XXI.—The Early Metallurgy of Silver and Lead: Part I., Lead

William Gowland

doi:10.1017/S0261340900014211

XXI.—The Early Metallurgy of Silver and Lead: Part I., Lead

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 November 2011

William Gowland

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The sources whence our knowledge of the early metallurgy of silver and lead, as of the other metals known to antiquity, is derived are two, distinct in character and differing greatly in the value and amount of their contributions. The first, and by far the most important, is the débris and other remains of the operations of the ancient metal workers which, from time to time, have been unearthed in many localities in Europe and "Western Asia, and in Egypt. The second lies in the records, more or less fanciful, given by classical authors of the technological processes and products of their times. It is needless to say that the information afforded by neither source is always definite in character or free from obscurity. As regards the remains, they are unfortunately too often fragmentary and incomplete, whilst the records are those of men not conversant with technical processes, and hence are full of errors of observation. The remains are, however, as a rule, more to be trusted than the records, and although no single find may admit of complete interpretation, yet, when several are collated the difficulties which they present individually disappear and their meaning is evident. They present us, moreover, with concrete evidence about which there can be no dispute, although there may be differences of opinion as to the deductions to be drawn from it.

Type: Research Article
Information: Archaeologia , Volume 57 , Issue 2 , 1901 , pp. 359 - 422

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261340900014211 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1901

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^{page 361 note a} Galena when pure consists of 86·61 per cent, of lead and 13·39 per cent, of sulphur.

^{page 361 note b} Dr. John Percy, The Metallurgy of Lead, 213.

^{page 361 note c} Lucretius, De Rerum Natura, v. 1251–56:

“Quidquid id est, quaquomque ex caussa flammeus ardor

Horribili sonitu sylvas exederat altis

Ab radicibus, et terrain percoxerat igni;

Manabat venis ferventibus, in loca terræ

Concava conveniens, argenti rivus, et auri;

Æris item, et plumbi.”

Strabo, Geographica, iii. 2. 9. “Oὐ γὰρ ἀπιστɛῖν τῷ μύθῳ φησὶν, ὅτι τῶν δρυμῶν ποτɛ ἐμπρησθέντων ἡ γῆ τακɛῖσα, ἅτɛ ἀργυρῖτις καὶ χρυσῖτις, ɛἰς τὴν ἐπιφάνɛιαν ἐξέζɛσɛ διὰ τὸ πᾶν ὄρος καὶ πάντα βουνὸν ῦλην ɛἶναι νομίςματος ὑπό τινος ἀφθόνου τὐχης σɛσωρɛυμἐνην”

^{page 362 note a} Pennant, , A Tour in Wales (London, 1784), 61Google Scholar.

^{page 362 note b} Forster, Westgarth, A Treatise on the Section of the Strata from Newcastle-on-Tyne to the Mountain of Cross Fell in Cumberland (2nd edition, 1821), 364.Google Scholar

^{page 362 note c} Britannia Baconica: or, The Natural Rarities of England, Scotland, and Wales (London, 1661), 112Google Scholar.

^{page 363 note a} Peele, Robert, jun., “A Primitive Smelting Furnace,” The School of Mines Quarterly (New York, 1893), xv. 8Google Scholar.

^{page 363 note b} Métallurgie, ou l'art de tirer et de purifier les métaux; traduite de l'espagnol d'Alphonse Barba. A la Haye (1750), Livre quatrième, chap. 6, tome 1. p. 272.

^{page 363 note c} Percy, , op. cit. 216.Google Scholar

^{page 364 note a} From this cause lead was in very limited use in Japan until quite recent times. Pipes, sheets for roofs, etc. were always of copper, and the chief use of the metal was for the preparation of the alloys, pewter and copper-tin-lead bronzes. So great, in fact, was the loss of the metal at one important group of mines, at which rich lead ores containing silver were smelted, that no lead whatever, but only silver, was produced for sale.

^{page 364 note b} Coffey, George, On Irish Copper Celts. A paper read at the Dover meeting of the British Association, 1899.Google Scholar

^{page 366 note a} 1, 2, and 3. Wilson, , Prehistoric Annals of Scotland, i. 374.Google Scholar

4. von Bibfa, , Die Bronzen und Kupferlegirungen (Erlangen, 1869), 132.Google Scholar

5. Ibid. 126.

6. Ibid. 142.

7. Ohantre, L'Age de Bronze, 1^ere ptie, 62.

8. von Bibra, , op. cit. 126.Google Scholar

9. Siret, H. and Siret, L., Les Premièrs Ages du Métal dans le Sud-est de l'Espagne (Anvers, 1887), 219.Google Scholar

With this end in view, it is still added to bronze in both Japan and China; a practice which has been followed in those countries from very early times.

