Khafra (c. 2500–2450 BCE). It provides the first detailed set of data on copper tools of the craftspersons working with wood, limestone, textile, etc., focusing on the major and trace element analyses, lead isotopes and microstructural description. Arsenical copper is again confirmed as a material practically used in the Old Kingdom, with arsenopyrite from Eastern Desert proposed as a source of arsenic. The CuAgAs needle 20966 has similar lead isotopes as two pieces of Predynastic Egyptian metalwork and litharge from late Uruk site Habuba Kabira (Syria), being probably a recycled specimen of earlier material connected to silver production. With 15 objects analysed in detail, it is for now the largest Old Kingdom corpus of metal objects from the settlement context.

This pilot study addresses the analytical characterisation of 26 well‐known bronze objects of the Early and Middle Bronze Age of Central and Northern Europe. Besides swords and axes of the hoards from Apa, Téglás and Hajdúsámson, the investigation includes the famous Sky Disc and its accompanying finds from the Nebra hoard and several full‐hilted swords from Period I in Denmark. In contrast to former publications, the isotopic systematics of lead, tin and copper are the focus of the present investigation. With a combined approach, we try to relate the either typologically closely linked or otherwise related artefacts with chemical and isotopic proxies by identifying mixing scenarios. The results demonstrate that artefacts from different locations are most likely not directly linked, but mixing lines across isotope systems suggest a production of the items from common sources by mixing of bronze batches (e.g. bronze ingots), which were probably disseminated between 1600 and 1500 BC. This helps to correlate objects of different locations with each other and to draw conclusions upon typological and cultural connections. Isotopic and chemical correlations of objects within the individual hoards on the other hand allow reconstructions of metallurgical practices in single workshops, which for example implies recycling of metal scrap.

The collection of the Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe contains numerous late antique and byzantine objects, which were only published in parts hitherto. The artefacts are mainly small finds of high scientific value. Among them are as well sacral as profane objects, passing on a wide range of everyday life, culture and arts in the Late Roman and Byzantine empire. 268 objects of bone, ivory, glass, ceramics, metall and stone, some of them bearing inscriptions, are basically documented, interpreted and classified in cultural history.

In the 2019 Numismatic Chronicle, two of us published a comparative isotopic analysis of the struck lead from Minturnae and the grandes plomos monetiformes of Ulterior Baetica. We showed that the Italians exploited the coastal mines at Cartagena-Mazzarón before those of the Sierra Morena. We also used epigraphic evidence to identify gentes present in both Minturnae and Hispania, and to show that Minturnae was one of the first cities to exploit the Spanish Silver/lead mines soon after the Second Punic War. In our new paper, we expand our horizon to a number of aspects of the mines of the Baetican interior, and the organisation and areas of influence of the large-scale anonymous societates that exploited them. We first briefly review current ideas about the status and nature of the mining societates of the interior. We then consider further the identification of C·SAM, whom we had identified as one of the signatories of a group of lead pieces struck in Minturnae, which were in all probability made by a societas involved in the Spanish lead trade. This leads to a proposed new reading of a text from Pliny regarding what we now show to be a societas Samiarianensis, with a probable link to Minturnae. Our main focus, however, is on assembling and considering the physical evidence for the operations of the mining societates of the interior, which includes objects marked with the names of societates, two large groups of coins, and lead seals, including one in the name of the city of Corduba. We aim to provide as complete a picture as possible, as a contribution to future research. We also review the relationship of the Italo-Baetican grandes plomos monetiformes to the mines.

