Hacksilber facilitated trade and transactions from the beginning of the second millennium BCE until the late fourth century BCE in the southern Levant. Here we demonstrate the use of new, data-driven statistical approaches to interpret high-precision Pb isotope analysis of silver found in archaeological contexts for provenance determination. We sampled 45 pieces of Hacksilber from five hoards (Megiddo Area H, Eshtemoa, Tel Dor, ʿEn Gedi, and Tel Miqne-Ekron) and combined our data with recent literature data for the same hoards plus five more (Beth Shean, Ashkelon, Tell Keisan, Tel ʿAkko, and ʿEn Ḥofez) thus covering silver from the Late Bronze Age III (c.1200 BCE) to the end of the Iron Age IIC (586 BCE).

Samples were taken by applying a new minimally destructive sampling technique. Lead was extracted using anion-exchange chromatography, and Pb isotopic compositions were measured by MC-ICP-MS. Data were treated using a new clustering method to identify statistically distinct groups of data, and a convex hull was applied to identify and constrain ore sources consistent with the isotopic signature of each group. Samples were grouped by minimizing variance within isotopic clusters and maximizing variance between isotopic clusters.

We found that exchanges between the Levant and the Aegean world continued at least intermittently from the Late Bronze Age through to the Iron Age III, demonstrated by the prevalence of Lavrion (Attica), Macedonia, Thrace (northern Greece), southern Gaul (southern France), and Sardinia as long-lived major silver sources. Occasional exchanges with other west Mediterranean localities found in the isotopic record demonstrate that even though the Aegean world dominated silver supply during the Iron Age, exchanges between the eastern and the western Mediterranean did not altogether cease. The mixture of silver sources within hoards and relatively low purity of silver intentionally mixed with copper and arsenic suggest long-term hoarding and irregular, limited supply during the Iron Age I.

从公元前第二个千年初期到公元前 4 世纪后期，Hacksilber在黎凡特南部促进了贸易和交易。在这里，我们展示了使用新的、数据驱动的统计方法来解释考古环境中发现的银的高精度铅同位素分析，以确定来源。我们从五个储藏区（Megiddo Area H、Eshtemoa、Tel Dor、ʿEn Gedi 和 Tel Miqne-Ekron）中采样了 45 件Hacksilber，并将我们的数据与相同储藏的近期文献数据以及另外五个（Beth Shean、Ashkelon、Tell Keisan、Tel ʿAkko 和 ʿEn Ḥofez）因此涵盖了从晚青铜器时代 III（公元前 1200 年）到铁器时代 IIC 末期（公元前 586 年）的银。

通过应用一种新的最小破坏性采样技术来采集样本。使用阴离子交换色谱法提取铅，并通过 MC-ICP-MS 测量 Pb 同位素组成。使用新的聚类方法处理数据以识别统计上不同的数据组，并应用凸包来识别和约束与每组同位素特征一致的矿石来源。通过最小化同位素簇内的方差和最大化同位素簇之间的方差对样品进行分组。

我们发现，从青铜时代晚期到铁器时代 III，黎凡特和爱琴海世界之间的交流至少断断续续地继续，这体现在 Lavrion（阿提卡）、马其顿、色雷斯（希腊北部）、高卢南部（法国南部）的盛行) 和撒丁岛作为长寿的主要白银来源。与同位素记录中发现的其他西地中海地区的偶然交换表明，尽管爱琴海世界在铁器时代主导了白银供应，但东地中海和西地中海之间的交换并没有完全停止。贮藏中的银源混合以及相对低纯度的银故意与铜和砷混合表明在铁器时代 I 期间长期贮藏和不规则、有限的供应。