^{page 366 note b} Cf. Gowland, , “Art of Casting Bronze in Japan,” Journal of the Society of Arts, 3rd May, 1895.Google Scholar

^{page 367 note a} 1 and 2. von Bibra, Die Bronzen und Kupferlegirungen, 94.

3, 4, and 5. Quarterly Journal of the Chemical Society, iv. 252.

6. Journal of the Chemical Society (1900), lxxviii. 480.

7. von Bibra, , op. cit, 86.Google Scholar

^{page 368 note a} Described by Mr. C. H. Read in Proceedings, 2nd series, xvi. 329 et seq.

^{page 368 note b} Evans, , Ancient Bronze Implements of Great Britain, 442.Google Scholar

^{page 368 note c} Proc. Geol. and Polyt. Soc. of Yorkshire, 1866, p. 439.

^{page 368 note d} Evans, , op. cit. 445.Google Scholar

^{page 368 note e} Evans, , op. cit. 285.Google Scholar

^{page 368 note f} Siret, H. and Siret, L., Les premiers Ages du Métal dans le Sud-est de l'Espagne, 192–3.Google Scholar

^{page 368 note g} Munro, , The Lake Dwellings of Europe (London, 1890), 15 and 16.Google Scholar

^{page 368 note h} Ibid. 57.

^{page 369 note a} Ibid. 222 and 224.

^{page 369 note b} Von Sacken, , Das Grabfeld von Hallstatt (Vienna, 1868), plate VIII. fig. 6.Google Scholar

^{page 369 note c} Schliemann, , Ilios, 258.Google Scholar

^{page 369 note d} Ibid. 337.

^{page 369 note e} Ibid. 565.

^{page 369 note f} A. Koerte, Hin alt-phrygischen Tumulus bei Bus-öjük (Lamunia). Mittheilungen der K. Deutschen Arch. Inst. Athen, 1899, xxiv.

^{page 369 note g} Dr. W. May, ‘Die Bergbaulischen Verhältnisse in der Turkei,” Oestr. Zeitschrift fur Berg-und-Hüttenwesen (1896, May), 223, et seq.

^{page 369 note h} Smyth, Warington W., A Year with the Turks (London, 1854), 297.Google Scholar

^{page 369 note i} P. de Tchihatcheff, Asie Mineure, part iv. Geologie, 32.

^{page 370 note a} Schliemann, , Mycenæ, fig. 120, 74.Google Scholar

^{page 370 note b} Tsountas, and Manatt, , The Mycenæan Age, 145Google Scholar

^{page 370 note c} Ibid. 385.

^{page 370 note d} Ibid. 381.

^{page 370 note e} Schliemann, , op. cit. 14, 18.Google Scholar

^{page 370 note f} Schliemann, , Tiryns, 171, 172.Google Scholar

^{page 370 note g} Tsountas, and Manatt, , op. cit. plate XVII. 160.Google Scholar

^{page 370 note h} Ibid. 73.

^{page 371 note a} Ibid. 383 et seq.

^{page 371 note b} Layard, , Discoveries in the Ruins of Nineveh, 357.Google Scholar

^{page 371 note c} Perrot et Chipiez, , Art in Chaldœa and Assyria, ii. 309.Google Scholar

^{page 371 note d} Helmhacker, , “The Useful Minerals of Turkey,” Engineering and Mining Journal (New York, 1898), lxvi. 635Google Scholar.

^{page 371 note e} Warington W. Smyth, A Year with the Turks, 114, 115.

^{page 371 note f} Herodotus, Historia, i. 186. “τοῦτο δἐ κατὰ μέσην κου μάλιστα τὴν πόλιν τοῖσι λίθοισι τοὺς ὠρύξατο οἰκοδόμɛɛ γέφυραν, δέουσα τοὺς λίθους σιδήρῳ τɛ καὶ μολίβδῳ.”

^{page 372 note a} Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica, ii. 10. “Τὸ δʼ ἐπὶ ταῖς δοκοῖς ὀρόϕωμα πρῡῑῶτον μὲν εἶχεν ὐπεστρωμένον κάλαμον μετὰ πολλῆς ἀσϕάλτου, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα πλίνθον ὀπτὴν δτπλῆν ἐν γύϕῳ δεδεμένην, τρίτην δʼ ἐπτβολὴν ἐπεδέχετο μολιβᾶς στέγας πὸς τὸ μὴ διικνεῖσθαι κατὰ βάθος τὴν ἑκ τοῦ χώματς νοτίδα.”

