Reply to J. D. Muhly, "Early Bronze Age Tin and the Taurus"

Tin ingots from a probable Bronze Age shipwreck off the coast of Salcombe, Devon: Composition and microstructure

“…Very few tin slags have ever been found throughout Bronze Age Europe due to the smelting of the tin oxide cassiterite (SnO2), the way metallic tin was produced during the Bronze Age, produced virtually no slag, since alluvial cassiterite is about 80% pure tin (Muhly, 1993). However, the mining of low grade tin ores containing higher levels of haematite, followed by through beneficiation by hand, could also have occurred with similar consequences for archaeological visibility (Yener and Vandiver, 1993). gold objects in Ireland demonstrating non-local sources (Standish et al, 2015).…”

A Late Bronze Age Shipwreck with a Metal Cargo from Hishuley Carmel, Israel

“…Most of the alleged tin deposits in Anatolia have turned out to be illusory, but a recently discovered tin source at Kestel in the Anatolian Taurus Mountains seems to be genuine (Yener et al ., 1989: 200–203; Yener and Goodway, 1992: 77–90; Willies, 1990: 91–6; Willies, 1992: 241–7; Yener and Vandiver, 1993: 255–64). However the evidence so far seems to indicate that it was exploited only in the Early Bronze Age.…”

Tainted ores and the rise of tin bronzes in Eurasia,c. 6500 years ago

“…These areas of early tin bronze consumption, however, lack significant tin sources. A quest for the tin source in Anatolia prompted extensive research on archaeological, geological and textual evidence, and likely origins were announced and subsequently dismissed in heated academic debates (Muhly 1993;Yener et al 1993). More recently, multiple cassiterite sources exploited during the Bronze Age have been identified in modern Iran, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan (Weisgerber & Cierny 2002;Nezafati et al 2006Nezafati et al , 2011Pigott 2011;Stöllner et al 2011).…”