Combined Pb–Sr isotopic analysis in provenancing late Roman iron raw materials in the territory of Sagalassos (SW Turkey)

Abstract

In early Roman times, iron was likely supplied to the city of Sagalassos through the smelting of close-by hematite ores. In the early Byzantine period, magnetitetitanite placer sands in some instances could have been exploited for its iron. For the intermediate late Roman period, however, the source of the locally used iron was unknown. Pb and Sr isotopic analyses of iron ores from the area of Camoluk, just south of the territory of Sagalassos, and of late Roman iron artefacts from the antique city itself, reveal a very close resemblance. This makes the use of the Camoluk ores to supply Sagalassos with raw iron in the late Roman period likely. It is also shown that combined Pb and Sr isotopic analyses provides a powerful tool to distinguish chronological groups of iron provenance and a technique that can determine the nature and source of iron raw materials used.

Investigating the production provenance of iron artifacts with multivariate methods

“…Debate, too, has been limited, resulting in multiple analytical strategies and few opportunities for demonstrating their general applicability. Among the approaches taken are chemical analyses of the metal in comparison to potential ores (Devos et al, 2000), isotopic ratio analysis of the metal in comparison to potential ores (Degryse et al, 2007(Degryse et al, , 2009Schwab et al, 2006) and, most commonly, the chemical analysis of slag inclusions (SIs) in the metal in comparison to potential ironmaking regions or ore bodies (Blakelock et al, 2009;Buchwald, 2005;Coustures et al, 2003Coustures et al, , 2006Desaulty et al, 2008;Desaulty et al, 2009;Gordon and van der Merwe, 1984;Hedges and Salter, 1979;Leroy, 2010, Leroy et al, 2011, 2012.…”

Iron isotope analysis of red and black pigments on pottery in Nasca, Peru

“…We know that these minerals were mined on a fairly large scale (Salazar et al 2011;Salinas and Salazar 2008;Vaughn et al , 2013), yet, little archaeometric research has focused on characterizing iron oxides. This is quite unlike the growing archaeometric literature on iron oxides in other regions (e.g., Erlandson et al 1999;Degryse et al 2009;Kiehn et al 2007;Mooney et al 2003;Popelka-Filcoff et al 2007, 2008Smith and Pell 1997;Weinstein-Evron and Ilani 1994).…”

Assessment of Nanosecond Laser Ablation Multi‐Collector Inductively Coupled Plasma‐Mass Spectrometry for Pb and Sr Isotopic Determination in Archaeological Glass: Mass Bias Correction Strategies and Results for Corning Glass Reference Materials

“…These reference materials were selected because they have known isotopic compositions and contain approximately 300–500 μg g −1 Sr and/or Pb, which is comparable to values found in archaeological glasses (Degryse et al . ). For Sr isotopic determination, reference materials with Rb/Sr ratios below 0.2 were selected.…”

“…Reference materials included NIST SRM 610 (National Institute for Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, USA) and USGS reference materials BHVO-2G, NKT-G and GSE-1G (United States Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia, USA). These reference materials were selected because they have known isotopic compositions and contain approximately 300-500 lg g -1 Sr and/or Pb, which is comparable to values found in archaeological glasses (Degryse et al 2009). For Sr isotopic determination, reference materials with Rb/Sr ratios below 0.2 were selected.…”