This study presents the results of compositional and lead isotopic analysis of coinage issued by the Greek colonies of Syracuse, Metapontum, Taras and Thurium in the fifth to third centuries bce. The data suggest that each colony in Magna Graecia, regardless of its motherland roots and despite ongoing conflicts between the cities, had access to the same silver, and that this supply was stable overall throughout their period of minting and issuing coinage. The paper retraces the silver sources of the colonies and points out a potential supply route for the metal. It includes a method development for a multi‐standard quantification approach for laser ablation‐inductively coupled‐mass spectrometry (LA‐ICP‐MS) analysis of silver.

The reasons why the Western Mediterranean, especially Carthage and Rome, resisted monetization relative to the Eastern Mediterranean are still unclear. Here, we address this question by combining lead and silver isotope abundances in silver coinage from the Aegean, Magna Graecia, Carthage, and the Roman Republic. The clear relationships observed between 109 Ag/ 107 Ag and 208 Pb/ 206 Pb reflect mixing of silver ores or silver objects with lead metal used for cupellation. The combined analysis of Ag and Pb isotopes reveal important information about the technology of smelting. The Greek world extracted Ag and Pb from associated ores, whereas, on the Iberian Peninsula, Carthaginians and Republican era Romans applied Phoenician cupellation techniques and added exotic Pb to lead-poor Ag ores. Massive silver re-cupellation is observed in Rome during the Second Punic War. After defeating the Carthaginians and the Macedonians in the late 2 nd century BCE, the Romans brought together the efficient, millenniumold techniques of silver extraction of the Phoenicians, who considered this metal a simple commodity, with the monetization of economy introduced by the Greeks.Silver has been highly prized in the Mediterranean and Near East region for millennia. The most obvious traces of its extraction can be seen in the contamination of ice and peat bogs all the way to the Arctic (Cortizas et al., 2002;Hong et al., 1994). The rise of monetized silver in the late 6 th and the 5 th century BCE in the Eastern Mediterranean world can be interpreted in different ways. Some consider that minting facilitated trade (Davis, 2012;Kim and Kroll, 2008), and, indeed, the abundance of shipwrecks in the Mediterranean as a proxy for economic performance correlates with lead peaks observed in Arctic ice (Parker, 1992). In the long run, however, the spread of coinage is also undoubtedly linked to the explosion of Greek mercenary service in the late 6 th -5 th centuries, but to an extent that varies with the period and the local political circumstances (De Callataÿ, 2019;Krasilnikoff, 1992; Trundle, 2004). The present work uses Ag and Pb isotopes to further inform the debate by investigating the transition between two modes of silver utilization

We present the results of geochemical analysis of silver coinage issued by Rome and dated between the fourth and second century BCE, which are complemented by data of coinage issued by Carthage, the Brettii, and the Greek colony of Emporion. Each of these minting authorities represents one of the major parties involved in the struggle for hegemony in the fourth to second centuries BCE Western Mediterranean region. This study retraces how the metal supply shifts in response to the transforming power relations and how this change is related to Rome's rise to the virtually uncontested ruler of the region.

This paper sets out to re-member coins into archaeological discourse. It is argued that coins, as part of material culture, need to be examined within the theoretical framework of historical archaeology and material-culture studies. Through several case studies we demonstrate how coins, through their integration of text, image and existence as material objects, offer profound insights not only into matters of economy and the 'big history' of issuers and state organization but also into 'small histories', cultural values and the agency of humans and objects. In the formative period of archaeology in the 19th century the study of coins played an important role in the development of new methods and concepts. Today, numismatics is viewed as a field apart. The mutual benefits of our approach to the fields of archaeology and numismatics highlight the need for a new and constructive dialogue between the disciplines.

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