At a certain point in time, there were two central places in central Moravia: an older unfortified central agglomeration near the present- day village of Němčice nad Hanou and a younger oppidum at Staré Hradisko. Each of this centres had its own approach to raw materials, orientation of the socio-economic contacts, and possibly political focus as well. Němčice, being located at one of the main branches of the Amber Road, connected the Middle Danube area from the Mediterranean to the Adriatic; Staré Hradisko eventually expanded these contacts into a systematic trade network, being under the strong influence of the Bohemian region with links to Bavaria. During the LT C2, in addition to the location of the central place, changes took place in terms of material culture and settlement strategies in the region. This was further accentuated in LT D1 by the shift of settlements towards the west, to the vicinity of the oppidum and, at the same time, vacation of the corridor around the Morava River. In an attempt to chronologically assess the settlement pattern, it became evident how important it is to define, as precisely as possible, the dating of individual sites. This was only possible thanks to the detailed and extensive study of the material available (Čižmář 2018). Thanks to precise dating of settlements and classification based on the new chronology, the seemingly illogical group of settlements in central Moravia revealed a distinct settlement network which, in particular during the period contemporary with the oppidum, allows us to see the significant changes in the number of sites and in the orientation of long-distance contacts that were possibly associated with historical events.

Bronze is the defining metal of the European Bronze Age and has been at the center of archaeological and science-based research for well over a century. Archaeo-metallurgical studies have largely focused on determining the geological origin of the constituent metals, copper and tin, and their movement from producer to consumer sites. More recently, the effects of recycling, both temporal and spatial, on the composition of the circulating metal stock have received much attention. Also, discussions of the value and perception of bronze, both as individual objects and as hoarded material, continue to be the focus of scholarly debate. Here, we bring together the sometimes-diverging views of several research groups on these topics in an attempt to find common ground and set out the major directions of the debate, for the benefit of future research. The paper discusses how to determine and interpret the geological provenance of new metal entering the system; the circulation of extant metal across time and space, and how this is seen in changing compositional signatures; and some economic aspects of metal production. These include the role of metal-producing communities within larger economic settings, quantifying the amount of metal present at any one time within a society, and aspects of hoarding, a distinctive European phenomenon that is less prevalent in the Middle Eastern and Asian Bronze Age societies.

The recent set of excavations (campaigns 2012 and
2013) at the sites of Belovode and Pločnik (see Chapters
11 and 26) have shown the use of copper minerals
and metallurgical activities to be highly consistent
with results from previous analytical research
(Radivojević 2007, 2012, 2013, 2015; Radivojević et al.
2010a; Radivojević and Rehren 2016). Specific aspects
to emerge so far include: persistent selection of black
and green manganese-rich copper ores for metal
extraction; similar engineering parameters involved in
the early copper smelting technology; field evidence
from Belovode supporting the presence of potterylined
hole-in-the-ground installations; consistent metal
making and working technology remains at both sites;
and direct absolute dating evidence that leaves no doubt
for c. 5000 BC as the beginning of copper metallurgy
in the Balkans. In this chapter we will synthesise the
evidence for this c. 7,000 years old copper production
technology within the Vinča culture, in its local and
regional perspective, including data and debates on the
provenance of copper ores.

The copper axe blade discovered in the pile dwelling site of Zug-Riedmatt is one of the few Neolithic copper axe blades in Europe that can be dated with certainty. The blade’s form and its metal composition suggest that it is connected both to the south – more specifically to Copper Age cultures in northern Italy and southern Tuscany – and to the copper axe of the famous ice mummy of Tisenjoch (called ‘the Iceman’ or ‘Ötzi’). We were able to confirm this connection to the south by measuring the lead isotope composition of the blade, which traces the blade’s origin to Southern Tuscany. Due to these links to the south, the copper axe blade of Zug-Riedmatt can be described as a key to understanding Neolithic metallurgy north of the Alps in the second half of the fourth millennium BC. As the classification of the blade will have far-reaching consequences in regard to chronology and cultural history, we have decided to make the results of our analyses available as quickly as possible – even if this means that for now we can only discuss some basic results and assumptions about the blade’s context.

