Tin Isotopy- A New Method for Solving Old Questions
(2010) In Archaeometry 52. p.816-832- Abstract
- Tin was a vital commodity in times past. In central Europe, the earliest finds of tin-bronze date to about 2200 bc, while in Greece they are c. 400-500 years earlier. While there is evidence for prehistoric copper mining-for example, in the Alps or mainland Greece, among other places-the provenance of the contemporary tin is still an unsolved problem. This work deals with a new approach for tracing the ancient tin via tin isotope signatures. The tin isotope ratios of 50 tin ores from the Erzgebirge region (D) and 30 tin ores from Cornwall (GB) were measured by MC-ICP-MS. Most ore deposits were found to be quite homogeneous regarding their tin isotope composition, but significant differences were observed between several deposits. This fact... (More)
- Tin was a vital commodity in times past. In central Europe, the earliest finds of tin-bronze date to about 2200 bc, while in Greece they are c. 400-500 years earlier. While there is evidence for prehistoric copper mining-for example, in the Alps or mainland Greece, among other places-the provenance of the contemporary tin is still an unsolved problem. This work deals with a new approach for tracing the ancient tin via tin isotope signatures. The tin isotope ratios of 50 tin ores from the Erzgebirge region (D) and 30 tin ores from Cornwall (GB) were measured by MC-ICP-MS. Most ore deposits were found to be quite homogeneous regarding their tin isotope composition, but significant differences were observed between several deposits. This fact may be used to distinguish different tin deposits and thus form the basis for the investigation of the provenance of ancient tin that has been sought for more than a century. Furthermore, the tin-isotope ratio of the 'Himmelsscheibe von Nebra' will be presented: the value fits well with the bulk of investigated tin ores from Cornwall. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/1544372
- author
- Haustein, Mike ; Gillis, Carole LU and Pernicki, Ernst
- organization
- publishing date
- 2010
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- TIN ISOTOPY, PREHISTORIC TIN, PREHISTORIC BRONZE, HIMMELSSCHEIBE (SKY DISC) OF NEBRA, MULTICOLLECTOR MASS SPECTROMETRY, TIN-PLACERS, CENTRAL EUROPE, GREECE, ERZGEBIRGE, CORNWALL
- in
- Archaeometry
- volume
- 52
- pages
- 816 - 832
- publisher
- John Wiley & Sons Inc.
- external identifiers
-
- wos:000280987300006
- scopus:77955602604
- ISSN
- 0003-813X
- DOI
- 10.1111/j.1475-4754.2010.00515.x
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 6c99d432-88d5-43c5-9a20-5dcadc234bb7 (old id 1544372)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 09:58:00
- date last changed
- 2022-04-27 17:12:24
@article{6c99d432-88d5-43c5-9a20-5dcadc234bb7,
abstract = {{Tin was a vital commodity in times past. In central Europe, the earliest finds of tin-bronze date to about 2200 bc, while in Greece they are c. 400-500 years earlier. While there is evidence for prehistoric copper mining-for example, in the Alps or mainland Greece, among other places-the provenance of the contemporary tin is still an unsolved problem. This work deals with a new approach for tracing the ancient tin via tin isotope signatures. The tin isotope ratios of 50 tin ores from the Erzgebirge region (D) and 30 tin ores from Cornwall (GB) were measured by MC-ICP-MS. Most ore deposits were found to be quite homogeneous regarding their tin isotope composition, but significant differences were observed between several deposits. This fact may be used to distinguish different tin deposits and thus form the basis for the investigation of the provenance of ancient tin that has been sought for more than a century. Furthermore, the tin-isotope ratio of the 'Himmelsscheibe von Nebra' will be presented: the value fits well with the bulk of investigated tin ores from Cornwall.}},
author = {{Haustein, Mike and Gillis, Carole and Pernicki, Ernst}},
issn = {{0003-813X}},
keywords = {{TIN ISOTOPY; PREHISTORIC TIN; PREHISTORIC BRONZE; HIMMELSSCHEIBE (SKY DISC) OF NEBRA; MULTICOLLECTOR MASS SPECTROMETRY; TIN-PLACERS; CENTRAL EUROPE; GREECE; ERZGEBIRGE; CORNWALL}},
language = {{eng}},
pages = {{816--832}},
publisher = {{John Wiley & Sons Inc.}},
series = {{Archaeometry}},
title = {{Tin Isotopy- A New Method for Solving Old Questions}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4754.2010.00515.x}},
doi = {{10.1111/j.1475-4754.2010.00515.x}},
volume = {{52}},
year = {{2010}},
}