Ore Sources of Late Antique Silver Plate in The British Museum Collections: A Pilot Study Using Lead Isotope Analysis

This paper presents the results of a study of lead isotopes sampled from 11 high profile items of silver plate in the British Museum collections. These objects, all items of silver tableware (plates, dishes and bowls) dating between the third and seventh centuries AD were discovered in different parts of the late Roman to early Byzantine worlds or in two cases Pakistan, the latter vessels bearing related ‘classical’ imagery. Although the find contexts and typology of these vessels, their decoration and in some cases inscriptions can tell us much about them, their places of manufacture are largely unknown. The study of their metallurgy, particularly their trace elements and their lead isotopes, provides a window into where the silver ores used to produce them may have been mined, allowing speculative conclusions to be drawn on where these vessels may have been produced. The problems encountered by such analyses are also explored, particularly regarding the large amount of mixing of raw materials that undoubtedly occurred during late Antiquity as silver was regularly recycled.