Markos Vaxevanopoulos
Biographic Data
| ID | 180430 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Markos Vaxevanopoulos |
| GIVEN NAMES | Markos |
| FAMILY NAME | Vaxevanopoulos |
| SIGNATURE | VAXEVANOPOULOS M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Lyon 1 Université |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-3027-5622 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 14 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 47 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 14 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2011 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Désert Oriental (2023): Stathmoi et metalla : exploiter et traverser le désert oriental à l’époque ptolémaïque
;
Ag and Pb isotope systematics in galena ores from southern Sardinia and southern France flag potential silver sources in antiquity
While lead isotopes serve to determine potential ore provenance, silver isotopes help evaluate if a specific ore flagged by Pb isotopes has actually been exploited as a silver source of bullion in antiquity. The combination of Ag and Pb isotopes thus constitutes a powerful tool to address provenance and identify potential ore sources. It has recently been observed that the vast majority of silver isotopic abundances in hundreds of silver coins fr…
Comment on Mints not Mines: A macroscale investigation of Roman silver coinage by J.R. Wood, M. Ponting, and K. Butcher
Wood et al. (2023), hereinafter WPB, unveils a number of historical issues relevant to Roman economy and metallurgy based on trace element and Pb isotope abundance data on a large set of important coins minted during the Roman Empire (Ponting and Butcher 2015). Here, we discuss several points which, in our view, misrepresent the work of other groups, ours included, and bias the overall interpretation of the WPB data set.
Isotope and trace element compositions of silver-bearing ores in the Balkans as possible metal sources in antiquity
Ore deposits in the Balkan Peninsula were intensively mined for silver and other metals in the Roman and medieval periods. Coinage mainly issued by tribal groups between the early 5th and the end of the 3rd century BCE provides indirect evidence that silver extraction predates the Roman conquest of the region. However, identification of centers of past metal production and reconstruction of large-scale silver fluxes can only be achieved using a c…
The Emergence of Metal Use in Greek Eastern Macedonia During the Neolithic Period (Late 6th–5th Millennia BC)
Copper, gold, and silver artefacts, together with evidence of metallurgical activities, have been retrieved from Late Neolithic strata in several settlements in Greek Eastern Macedonia. Recent excavations at Dikili Tash revealed that gold was further used in paints for the decoration of pottery. It appears that the area’s inhabitants had a great familiarity with different metals and the distinct stages of the production-elaboration processes, inc…
Narrowing provenance for ancient Greek silver coins using Ag isotopes and Sb contents of potential ores
International audience
Désert Oriental (2020): Stathmoi et metalla. Exploiter et traverser le désert Oriental à l’époque ptolémaïque
Données scientifiques produites : https://desorient.hypotheses.org/ Problématique et bilan des principaux résultats La mission archéologique française du désert Oriental a exploré entre 2013 et 2016 le district minier de Samut. Elle a fouillé la mine d’or de Samut Nord et le fort de Bi’r Samut, tous deux datés de l’époque ptolémaïque, et localisés sur l’ancienne route menant d’Edfou au port de Bérénice. Lors des ca
The Lavrion silver district: Reassessing its ancient mining history
Lavrion was an important silver mining district in the ancient world, exploited almost continuously from the fourth millennium BC. Its mining history is central to understanding the availability of silver, lead and copper in Greece and the Aegean through the Bronze age. This history is also relevant to the phenomenal rise of Athens in the 5th century BC. Our reassessment of the mineralisation and ancient mining history at Lavrion provides a clear…
New Findings of Ancient Greek Silver Sources
Over the last 60 years, much analytical research has sought to determine the ore sources of ancient Greek silver artefacts. Lead isotopic analysis has played a key role in this endeavor. While most studies so far have limited their search to places mentioned in historical sources, the present study takes a different approach by first identifying Ag-bearing ore sources in the Aegean world based on their geological characteristics and then using Pb…
From commodity to money: The rise of silver coinage around the Ancient Mediterranean (sixth–first centuries bce )
The reasons why the Western Mediterranean, especially Carthage and Rome, resisted monetization relative to the Eastern Mediterranean are still unclear. We address this question by combining lead (Pb) and silver (Ag) isotope abundances in silver coinage from the Aegean, Magna Graecia, Carthage and Roman Republic. The clear relationships observed between 109 Ag/ 107 Ag and 208 Pb/ 206 Pb reflect the mixing of silver ores or silver objects with Pb m…
A miner's perspective on Pb isotope provenances in the Western and Central Mediterranean