The Egyptian Museum of the University of Leipzig has the largest university collection of ancient Egyptian artefacts in Germany. It includes important objects from the excavations of the most prolific excavator among the museum’s curators, Georg Steindorff, at the sites of Abusir, Aniba, and Giza, complemented by objects from Abydos, Thebes, and Kerma. The catalogue represents the results of an interdisciplinary project by Egyptologist and archaeologist Martin Odler, archaeometalurgist Jiří Kmošek and other participating researchers. A selection of 86 artefacts was analysed using a range of archaeometallurgical methods (X-ray fluorescence; metallography; neutron activation analysis; lead isotope analysis), providing a diachronic sample of Bronze Age Egyptian copper alloy metalwork from Dynasty 1 to Dynasty 19.

Besides currently popular focus on the ore provenance, the selection of the applied methods aimed also at the description of practical physical properties of the objects. The question of differences between full-size functional artefacts and models is addressed, as is the problem of 'imports' and their ethnic interpretation. The analyses brought many unexpected results to light, the most surprising being a bowl (ÄMUL 2162) made of arsenical copper high in nickel, which has parallels in Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age Anatolia, and was featured in an article in the Journal of Archaeological Science in 2018. The corpus presented here involves the largest analysed metalwork assemblage from the Nubian C-Group and the Egyptian New Kingdom, and it addresses the issue of the use of local Nubian ore sources versus the sources of copper from Cyprus and elsewhere.

BRONZE AGE TIN is a multidisciplinary project funded by the European Research Council comprising archaeology, history, geochemistry, and geology, conducted by scientists from the University of Heidelberg and the Curt-Engelhorn-Zentrum Archäometrie in Mannheim. The objective is to decipher the enigma of the origin of tin in the early bronzes by combining new archeological data and tin isotope ratios. These bronzes appear in a wide area stretching from the Aegean to the Persian Gulf, but this region is geologically devoid of any tin deposits.

The results of this research will be presented and discussed during four half-day sessions on geology and ore deposits, metallurgy and archaeology. In addition, there will be a welcome meeting on Wednesday evening, 14 March, a symposium dinner on Friday evening, 16 March, and the option for a tour through the Old City of Heidelberg on Saturday, 17 March 2018.

There will be only invited talks, but anyone interested is invited to participate the conference. Use the provided link for downloading the workshop programme and the registration form:

http://www.cez-archaeometrie.de/?p=1528

Dado el papel que pudo jugar la plata en los procesos de estratificación social tanto en la sociedad argárica del Sureste como en las sociedades del Bronce Final/Hierro I, especialmente del Suroeste de la Península Ibérica, en este artículo tratamos de aproximarnos a la organización de la producción de plata en ambas sociedades mediante el estudio de los isótopos de plomo. Se presenta una primera aproximación a los análisis isotópicos realizados sobre objetos de plata argáricos y orientalizantes, así como una revisión de los análisis publicados (Hunt Ortiz, 2003; Stos Gale 2001; Kassianidou, 1992) sobre los restos de producción de plata a la luz de los nuevos datos disponibles. Se evidencia la llegada de plomo exógeno, necesario para la extracción de la plata de los minerales complejos del Suroeste, desde otras zonas de la Península Ibérica como Gádor o Cartagena/Mazarrón, con las implicaciones socio-económicas que pudiera tener el control no tanto de los recursos argentíferos del Suroeste, como de la distribución del plomo del Sureste.

