Tracing the resources of iron working at ancient sagalassos (south-west Turkey): A combined lead and strontium isotope study on iron artefacts and ores

Lead and strontium isotope analyses were performed by thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS) on Roman to Byzantine iron artefacts and iron ores from the territory of ancient Sagalassos (south-west Turkey), to evaluate Pb and Sr isotopes for provenance determination of ores for local iron production. It can be demonstrated that for early Roman artefacts and hematite iron ore processed in early Roman times from Sagalassos proper, as well as for magnetite placer sands and early Byzantine raw iron from the territory of the city, Sr isotopes are much less ambiguous than Pb isotopes in providing clearly coherent signatures for ore and related iron objects. Late Roman iron objects were produced from iron ores that as yet remain unidentified. Early Byzantine iron artefacts display more scatter in both their Pb and Sr isotope signatures, indicating that many different ore sources may have been used. Our study demonstrates that iron objects can be precisely analysed for their Sr isotopic composition, which, compared to Pb isotopes, appears to be a much more powerful tool for distinguishing between chronological groups and determining the provenance of raw materials.