Replies

some photos here:

...lead isotopes in Phoenician silver artifacts chart a course of exploration and expansion into Europe and Asia in the 10th and 9th centuries BCE. Phoenician expansion throughout the Mediterranean in the first millennium BCE is a significant cultural inflection point in the history of northern Africa, southern Europe, and the Levant. The reason for the Phoenician expansion is a subject of debate. Tzilla Eshel, Yigal Erel, and colleagues analyzed lead isotopes in silver artifacts from four hoards of Phoenician silver dating to the 10th and 9th centuries BCE. The lead impurities in the silver are an artifact of the silver production process and can identify the metal's source region. In connection with archaeological studies, the authors found that the silver in the artifacts came from regions in Anatolia, Sardinia, and the Iberian Peninsula, with the oldest artifacts identified as Anatolian and the most recent artifacts as Iberian. The results outline a temporal and geographic progression of the Phoenician quest for silver, including the acquisition of silver production methods in Anatolia and a shift to almost exclusive use of Iberian silver in the course of the 9th century BCE. According to the authors, the results suggest that the search for silver established pre-colonization contacts between Phoenicia and the West, and that silver was likely the driving force behind the Phoenician expansion in the Mediterranean.

Silver and the Phoenician expansion | Popular Archaeology | Monday, February 25, 2019 | Winter 2019 Issue

From “Bible History: Old Testament” by Alfred Edersheim, concerning trade between Hiram, king of Tyre, and Solomon:

“The success of this trading adventure may have led to another similar undertaking, in company with the Phoenicians, to Tartessus (Tarshish), the well-known great mercantile emporium on the south coast of Spain. The duration of such an expedition is stated in round numbers as three years; and the trade became so regular that afterwards all the large merchantmen were popularly known as “Tarshish-ships” (comp. 1 Kings 22:48; Psalm 48:7; Isaiah 2:16). The imports from Tarshish consisted of gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks (1 Kings 10:22).”

Solomon reigned from about 970 to 930 B.C.(ie, 10th century B.C.). Thus, Tarshish (in Spain) was already a source of gold and silver in the 10th century B.C.