The conventional approach to ore provenance studies of ancient silver coins and artifacts has been to first analyze and then try to match them to published data about mining districts, a difficult task given our incomplete knowledge of these. While literary sources are useful to identify possible provenances, they potentially bias interpretations proper because of a variety of limitations of their time. Archeological evidence in the form of minin…
Kastro Palaia settlement, Volos, Greece: A diachronical technological approach to bronze metalwork
The paper examines diachronically the technological knowledge and the level of copper metallurgy at Kastro Palaia, Volos, in Magnesia, examining various objects with dates from the Early Bronze Age through to the Early Christian era. Of the 70 objects that have been examined so far using pXRF, a small sample was selected for further metallographic and chemical analyses. In this way, the manufacturing processes for the production of each object we…
The sanctuary of Hercules in Sesklo Region, Volos, Greece: An archaeometric approach of the archaic bronze objects
The study of the bronze offerings obtained from the Sanctuary of Hercules in the area of Sesklo, Municipality of Volos, Thessaly, Greece is presented in this paper. The objects were examined initially with non-destructive followed with invasive methods in order to better understand their manufacture technology. The provenance of copper is also briefly discussed
Elephas antiquus in Greece: New finds and a reappraisal of older material (Mammalia, Proboscidea, Elephantidae)
A miner's perspective on Pb isotope provenances in the Western and Central Mediterranean
The conventional approach to ore provenance studies of ancient silver coins and artifacts has been to first analyze and then try to match them to published data about mining districts, a difficult task given our incomplete knowledge of these. While literary sources are useful to identify possible provenances, they potentially bias interpretations proper because of a variety of limitations of their time. Archeological evidence in the form of minin…
New Findings of Ancient Greek Silver Sources
Over the last 60 years, much analytical research has sought to determine the ore sources of ancient Greek silver artefacts. Lead isotopic analysis has played a key role in this endeavor. While most studies so far have limited their search to places mentioned in historical sources, the present study takes a different approach by first identifying Ag-bearing ore sources in the Aegean world based on their geological characteristics and then using Pb…
Isotope and trace element compositions of silver-bearing ores in the Balkans as possible metal sources in antiquity
Ore deposits in the Balkan Peninsula were intensively mined for silver and other metals in the Roman and medieval periods. Coinage mainly issued by tribal groups between the early 5th and the end of the 3rd century BCE provides indirect evidence that silver extraction predates the Roman conquest of the region. However, identification of centers of past metal production and reconstruction of large-scale silver fluxes can only be achieved using a c…
Narrowing provenance for ancient Greek silver coins using Ag isotopes and Sb contents of potential ores
International audience
From commodity to money: The rise of silver coinage around the Ancient Mediterranean (sixth–first centuries bce )
The reasons why the Western Mediterranean, especially Carthage and Rome, resisted monetization relative to the Eastern Mediterranean are still unclear. We address this question by combining lead (Pb) and silver (Ag) isotope abundances in silver coinage from the Aegean, Magna Graecia, Carthage and Roman Republic. The clear relationships observed between 109 Ag/ 107 Ag and 208 Pb/ 206 Pb reflect the mixing of silver ores or silver objects with Pb m…
The Lavrion silver district: Reassessing its ancient mining history
Lavrion was an important silver mining district in the ancient world, exploited almost continuously from the fourth millennium BC. Its mining history is central to understanding the availability of silver, lead and copper in Greece and the Aegean through the Bronze age. This history is also relevant to the phenomenal rise of Athens in the 5th century BC. Our reassessment of the mineralisation and ancient mining history at Lavrion provides a clear…
Elephas antiquus in Greece: New finds and a reappraisal of older material (Mammalia, Proboscidea, Elephantidae)
Kastro Palaia settlement, Volos, Greece: A diachronical technological approach to bronze metalwork
The paper examines diachronically the technological knowledge and the level of copper metallurgy at Kastro Palaia, Volos, in Magnesia, examining various objects with dates from the Early Bronze Age through to the Early Christian era. Of the 70 objects that have been examined so far using pXRF, a small sample was selected for further metallographic and chemical analyses. In this way, the manufacturing processes for the production of each object we…
The sanctuary of Hercules in Sesklo Region, Volos, Greece: An archaeometric approach of the archaic bronze objects
The study of the bronze offerings obtained from the Sanctuary of Hercules in the area of Sesklo, Municipality of Volos, Thessaly, Greece is presented in this paper. The objects were examined initially with non-destructive followed with invasive methods in order to better understand their manufacture technology. The provenance of copper is also briefly discussed