^{page 372 note b} Petrie and Quibell, Naqada and Ballas, plate LX. fig. 14, and p. 46.

^{page 372 note c} De Morgan, J., Fouilles à Dahchour, 157.Google Scholar

^{page 372 note d} Ibid. 144.

^{page 372 note e} Petrie, , Kahun, Gurob, and Hawara, 22.Google Scholar

^{page 373 note a} Petrie, , The Art of Ancient Egypt, Catalogue of the exhibition of the Burlington Fine Art Club, 1895, p. 29.Google Scholar

^{page 373 note b} Petrie, , Kahun, Gurob, and Hawara, plate XVIII. fig. 18, and p. 34.Google Scholar

^{page 373 note c} Petrie, , Naukratis, plate I. and p. 30.Google Scholar

^{page 373 note d} Petrie, , Tanis, pt. ii. plate XXII. figs. 6, 10, and 11, and p. 55.Google Scholar

^{page 373 note e} Petrie, Ibid. p. 14 et seq.

^{page 373 note f} Von Bibra, , Die Bronzen und Kupferlegirungen, 94.Google Scholar

^{page 374 note a} Homer, , Ilias, xi. 237, and xxiv. 80Google Scholar.

^{page 374 note b} Lethaby, W. R., Leadwork, 8.Google Scholar

^{page 375 note a} For a detailed account of these mines, see Cordella, A., Le Laurion, Marseille, 1869Google Scholar, and Ardaillon, E., Les Mines du Laurion dans l'Antiquité, Paris, 1897.Google Scholar

^{page 375 note b} Helmhacker, R., “The Useful Minerals of Turkey,” Engineering and Mining Journal (New York, November, 1898), 635.Google Scholar

^{page 375 note c} Berg-und Hüttenmännische Zeitung, 1876, 95.

^{page 375 note d} Berg-und Hüttenmännische Zeitung, 1880, 452.

^{page 375 note e} Berg-und Hüttenmännische Zeitung, 1880, 452.

^{page 375 note f} Berg-und Hüttenmännische Zeitung, 1876, 95.

^{page 375 note g} Paton and Myres, “Karian Sites and Inscriptions,” Journal of Hellenic Studies, xvi. 204.Google Scholar PubMed

^{page 375 note h} Sayce, , “Notes from a Journey in the Troad and Lydia,” Journal of Hellenic Studies, i. 91.Google Scholar

^{page 375 note i} Gumush, silver; Dagh, mountain.

^{page 375 note k} May, “Die Bergbaulischen Verhältnisse in der Turkei,” Oestr. Zeitschrift für Berg-und Hüttenwesen (May, 1896), 223 et seq.

^{page 375 note i} de Tchihatcheff, P., Asie Mineure, part 4, Géologie, 32.Google Scholar

^{page 376 note a} Smyth, Warington W., A Year with the Turks, 297Google Scholar; Helmhacker, , “The Useful Minerals of Turkey,” Engineering and Mining Journal (New York, November, 1898), 653Google Scholar.

^{page 376 note b} Maden, mine; Gumush maden, silver mine.

^{page 377 note a} Kerl, , Handbuch der Metallurgischen Hüttenkunde, ii. 274, 275.Google Scholar

^{page 377 note b} Percy, , The Metallurgy of Lead, 418.Google Scholar

^{page 377 note c} Kerl, , Handbuch der Metallurgischen Hüttenkunde, ii. 275Google Scholar, and Berg-und Hüttenmännische Zeitung, 1862, 62.

^{page 377 note d} Revue Archéologique, nouvelle série, xvii. 299.

^{page 378 note a} Berg-und Hüttenmännische Zeitung, 1880, 452.

^{page 378 note b} Hofmann, , Das Blei, 10.Google Scholar

^{page 378 note c} Pliny, , Nat. Hist., xxxiv. 49.Google Scholar

^{page 379 note a} Haverfield, F., “Roman Inscriptions in Britain,” Archæological Journal, xlvii. 258.Google Scholar

^{page 379 note b} Corpus Inscriptionum, xiii. No. 2612.

^{page 379 note c} Ibid. xiii. No. 3222.

^{page 379 note d} Daubrée in Revue Archéologique, nouvelle série, xvii. 300 et seq.

^{page 380 note a} Revue Archéologique, nouvelle série, xli. 261 et seq.

^{page 380 note b} Franz, , Berg-und Hüttenmännische Zeitung, 1880, 452.Google Scholar

^{page 381 note a} Revue Archéologique, nouvelle série, xvii. 303.

