Le complexe d’ateliers du Cabezo del Pino (Sierra Minera de Cartagena-La Unión, Murcia) et l’organisation de l’activité minière à Carthago Noua à la fin de la République romaine. Apports croisés de l’archéologie et de la géochimie

International audienceThe paper presents the results of the lead isotope analyses (LIA) made on various material and artefacts (ore, washing sediments, litharge) uncovered on the recent excavations carried on an ore washing plant in the Roman silver mining district of Carthago Nova. The aim of such analyses was to precise the isotopic signature of the washing plant so that it could be possible to contextualize it in the whole district. Combined with archaeological and epigraphical data, the LIA can contribute to better know the organisation of Roman mining and metallurgical activity in Cartagena.Se presentan los resultados de estudios arqueométricos realizados sobre diversos materiales (mineral, sedimentos de lavado, litargirio) recogidos en las recientes excavaciones de un complejo de talleres de época tardorrepublicana vinculado a la producción de plata y plomo en el distrito de Carthago Nova. Además de permitir la determinación de la signatura isotópica del complejo arqueológico, los isótopos de plomo contribuyen, conjuntamente con la arqueología y la epigrafía, a una mejor comprensión de la organización de la actividad minera y metalúrgica en la Cartagena romana.Cet article présente les résultats d’analyses isotopiques du plomb (LIA) réalisées sur divers matériaux et objets archéologiques (minerais, sédiments de lavage, litharges) découverts dans le cadre de récentes fouilles archéologiques conduites sur une installation de lavage au sein du district minier d’argent de Carthagène, durant l’époque romaine. Le but de telles analyses était d’affiner la signature isotopique de la laverie de manière à la situer dans ce vaste district. Combinées aux données de l’archéologie et de l’épigraphie, les LIA peuvent contribuer à mieux connaître et comprendre l’organisation de l’activité minière et métallurgique de Carthagène

Pretia Victoriae or Just an Occasional Bonus? Analysis of Iron Age Lead Artefacts from the Somerset Lake Villages

This paper looks at the evidence for the extraction of silver from lead ores in Iron Age and Roman Britain. Analysis shows that many of the lead objects from the Somerset Lake Villages were made from Mendip lead, but their chemical composition suggests that they were not produced from lead that had been de‐silvered, but from smelted galena with variable silver content. Furthermore, analysis of a Roman lead pig, made from Charterhouse lead ores, shows that it was made of chemically identical lead. Does this mean that silver was not extracted from British lead in the Iron Age and Roman periods? The evidence discussed and the results of the analyses suggest that silver was not always extracted from lead even when it was economical to do so. This was a cultural choice and not a technological limitation, one also found in other times and places around the world