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Groundbreaking study: Ancient tin ingots found in Israel were mined in England
Times of Israel ^ | 16 September 2019 | Amanda Borschel-Dan

Posted on 09/23/2019 7:55:01 AM PDT by SunkenCiv

When the Bronze Age hit ancient Israel, the copper-rich region was able to quickly source seven of the eight ingredients needed to produce the alloy at Timna and other mines. But where tin -- another one-eighth of the metal's recipe -- came from has been a lingering mystery for scholars. A new paper from an international team of researchers proposes a surprisingly faraway source -- Cornwall.

In a paper published in June on the open-access, peer-reviewed scientific journal PLOS One, the authors analyze 27 tin ingots, or blocks, from five sites bordering the eastern Mediterranean Sea. For decades, researchers have debated the origin of tin used in ubiquitous precious bronze throughout the Levant during the eponymous era, from the late fourth and third millennia BCE. Hypotheses have swung from close-by Turkey, central Asia, or far-flung France and Britain.

In their paper, "Isotope systematics and chemical composition of tin ingots from Mochlos (Crete) and other Late Bronze Age sites in the eastern Mediterranean Sea: An ultimate key to tin provenance?" a team of interdisciplinary scientists from Mannheim, Germany; Greensboro, North Carolina; Merano, Italy; and Haifa have what they call solid proof of where -- and where not -- the precious tin was likely mined...

The scholars used an earth-shattering approach to figure out the mine's locus. "By using a combined approach of tin and lead isotopes together with trace elements it is possible to narrow down the potential sources of tin for the first time," they write.

The most logical source? According to the authors, the most likely suppliers of the 13th-12th century BCE tin ingots from Israel are tin mines from Cornwall and Devon.

(Excerpt) Read more at timesofisrael.com ...


TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: ancientnavigation; bronzeage; copper; cornwall; crete; devon; godsgravesglyphs; israel; mochlos; navigation; tarshish; timna; timnavalley; tin
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To: SunkenCiv

Thanks for the correction.


21 posted on 09/23/2019 8:35:22 AM PDT by D Rider
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To: SunkenCiv

And we all say ‘NI!’ to you!


22 posted on 09/23/2019 8:37:14 AM PDT by Conan the Librarian (The Best in Life is to crush my enemies, see them driven before me, and the Dewey Decimal System)
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To: SunkenCiv; irishjuggler

Yes, I care. It’s more anti-Christian crap that you are on board with. Christian intolerance has become common on this site.


23 posted on 09/23/2019 8:41:06 AM PDT by AlmaKing
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To: SunkenCiv

“And did those feet in ancient times,
walk upon England’s mountains green...”


24 posted on 09/23/2019 8:43:58 AM PDT by D_Idaho ("For we wrestle not against flesh and blood...")
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To: AlmaKing
No, trolling with the same old same old tired old BS about BCE vs BC in science and history topics has always been common on this site.

25 posted on 09/23/2019 9:24:18 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: D Rider
My pleasure.

26 posted on 09/23/2019 9:26:43 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: SunkenCiv

I thought the British Isles were also known as the Tin Isles, but I have no idea how far back that name goes.


27 posted on 09/23/2019 9:31:12 AM PDT by Flag_This (Liberals are locusts.)
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To: Flag_This; null and void

As null and void pointed out, uh, up there somewhere, the ancient Greek name was the Cassiterides, which may mean Lead Islands, since (seems odd) apparently they had no separate word for lead.


28 posted on 09/23/2019 9:35:38 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: AlmaKing

BCE is hardly anti-christian. The Common Era to which it refers begins with the birth of the Christ. It’s merely a polite device to allow non-christians to use the common dating without having to directly name the source. They still know what it means.


29 posted on 09/23/2019 9:46:33 AM PDT by jimtorr
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To: SunkenCiv

“Sven”.....Dang Norsk / vikings get around too much...LOL


30 posted on 09/23/2019 9:57:36 AM PDT by litehaus (A memory toooo long.............)
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To: SunkenCiv

Not only trolling but sententious, canting and Pecksniffian trolling to boot!


31 posted on 09/23/2019 10:12:18 AM PDT by skepsel (I miss William F. Buckley and the old Firing Line)
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To: SunkenCiv

What I want to know is how did someone figure out the proper composition of the alloy of Bronze? Generating enough heat to melt the components together let alone in the proper proportions was no small feat. How did it ever occur to someone that an alloy could be of use at all? How long must it have all taken from the first inkling that it could be done until the time something useful in quantity could be produced?


32 posted on 09/23/2019 11:35:17 AM PDT by Sequoyah101 (We are governed by the consent of the governed and we are fools for allowing it.)
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To: jimtorr; AlmaKing

I always say Before Christian Era: BCE


33 posted on 09/23/2019 1:46:51 PM PDT by xzins (Retired US Army chaplain. Support our troops by praying for their victory.)
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To: wastoute

Zoom in on the axe and I bet it says “Made in Wisconsin” : )
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Copper_Complex


34 posted on 09/23/2019 4:51:43 PM PDT by minnesota_bound
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To: wastoute
I’m fascinated by Otzi’s Copper axe. Could it have come from Wisconsin?

