Geological constraints on the use of lead isotopes for provenance in archaeometallurgy

Abstract

The first part of this paper is a brief critical history of the use of Pb isotopes for inferring the geological provenance of archaeological materials, with an emphasis on non‐ferrous metals. The second part examines variation in the Pb isotopic ratios of oxide and sulphide ore minerals in selected regions of the world, and relates these to the geological histories of ore formation in each region. This exercise shows that in regions where most ore deposits are of similar geological age—as in the Andes, Europe and the circum‐Mediterranean—provenance analysis with Pb isotopes is inherently difficult because geographically distant sources often exhibit similar isotopic ratios. Conversely, regions with many periods of ore formation—such as southern Africa—appear to be very promising regions for future studies of provenance with Pb isotopes. The wider implication of this exploratory survey is that archaeologists should carefully consider the range and clustering of geological Pb isotopic ratios in their regions of interest before investing large sums of money into Pb isotopic analysis of artefacts.

Melting, smelting, and recycling: A regional study around the Late Bronze Age mining site of Prigglitz-Gasteil, Lower Austria

“…As noted recently by [51] and numerous others (e.g. [52]), the most salient issues in archaeological Pb isotope provenance studies lie in their inconsistent data publication and presentation and the lack of a standard methodological approach.…”

“…As shown in Fig 7, the envelopes for these sources overlap and contain 7 of the studied objects (nos. 12,18,25,37,38,51,58), with the majority of the corpus lying on or just outside the boundaries of the more…”

Lead Isotope Analysis of Geological Native Copper: Implications for Archaeological Provenance Research in the North American Arctic and Subarctic

“…It was noted at the time that processing larger sample sizes (involving acid digestion) followed by solution-mode (SM)-MC-ICP-MS analyses may yield more precise and accurate results [16]. A recent review [18] discussed the value and limitations of LIA in investigations of archaeometallurgical provenance in Europe, the circum-Mediterranean, Central and South America, Asia, and Africa. This review focused on pre-Modern smelting technology and, as a result, North America was not included as smelting of metal from ores did not occur in this region prior to the arrival of Europeans.…”

Isotopic composition of lead white pigments on qeros: implications for the chronology and production of Andean ritual drinking vessels during the colonial era

“…The large natural variation of Pb isotope ratios among ore deposits combined with the preservation of primary source signatures in processed or extracted materials make Pb isotopes extremely useful indicators of provenance. Indeed, Pb isotopes have been used in archaeology for well over six decades to identify or constrain the sources of many types of artifacts including metals, minerals, ceramics, and pigments (for a partial history of the use of Pb isotopes in archaeology, see Killick et al [52]), and have also been applied to objects in cultural heritage and art historical studies. In particular, the Pb isotope composition of lead white paints has been used to discern the sources of lead white used by European artists from medieval times through the 20th century [53][54][55][56][57] and for investigating the authenticity of paintings with uncertain attributions [57,58].…”