Claude Domergue, Les mines de la péninsule Ibérique dans l'Antiquité romaine,  Rome, Collection de l'École française de Rome, n° 127, 1990, 626 p.

Andreau, Jean

doi:10.1017/s0395264900068268

Cited by 7 publications

(9 citation statements)

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“…A more probable ore source, both compositionally and archaeologically, is jarosite, such as the jarosite ores of Riotinto in south-west Iberia, an area attested archaeologically to have been exploited by the Phoenicians, Carthaginians and the Romans (e.g. Domergue 1990;Willies 1997;Salkield 1982;Rothenberg and Blanco-Freijeiro 1981;Anguilano et al 2009;Anguilano 2012). The ores of Riotinto have gold levels that range from 0.3-16Au% (Gale et al 1980, table 1).…”

Section: Analysing the Elemental Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There were argentiferous lead mines in Britain and a lead-silver mine was in operation 100km east of the Rhine under Augustus, possibly before the Varian Disaster of AD 9 (Wilson 2012, 133-55) and the subsequent Roman withdrawal. For silver, however, the most important sources were in the south-west of the Iberian Peninsula: the Sierra Morena until the 1st century AD, and the south-western Iberian pyrites belt, such as Riotinto (Willies 1997) -the same region exploited successively by the Phoenicians and Carthaginians -with Tharsis, San Domingos and Aljustrel (Vipasca) being developed from the 1st century BC onwards (Domergue 1983;1990;Hirt 2010, 260-69). In effect, the Roman state moved very swiftly to exploit metal resources in newly conquered or acquired territories.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mints not Mines: a macroscale investigation of Roman silver coinage

Wood,

Ponting,

Butcher

2023

Internet Archaeol.

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Although silver coins have been investigated through the lens of geological provenance to locate argentiferous ore deposits exploited in their production, we consider that this avenue of research may be a cul-de-sac, especially for studies that rely heavily on deciphering lead and silver isotope signatures that may have been altered by the addition of lead and copper (and their associated impurities) during silver refining and debasement, and by ancient recycling of coinage. Instead, we focus our attention on mints, by analysing the compositions of over 1000 silver coins from the early 1st century BC to AD 100. We propose that lead from the west Mediterranean was used exclusively to refine silver at mints in the West, and that an unknown lead supply (possibly from Macedonia), used in the East by the Late Seleucid ruler Philip I Philadelphus and later Mark Antony, was mixed with western lead. Extensive mixing of lead and/or silver coins is particularly evident under Nero and Vespasian, aligning with historically attested periods of recycling following currency reform. We further propose that coins minted in the kingdom of Mauretania used different lead and silver sources from the majority of coins minted in the western Mediterranean, and that silver coins minted at Tyre are derived from silver refined in the west Mediterranean. Coinage minted at Alexandria is consistent with debasement of recycled Roman denarii, thereby suggesting that denarii were deliberately removed from circulation to mint tetradrachms during the early Imperial Roman period.

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Section: Analysing the Elemental Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mints not Mines: a macroscale investigation of Roman silver coinage

Wood,

Ponting,

Butcher

2023

Internet Archaeol.

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“…In fact, we agree that since the atmospheric model of McConnell et al (2018) attributes the bulk of lead pollution measured in Greenland to European emissions, and that the main European silver production centres were under Roman control by the mid-second century BC (after the Punic wars (264-146 BC) and the defeat of the Carthaginians), this would suggest that any interruptions in lead-silver production should be reflected in the lead emission record. In effect, the Roman state moved very swiftly to exploit metal resources in newly conquered or acquired territories, such as those in the south-west of the Iberian Peninsula (Willies 1997;Domergue 1983Domergue , 1990Hirt 2010, 260-269), with much of the silver minted into denarii at Rome being extracted from either argentiferous lead deposits or jarosite ores that required the addition of lead as a collector, with both being refined using lead.…”

Section: Compositions Of Roman Republican Silver Coinagementioning

confidence: 99%

Crisis? What crisis? Recycling of silver for Roman Republican coinage

Wood,

Ponting,

Butcher

2023

Archaeol Anthropol Sci

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Dated measurements of lead pollution in deep Greenland ice have become a useful proxy to monitor historical events because interruptions in lead-silver production result in fluctuations in lead emissions. However, the application of the lead emission record has not perhaps received the attention it deserves because of the difficulty in connecting macroscale events, such as wars and plagues, to their economic repercussions. For instance, although debasement of silver coinage with copper has been proposed as a reasonable response to interruptions in silver production, reductions in fineness of the silver denarius, the backbone of Roman coinage from the late third century BC, are not always coincident with decreases in lead deposited in Greenland. We propose that extensive recycling of silver that is evident in the numismatic record can better explain drops in lead emissions and, thereby, the responses to major historical events, such as warfare in the silver-producing areas of the Iberian Peninsula and southern France during the middle and late Roman Republic.

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“…Y algunas tuvieron que contentarse con la producción de cobre, Aljustrel, Montinho, Vuelta Falsa, Mimbrera, San Eduardo, Chaparrita, Carpio, etc. (Domergue, 1990;Pérez Macías, 1998).…”

Section: Introductionunclassified

Una fortificación romana en Los Frailes (El Campito, Huelva)

Pérez Macias,

Macías Fortes,

Rabadán Vázquez

2023

Onoba

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La minería romana de la plata y el cobre en la Faja Pirítica ibérica estuvo acompañada en su despegue industrial por toda una serie de medidas administrativas y militares que hicieron posible el aprovechamiento de sus masas polimetálicas. Entre las primeras una presencia directa de la hacienda imperial en la gestión de las minas, aunque la explotación fuera fue cedida a particulares. En las segundas la construcción de una abundante serie de pequeñas fortificaciones para el control del territorio en el convulso periodo del final de las guerras civiles. En este trabajo se da a conocer otro pequeño recinto-torre en el lugar conocido como Los Frailes, a escasa distancia de la mina de Riotinto.

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Claude Domergue, Les mines de la péninsule Ibérique dans l'Antiquité romaine, Rome, Collection de l'École française de Rome, n° 127, 1990, 626 p.

Cited by 7 publications

References 0 publications

Mints not Mines: a macroscale investigation of Roman silver coinage

Mints not Mines: a macroscale investigation of Roman silver coinage

Crisis? What crisis? Recycling of silver for Roman Republican coinage

Una fortificación romana en Los Frailes (El Campito, Huelva)

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