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Tin in the Turkish Taurus mountains: the Bolkardağ mining district

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

K. Aslihan Yener
Affiliation:
History Department, Boğaziçi University, Istanbul, Turkey
Hadi Özbal
Affiliation:
Chemistry Department, Boğaziçi University, Istanbul, Turkey

Extract

The sources of tin in the ancient Near East have been a long-standing puzzle. Anatolia is a key area, for it has copper in vast quantities, and silver. Since no substantial or workable deposits of tin seemed to exist in Turkey, an external source for tin bronzes in Anatolia has seemed necessary. The new finds reported here change that picture, as they reveal a major source of the metal in the Taurus mountains, on the south coast of Anatolia.

Type
Article
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 1987

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