The origin of the tin used for the production of bronze in the Eurasian Bronze Age is still one of the mysteries in prehistoric archaeology. In the past, numerous studies were carried out on archaeological bronze and tin objects with the aim of determining the sources of tin, but all failed to find suitable fingerprints. In this paper we investigate a set of 27 tin ingots from well-known sites in the eastern Mediterranean Sea (Mochlos, Uluburun, Hishuley Carmel, Kfar Samir south, Haifa) that had been the subject of previous archaeological and archaeometal-lurgical research. By using a combined approach of tin and lead isotopes together with trace elements it is possible to narrow down the potential sources of tin for the first time. The strongly radiogenic composition of lead in the tin ingots from Israel allows the calculation of a geological model age of the parental tin ores of 291 ± 17 Ma. This theoretical formation age excludes Anatolian, central Asian and Egyptian tin deposits as tin sources since they formed either much earlier or later. On the other hand, European tin deposits of the Variscan orogeny agree well with this time span so that an origin from European deposits is suggested. With the help of the tin isotope composition and the trace elements of the objects it is further possible to exclude many tin resources from the European continent and, considering the current state of knowledge and the available data, to conclude that Cornish tin mines are the most likely suppliers for the 13 th-12 th centuries tin ingots from Israel. Even though a different prov-enance seems to be suggested for the tin from Mochlos and Uluburun by the actual data, these findings are of great importance for the archaeological interpretation of the trade routes and the circulation of tin during the Late Bronze Age. They demonstrate that the trade networks between the eastern Mediterranean and some place in the east that are assumed for the first half of the 2 nd millennium BCE (as indicated by textual evidence from Kü ltepe/Kaneš and Mari) did not exist in the same way towards the last quarter of the millennium.

An assemblage of ancient Egyptian metalwork from the Early Dynastic and Old Kingdom periods, currently in the Egyptian Museum of Leipzig University (Germany), has been studied using a wide range of available archaeometallurgical methods. The 3rd millennium BC Egyptian copper metallurgy is known only superficially until now. The data are interpreted in the framework of the known and reconstructed distribution networks of ancient Egyptian society. The production technology of the objects has been examined. The lead isotope analyses have made it possible to discuss the origin of the ore used for the production of Old Kingdom metalwork for the first time. A rather surprising presence in the Early Dynastic assemblage of object similar in isotopic ratios to Anatolian Early Bronze Age metalwork is discussed.

This paper introduces the large-scale coin sampling project, Coinage and the dynamics of power: the Western Mediterranean 500-100 BC, along with the results of the archaic coins analysed. The results demonstrate that multiple silver sources were accessible for minting archaic coinage, mostly consigned to the Aegean. In formulating a research design, it became apparent that long-standing and problematic issues remain with the archaeometric study of coinage (i.e. surface analyses, reference materials, data comparability). The principal purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of a sound sampling protocol and analytical strategy for studying ancient coinage, to ensure the quality, reliability and comparability of future coin data. The paper also introduces a set of three new archaeological silver-alloy standards that can be used for studying coinage.

The rich and long-lasting Nordic Bronze Age was dependent throughout on incoming flows of copper and tin. The crucial turning point for the development of the NBA can be pinpointed as the second phase of the Late Neolithic (LN II, c. 2000-1700 BC) precisely because the availability and use of metal increased markedly at this time. But the precise provenance of copper reaching Scandinavia in the early second millennium is still unclear and our knowledge about the driving force leading to the establishment of the Bronze Age in southern Scandinavia is fragmentary and incomplete. This study, drawing on a large data set of 210 samples representing almost 50% of all existing metal objects known from this period in Denmark, uses trace element (EDXRF) and isotope analyses (MC-ICP-MS) of copper-based artifacts in combination with substantial typological knowledge to profoundly illuminate the contact directions, networks and routes of the earliest metal supplies. It also presents the first investigation of local recycling or mixing of metals originating from different ore regions. Both continuity and change emerge clearly in the metal-trading networks of the Late Neolithic to the first Bronze Age period. Artifacts in LN II consist mainly of high-impurity copper (so-called fahlore type copper), with the clear exception of British imports. Targeted reuse of foreign artifacts in local production is demonstrated by the presence of British metal in local-style axes. The much smaller range of lead isotope ratios among locally crafted compared to imported artifacts is also likely due to mixing. In the latter half of Nordic LN II (1800-1700 BC), the first signs emerge of a new and distinct type of copper with low impurity levels, which gains enormously in importance later in NBA IA.