^{page 381 note b} Archæological Journal, xxiii. 289. The blocks for Figs. 2 and 3 have been kindly lent by the Royal Archæological Institute.

^{page 381 note c} This confirms the statement of Pliny: “Nigro plumbo ad fistulas laminasque utimur, laboriosius in Hispania eruto, totasque per Gallias: sed in Britannia summo terræ corio adeo large, ut lex ultro dicatur, ne plus certo modo fiat.” Nat. Hist., xxxiv. 49.

^{page 382 note a} Hunt, , British Mining, 26.Google Scholar

^{page 382 note b} Phillips, and Louis, , Ore Deposits, 236.Google Scholar

^{page 385 note a} “The Early Metallurgy of Copper, Tin, and Iron in Europe,” Archaeologia, lvi. 267 et seq.

^{page 386 note a} Strabo, Geographica, iii. 2. 10. “Tὴν ἀργυρῖτίν φησι κόπτɛσθαι καὶ κοσκίνοις ἐις ὔδωρ διαττᾶσθαι κόπτɛσθαι δὲ πάλιν τὰς ὑποστάσɛις, καὶ πάλιν διηɛουνένας αποχɛοένων τῶν ὑδάτῶν ὑδάτων τῶν ὑδάτων κόπτɛσθαι τὴν δὲ π έμπτην ὑπόστατασιnu; χωνɛυθɛῖσαν.”

^{page 387 note a} Agricola, , op. cit. (1657 Edition), 228.Google Scholar

^{page 388 note a} Strabo, iii. 2. 8.

^{page 388 note b} Archaeologia, lvii. 119.

^{page 388 note c} Speaking of silver, Pliny, writes: “Excoqui non potest, nisi cum plumbo nigro aut cum vena plumbi. Galenam vocant, quæ juxta argenti venas plerumque reperitur.” Nat. Hist., xxxiii. 31.Google Scholar

^{page 389 note a} Percy, , The Metallurgy of Lead, 271–273.Google Scholar

^{page 390 note a} The mines of Argyria, l'Argentière, Gumush Dagh, etc.

^{page 391 note a} Gazette Archéologique, 1880, 101 et seq.

^{page 391 note b} Cordella, , Le Laurion (Marseille, 1869), 98Google Scholar.

^{page 393 note a} Composition of slags from Laurion:

A. Cordelia, Le Laurion, 101.

B. The Mining and Metallurgical Production of Laurium (Athens, 1893), 16.

^{page 394 note a} Annales des Mines, xvi. (1889), 434.

^{page 395 note a} Florencourt, , Über die Bergwerke der Alten (Göttingen, 1785), 30Google Scholar and” plate 2.

^{page 396 note a} Artis, , op. cit. plate XXV. fig. 2.Google Scholar

^{page 396 note b} Blümner, , Technologie und Terminologie, iv. 152, and fig. 6.Google Scholar

^{page 400 note a} Hunt, Robert, Descriptive Guide to the Museum of Practical Geology (London, 1857), 172Google Scholar.

^{page 401 note a} Respecting the inscription METALLI LVTVDARES on No. 3, Table III. our Fellow, Mr. Haverfield, expands it to METALLI LVTVDARE(N)S(IS), and reads it “of the mine of Lutudarum.” He says also “Lutudares I take to be, there, short for Lutudarensis; the N being omitted in common fashion and the last syllable dropped “with usual Roman arbitrariness in abbreviation.” ¹ The inscription LVT and its other forms is thus satisfactorily explained. It is hence hardly necessary to say that there were no grounds whatever for reading it lutum, and translating it “washed ” as has been frequently done. There is no such thing as “washed ” lead. The term might be applied to the ore, but as all lead ores are everywhere and always “washed,” the inscription if it had had that signification would not have been found only on the Derbyshire lead.

¹Proceedings, 2nd S. xv. 187.

^{page 402 note a} “Dr. Thurnam, Crania Britannica, 100, says of No. 17, “often described as a pig, but really an oblong plate, ‘oblong a plwmbi tabula.’”

Besides the pigs enumerated in the Table, three have been found in Saham Wood, Norfolk, one in Dum-bartonshire, and one in Perthshire, but there is no satisfactory evidence to show that any of these were Roman.

An interesting relic, however, of Roman lead-smelting is a small piece of lead measuring only 7 inches by 3½ inches, and bearing the letters BR EX ARG, which was found in the Humber. See Corp. Inscript. vii. No. 1217.