Why would they sail half way around the world to mine copper when copper was right in their back yard?

Cassiterite was worth traveling for as it is relatively rare.

35 posted on 09/23/2019 4:57:16 PM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear (Human beings don't behave rationally. We rationalize our behavior.)
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To: SunkenCiv

In the “Declaration of Arbroath,” the Kings of Scotland claimed to be descended from Israelite royalty. And if enough people go from Judea to Scotland (or vice-versa), chances are some of them will pass through England.

They claimed the Stone of Scone/Stone of Destiny (on which all Kings of Scotland were crowned until Edward the Long Shanks stole it) was the Stone of Jacob referenced in Genesis.

Every historic link between Scotland and the Holy Lands further increases the odds of goods from England traveling to Judea.


36 posted on 09/23/2019 8:53:37 PM PDT by Paal Gulli
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Bronze Age keyword (didn't know FR was that old!), chrono sorted:

37 posted on 09/29/2019 3:58:23 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: SunkenCiv
***researchers have debated the origin of tin used in ubiquitous precious bronze throughout the Levant during the eponymous era, from the late fourth and third millennia BCE***

Indeed this subject has sometimes been heated. You might be aware of The God-kings & Titans by James Bailey. He argues trans-Atlantic commerce in pre-Columbian times including possibly during the Bronze Age.

I contacted Scott Wolter (forensic geologist - ???) - America Unearthed (History Channel) - a few years ago when he documented extensive ancient tin mines in the Great Lakes region to investigate Bailey's claims that there was not enough tin available to the European - Levant - Mesopotamian region and their prolific use of Bronze implements without considering the Great Lakes source.

Wolter seemed more interested in disproving the divinity of Jesus Christ. We may never get a positive answer 'yes' or 'no'.

Of course Bailey's theory is controversial. I tend to think that the validity of his theory is inescapable - but needs much more research to establish any sort of proof.

38 posted on 10/09/2019 2:56:24 PM PDT by Bob Ireland (The Democrap Party is the enemy of freedom.They use all the seductions and deceits of the Bolshevics)
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To: Sequoyah101

What I want to know is how did someone figure out the proper composition of the alloy of Bronze? Generating enough heat to melt the components together let alone in the proper proportions was no small feat. How did it ever occur to someone that an alloy could be of use at all? How long must it have all taken from the first inkling that it could be done until the time something useful in quantity could be produced?

**************

Not trying to be a smart arse or any such, but I often wonder how many developments like that were the result of a severe manic episode by a bi-polar sufferer.

Some o’ this some o’ that some o’ that there and More! Fire!


39 posted on 10/09/2019 3:19:19 PM PDT by Grimmy (equivocation is but the first step along the road to capitulation)
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To: Bob Ireland
Scott Wolter is a TV personality who also has some training that is inappropriate for the stuff he purports to do. He thought the lead crosses in NM were ancient, and they aren't. MOre generally, he never cites or even seems to look at, or even be aware of, earlier work on anomalous artifacts done by others. OTOH, he's often entertaining, and he manages to get video of artifacts/inscriptions/fakes that I'd previously only read about. His "templar cross" crap gets on my nerves -- like a lot of fringe authors, he's an example of "when your only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail." :^)
I don't doubt that the oceans and seas have ever been seen as anything but a transportation system and source of food, going back a long, long way. During certain eras (and probably dependent on the climate conditions as well as economic ones) there was probably a considerable amount of seagoing commerce.
It's not as if there's a newspaper morgue for the Roman Empire or ancient Greece, in part because they had no newspapers, and in part because of the fragmentary nature of whatever documentation there was. Copies of military reports sent to HQ have been found and read from a site along Hadrian's Wall, basically the only such collection. They wrote such things on perishable materials. Even surviving ancient histories are generally incomplete (or almost completely lost).
The Romans occupied the Danish peninsula and apparently bottled up shipping to and from the Baltic -- a Roman cemetery was found during a rescue dig in Copenhagen around ten years ago. The fiction of "the battle that stopped Rome" was already invalid, but it really looks foolish now.
The Bay of Jars in Brazil has a deep wreck that is apparently Roman in date. Some nimrod from Italy claimed that he'd salted the bay with amphora, but unless he has a time machine, he'd have had no way to do it early enough to result in the naming of the bay more than 150 years ago. IOW, he may have decided to put a few in there, but the only extensive experience with the wreck was Robert Marx', who noted that most of the jars are in deep water, due to the wreck having broken in two, leaving only part of the former cargo in an area feasible for diving.
That kind of good-sized cargo didn't get there as a one-off -- ancient ships loaded with cargo sank surprisingly rarely, and didn't stray 8-10 thousand miles from home unless there was trade to be had.

40 posted on 10/10/2019 1:45:47 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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