Isotopenuntersuchungen zur Bestimmung der Herkunft römischer Bleirohre und Bleibarren

Abstract

The isotopic composition of lead in archaeological objects can be used to trace the origin of this lead. In this paper we give the lead isotopic composition of 10 Roman lead pipes and ingots, found on the European continent. In spite of the limited number of samples and the restricted area, significant differences in the isotopic composition are found exceeding by far the experimental limits of error. Thus, it is shown that the isotopic composition of lead is indeed a sensitive tracer for the origin of historical lead objects. Our results are compared with the isotopic compositions of European lead ores. For some examples the possibilities and the limitations of the method are discussed.