The origins of the copper, tin and lead for China's rich Bronze Age cultures are a major topic in archaeological research, with significant contributions being made by archaeological fieldwork , archaeometallurgical investigations and geochemical considerations. Here, we investigate a recent claim that the greater part of the Shang-period metalwork was made using metals from Africa, imported together with the necessary know-how to produce tin bronze. A brief review of the current status of lead isotopic study on Shang-period bronze artefacts is provided first, clarifying a few key issues involved in this discussion. It is then shown that there is no archaeological or isotopic basis for bulk metal transfer between Africa and China during the Shang period, and that the copper and lead in Shang bronze with a strongly radiogenic signature is not likely to be from Africa. We call for collaborative interdisciplinary research to address the vexing question of the Shang period's metal sources, focusing on smelting sites in geologically defined potential source regions and casting workshops identified at a number of Shang settlements.

Depuis quelques années, le laboratoire Arc'Antique est sollicité pour des travaux sur les artefacts en plombs provenant de fouilles ou appartenant à des collections muséales. Nous avons cherché à répondre par voie analytique à des questionnements formulés par les archéologues ou les conservateurs : compositions ? homogénéité ou hétérogénéité de la matière (au sein d'un objet ou d'un groupe d'objets) ? provenance ? altération ? mise en forme et mise en œuvre ? Une réflexion a débuté, portant sur les choix des techniques analytiques les plus appropriées pour répondre à ces interrogations, sur les méthodologies de prélèvement, sur l'intégration des données technologiques et archéologiques aux choix analytiques. Les questionnements restent encore nombreux.

A critical examination is made of the evidence found to date of mining in the north-east and unpublished data are given regarding a recently discovered prehistoric mine (Mina de la
Turquesa or Mina del Mas de les Moreres in Cornudella de Montsant, Tarragona province ).
A synthetic examination is also made of the body of evidence studied in recent years in the county of El Priorat in Tarragona province.

The geochemical analysis of oxhide ingots from Eastern Bulgarian museums is a compulsory step towards a convincing explanation of these objects. Being the hallmark of Late Bronze Age trade in the eastern Mediterranean, oxhide ingots are among the few commodities passing over the economic and cultural confines of the Aegean into continental
Europe. Their presence on the continent seems enigmatic, because written and archaeological sources bear no record on Eastern Mediterranean interest for the north.

It is not proposed to offer a general interpretation of all oxhide ingots in non-Mediterranean contexts. The main goal is to shed light on the factors which contributed to the appearance of these foreign objects in the Lower Danube region and the lands to the south of the Stara
Planina Mountains. The situation is somewhat similar to clearly Cypriot oxhide ingots in Sardinia, and we will explore the possibility that in the case of the eastern Balkans it was not a Mediterranean trading network but a local initiative. The hoard from Kozman Dere (Şarköy, Tekirdağ in Turkey), which is a peculiar collection demonstrating an amazing mixture of Mediterranean and Balkan type metal objects (including a fragment of an oxhide ingot), may indicate that the region of the Dardanelles could have been a gateway hub. Whether this transition meant the loss of all
‘Mediterranean values and connotations’ of the oxhide ingots, or whether some of these accompanied the objects and were incorporated in eastern Balkan social practices is extremely difficult to decide due to the largely unknown find contexts and thus difficult dating evidence.

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.

Stable lead isotope analyses, using high resolution inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), accurately traced the origin of lead ores used in the production of ceramic glaze-paints by prehistoric Pueblo potters in the American Southwest. The analyses show that, despite the availability of other local sources, most potters in north-central New Mexico during the fifteenth century obtained lead from the Cerrillos Hills. These results suggest that certain strategically-located communities may have controlled the distribution of lead within the region. Thus, lead isotope analysis proved an effective technique for examining prehistoric patterns of resource utilisation, production, and exchange.