LA-ICP-MS – comparison of various silver bearing minerals from Spain and Greece

Initially, my dissertation was initated by a subproject of ERC senior research project “Silver isotopes and the rise of money“, of which Prof. F. Albarède, Lyon is the PI. In ancient Mediterranean and Near-Eastern societies, silver was the primary metal of economic exchange. Thus, the main goals of the ERC project are the monetization of ancient societies, the identification of exploited natural Ag mineral sources, and the identification of major transfer routes for silver. Being one of the ERC subprojects, my dissertation is about the mineralogy and use of silver-rich phases apart from galena.

Galena, known as the most important silver mineral in antiquity is not the only silver-rich phase in the Earth´s crust, and other silver minerals might also have been substantial and potential players in georessource exploitation. Understanding the geochemistry of a variety of silver ore minerals in context to their geology, is a key information for a broader view on archaeologically important mineral resources.

As a first output of my dissertation and together with my co-authors, I already accomplished a first article in the open-access peer-reviewed journal “Metallography, Microstructure and Analysis” with title “Litharge from El Centenillo and Fuente Espi: A geochemical and mineralogical investigation of Spanish Silver processing in the Sierra Morena“ (https://doi.org/10.1007/s13632- 023-00940-8).