Note.—The pigs to which analyses are appended are in the British Museum.

^{page 405 note a} 1 and 2. Hofman, , The Metallurgy of Lead (New York, 1892), 21Google Scholar.

3. Percy, , The Metallurgy of Lead (London, 1870), 174Google Scholar.

4 to 10. Ibid. 493, 494.

^{page 405 note b} Daniel, and Lysons, Samuel, Magna Britannia, V. cxciii.Google Scholar

^{page 407 note a} Pliny, , Nat. Hist., xxxiii. 21.Google Scholar

^{page 407 note b} Pliny, , Nat. Hist., xxxiv. 49.Google Scholar

^{page 411 note a} M. Vitruvii Pollionis, De Architectura, lib. viii. cap. vii. “Fistulæ ne minus longæ pedum denum fundantur: quæ si centenariæ erunt, pondus habeant in singulas pondo MCC, si octogenariæ, pondo DCCCCLX., si quinquagenariæ, pondo DC, quadragenariæ, pondo CCCCLXXX., tricenariæ, pondo CCCLX., vicenariæ, pondo CCXL., quinum denum, pondo CLXXX., denum, pondo CXX., octonum, pondo XCVI., quinariæ, pondo LX. Ex latitudine autem lamnarum, quot digitos habuerint, antequam in rotundationem flectantur, magnitudinum ita nomina concipiunt fistulæ: namque quæ lamna fuerit digitorum quinquaginta, cum fistula perficietur ex ea lamna. vocabitur quinquagenaria, similerterque reliquæ.”

^{page 411 note b} Middleton, , The Remains of Ancient Rome, ii. 330.Google Scholar

^{page 411 note c} Sex. Julii Frontini, De Aquæductibus Urbis Romæ Commentarius, Art. 25 et seq. “Qui Vitruvium et Plumbarios, ab eo quod plumbea lamina plana, quinque digitorum latitudinem habens, circumacta in rotundum, hunc Fistulæ Modulum efficiat. Sed hoc incertum est; quoniam cum circumagitur, sicut interiore parte attranitur, ita per illam, quæ foras spectat, extenditur. Maxime probabile est, Quinariam dictam a diametro quinque quadrantum, quæ ratio in sequentibus quoque Modulis, usque ad Vicenariam durat; diametro per ingulos adjectione singulorum quadrantum crescente: ut in Senaria, quæ sex scilicet quadrantes in diametro habet; et Septenaria, quæ septem; et deinceps simili incremento usque ad Vicenariam,” etc.

^{page 412 note a} A strip of lead 10 pes (116·5 inches) long and 1 digit (728 inch) wide and ¼ inch thick weighs 8·716 pounds avoir., or 12·07 libræ.

^{page 415 note a} Archaeologia, 1. 276.

^{page 415 note b} Archaeologia, lv. 232 et seq.

^{page 417 note a} Pliny, , Nat. Hist., xxxiv. 48.Google Scholar

^{page 417 note b} Report by Mr. Henry Taylor, F.S.A., Local Secretary for Cheshire, Proceedings, 2nd S. xviii. 97, 98.

^{page 420 note a} In Middleton's Remains of Ancient Home, ii. 330 et seq. an excellent account of these inscriptions abstracted from this book will be found.

^{page 420 note b} Middleton, , opus cit. ii. 331, 332.Google Scholar

^{page 419 note a} Reproduced from Journal of the British Archaeological Association, ii. 297.

^{page 419 note b} Blümner and Schorn, Geschichte der Kunstgewrbes, i.. 187. I am indebted to this interesting little book for the illustration.

^{page 420 note a} Archaeologia, xlviii. Plate XII.

^{page 420 note b} This coffin was brought to my notice by our Secretary, Mr. C. H. Read, who kindly permitted the photograph to be made of it.

^{page 420 note c} I am indebted to the courtesy of Dr. A. S. Murray, keeper of Greek and Roman Antiquities at the British Museum, for permission to have the photographs made of which figs. 17 and 21 are copies.

^{page 421 note a} Plautus (second century B.C.) describes a banquet as having been served in vasis stagneis, which were most probably pewter vessels.

^{page 421 note b} Archaeologia, lvi. 13 et seq.

^{page 422 note a} Greek and Roman Collection, British Museum.

^{page 422 note b} Pliny, , Nat. Hist. xiii. 21.Google Scholar

^{page 422 note c} Cesnola, , Salaminia, 65.Google Scholar

^{page 422 note d} Greek and Roman Collection, British Museum.

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XXI.—The Early Metallurgy of Silver and Lead: Part I., Lead

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