@article{23591cb7426d48b2b9b9bc212608f7d8,
title = "A novel approach to lead isotope provenance studies of tin and bronze: Applications to South African, Botswanan and Romanian artifacts",
abstract = "Lead isotopic ratios of cassiterite, the dominant ore of tin, evolve after crystallization through decay of uranium (U) and thorium (Th) to lead (Pb), due to the relatively elevated U/Pb ratios of this mineral. We show that the Pb isotopic ratios of smelted tin at Rooiberg, South Africa, form an isochron with a model age that matches the known geological age (~2Ga) of the host granite for the Rooiberg cassiterite deposits. Since the Pb isotopic ratios of many prehistoric tin and bronze artifacts throughout southern Africa also fall on this isochron, we deduce that they were made with tin from either the Rooiberg deposits or similar age deposits that exist nearby. In addition, we show that bronze artifacts from Romania define an isochron corresponding to a Variscan age (~0.3Ga), suggesting a central or western European tin deposit as its source, since no Variscan tin is known from the neighboring Carpathian Mountains. Implications of this approach for provenance studies of tin and bronzes around the world are examined given various major tin deposits and their age distribution.",
keywords = "Botswana, Bronze, Isochron, Lead isotopes, Provenance, Romania, South Africa, Tin",
author = "Molofsky, {Lisa J.} and David Killick and Ducea, {Mihai N.} and Monica Macovei and Chesley, {John T.} and Joaquin Ruiz and Alyson Thibodeau and Popescu, {Gheorghe C.}",
note = "Funding Information: Lead isotopic measurements were undertaken in the W.C. Keck laboratory at the University of Arizona. The methods used in this research were developed under National Science Foundation grants EAR 9814891 and 0125773. MND acknowledges support from Romanian Science Foundation UEFISCDI project PN-II-ID-PCE-2011-3-0217 . We are especially grateful to Duncan Miller, James Denbow and Shadreck Chirikure for providing samples of archaeological tin and bronze from southern Africa. Simon Hall created Fig. 3 , and is co-director with DJK of the Rooiberg Archaeological Project, which was funded jointly by National Science Foundation BCS-0542135 and by the South African National Research Foundation . Assistance during fieldwork from Miguel Ferreira, Jaap Coetzee, Ben Cohen and Dana Drake Rosenstein is gratefully acknowledged, as is technical assistance in isotopic analysis from Mark Baker and Tom Fenn. This manuscript is based on two unpublished graduate dissertations, Lisa Molofsky's MS at the University of Arizona and Monica Macovei's PhD at the University of Bucharest. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2014 Elsevier Ltd.",
year = "2014",
month = oct,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1016/j.jas.2014.08.006",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "50",
pages = "440--450",
journal = "Journal of Archaeological Science",
issn = "0305-4403",
publisher = "Academic Press Inc.",
}