A miner's perspective on Pb isotope provenances in the Western and Central Mediterranean
The conventional approach to ore provenance studies of ancient silver coins and artifacts has been to first analyze and then try to match them to published data about mining districts, a difficult task given our incomplete knowledge of these. While literary sources are useful to identify possible provenances, they potentially bias interpretations proper because of a variety of limitations of their time. Archeological evidence in the form of minin…
Désert Oriental (2020): Stathmoi et metalla. Exploiter et traverser le désert Oriental à l’époque ptolémaïque
Données scientifiques produites : https://desorient.hypotheses.org/ Problématique et bilan des principaux résultats La mission archéologique française du désert Oriental a exploré entre 2013 et 2016 le district minier de Samut. Elle a fouillé la mine d’or de Samut Nord et le fort de Bi’r Samut, tous deux datés de l’époque ptolémaïque, et localisés sur l’ancienne route menant d’Edfou au port de Bérénice. Lors des ca
The Lavrion silver district: Reassessing its ancient mining history
Lavrion was an important silver mining district in the ancient world, exploited almost continuously from the fourth millennium BC. Its mining history is central to understanding the availability of silver, lead and copper in Greece and the Aegean through the Bronze age. This history is also relevant to the phenomenal rise of Athens in the 5th century BC. Our reassessment of the mineralisation and ancient mining history at Lavrion provides a clear…
New Findings of Ancient Greek Silver Sources
Over the last 60 years, much analytical research has sought to determine the ore sources of ancient Greek silver artefacts. Lead isotopic analysis has played a key role in this endeavor. While most studies so far have limited their search to places mentioned in historical sources, the present study takes a different approach by first identifying Ag-bearing ore sources in the Aegean world based on their geological characteristics and then using Pb…
From commodity to money: The rise of silver coinage around the Ancient Mediterranean (sixth–first centuries bce )
The reasons why the Western Mediterranean, especially Carthage and Rome, resisted monetization relative to the Eastern Mediterranean are still unclear. We address this question by combining lead (Pb) and silver (Ag) isotope abundances in silver coinage from the Aegean, Magna Graecia, Carthage and Roman Republic. The clear relationships observed between 109 Ag/ 107 Ag and 208 Pb/ 206 Pb reflect the mixing of silver ores or silver objects with Pb m…
The Emergence of Metal Use in Greek Eastern Macedonia During the Neolithic Period (Late 6th–5th Millennia BC)
Copper, gold, and silver artefacts, together with evidence of metallurgical activities, have been retrieved from Late Neolithic strata in several settlements in Greek Eastern Macedonia. Recent excavations at Dikili Tash revealed that gold was further used in paints for the decoration of pottery. It appears that the area’s inhabitants had a great familiarity with different metals and the distinct stages of the production-elaboration processes, inc…
Narrowing provenance for ancient Greek silver coins using Ag isotopes and Sb contents of potential ores
International audience
Comment on Mints not Mines: A macroscale investigation of Roman silver coinage by J.R. Wood, M. Ponting, and K. Butcher
Wood et al. (2023), hereinafter WPB, unveils a number of historical issues relevant to Roman economy and metallurgy based on trace element and Pb isotope abundance data on a large set of important coins minted during the Roman Empire (Ponting and Butcher 2015). Here, we discuss several points which, in our view, misrepresent the work of other groups, ours included, and bias the overall interpretation of the WPB data set.
Isotope and trace element compositions of silver-bearing ores in the Balkans as possible metal sources in antiquity
Ore deposits in the Balkan Peninsula were intensively mined for silver and other metals in the Roman and medieval periods. Coinage mainly issued by tribal groups between the early 5th and the end of the 3rd century BCE provides indirect evidence that silver extraction predates the Roman conquest of the region. However, identification of centers of past metal production and reconstruction of large-scale silver fluxes can only be achieved using a c…
Désert Oriental (2023): Stathmoi et metalla : exploiter et traverser le désert oriental à l’époque ptolémaïque
;
Ag and Pb isotope systematics in galena ores from southern Sardinia and southern France flag potential silver sources in antiquity
While lead isotopes serve to determine potential ore provenance, silver isotopes help evaluate if a specific ore flagged by Pb isotopes has actually been exploited as a silver source of bullion in antiquity. The combination of Ag and Pb isotopes thus constitutes a powerful tool to address provenance and identify potential ore sources. It has recently been observed that the vast majority of silver isotopic abundances in hundreds of silver coins fr…
Archaeology (11 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (8 works) · Geography (8 works) · Geology (8 works) · History (8 works) · Ancient history (6 works) · Art (5 works) · Geochemistry (5 works) · Provenance (5 works) · Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History (4 works)