Ancient lead mining
Lead was an important commodity and consumer good in Roman times. It was shipped from the mining areas to the provinces of the Roman Empire in the form of ingots .
In antiquity, lead extraction went hand in hand with silver extraction , until lead represented an independent interest. Its uses included the manufacture of Roman water pipes , dishes, and ship cladding.
Lead mines were known among others in Spain (Rio Tinto in southern Spain), Central Europe, Britain, the Balkans, Greece and Asia Minor. The deposits in the area of Germania used by the Romans include the Eifel and Sauerland ( Brilon-Fülsenbecke and Brilon-Altenbüren ).
Today around 3000 lead ingots are preserved. With a sample of around 20 mg, lead isotope values and trace elements can be determined in order to narrow down provenance areas.
Finds were made among others:
- in the Roman camp Haltern, among other things, a lead ingot with the inscription CCIII L XIX
- a bar in 1910 in the Kutmecke peasantry near Bad Sassendorf-Heppen about 3 km northeast of Soest
- in Kornen , Shropshire, five lead ingots marked IMP HADRIANI AUG
With the help of isotope analysis, it can also be possible to assign finished products to a deposit region and thus to a mining area. This was possible, for example, for Roman lead coffins from the Rhineland, the lead used comes from the deposits in the nearby Eifel, which can be proven to have been used in antiquity.
literature
In chronological order:
- Michael Bode, Andreas Hauptmann and Klaus Mezger: Tracing Roman lead sources using lead isotope analyzes in conjunction with archaeological and epigraphic evidence - a case study from Augustan / Tiberian Germania. In: Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences. Volume 1, Number 3, 177–194, doi : 10.1007 / s12520-009-0017-0
- W. Melzer, T. Capelle (ed.): Lead mining and lead processing during the Roman Empire in Barbaricum on the right bank of the Rhine. Soest 2007 (= Soest Contributions to Archeology, Vol. 8)
- Michael Bode: Archaeometallurgical investigations into lead / silver extraction in Germania during the early Roman Empire. Münster, 2008 ( online ; PDF file; 13.6 MB)
