28 August 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

Scientists reconstruct Late Bronze and Iron Age Mediterranean silver trade

Scientists have recreated the Eastern Mediterranean silver trade across a time span that includes the conventional dates of the Trojan War, Rome’s birth, and the destruction of Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem.

During the Late Bronze and Iron Age eras, silver originating from the north-eastern Mediterranean, as far away as the Iberian Peninsula, was used as a trade token across the Mediterranean.

A group of scientists and numismatists from France, Israel, and Australia discovered geochemical evidence for pre-coinage silver commerce persisting throughout the Mediterranean during the Late Bronze and Iron Age eras, with only minor interruptions.

In a presentation at the Goldschmidt Conference organized by the Washington-based Geochemical Society, Dr. Liesel Gentelli said “Even before coinage, there was international trade, and Hacksilber was one of the commodities being exchanged for goods.”

Hacksilber is an irregularly cut silver bullion consisting of broken bits of silver ingots and jewelry that was used as a form of payment in the southern Levant from the early second millennium to the fourth century BCE. Its worth was established by weighing it on scales against specified weights in local and international transactions. It has been discovered in archaeological excavations in the region usually stored inside ceramic containers and it had to be imported because there was no silver to be mined in the Levant.

Eastern hacksilver from the Achaemenid Levant, including jewelry and Greek coins, 425-420 BC.
Eastern hacksilber from the Achaemenid Levant, including jewelry and Greek coins, 425-420 BC. Wikipedia

The researchers utilized high-precision isotopic analysis to pinpoint the mineral origins of the minute lead traces discovered in silver Hacksilber.

The researchers examined Hacksilber from 13 distinct sites in the southern Levant, modern-day Israel, and the Palestinian Authority ranging from 1300 BCE to 586 BCE. The discoveries came from “En Gedi, Ekron, and Megiddo” (also known as Armageddon). They compared their findings to ore samples and discovered that the majority of the Hacksilber came from the Southern Aegean and Balkans (Macedonia, Thrace, and Illyria). Some were also found to come from as far away as Sardinia and Spain.

Liesel Gentelli (École normale supérieure de Lyon, France) said: “Previous researchers believed that silver trade had come to an end following the societal collapse at the end of the Late Bronze Age, but our research shows that exchanges between especially the southern Levant and the Aegean world never came to a stop. People around the Eastern Mediterranean remained connected. It’s likely that the silver flowed to the Levant as a result of trade or plunder.

According to the scientists, silver shortage occurred during the time of the Bronze to Iron Age transition, about 1300-1100 BCE, and certain hoards from this era exhibit abnormally high copper content, which would have been added to compensate for the absence of the grey metal.

“We can’t match our findings on the silver trade to specific historical events, but our analysis shows the importance of hacksilber trade from before the Trojan War, which some scholars date to the early 12th century BCE, through the founding of Rome in 753 BCE, and up to the end of the Iron Age in 586 BCE, marked by Nebuchadnezzar’s destruction of Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem,” Gentelli pointed out.

The researcher also said that these events were followed by a gradual introduction of coins, first as finds of several archaic coins, and later a transition to a monetary economy in the southern Levant circa 450 BCE which made the trade of hacksilber less relevant.

Gentelli stated that this study reveals the ongoing and important economic role played by Hacksilber in the Bronze and Iron Age economies.

Goldschmidt Conference

Related Articles

Ruins of the 700-year-old wharf, possibly used by royalty, found in Oslo

6 March 2023

6 March 2023

An excavation by NIKU archaeologists in Oslo’s seaside neighborhood of Bjørvika has uncovered the remains of a long section of...

Hundreds of silver coins have been found near the castle of Lukov in Moravia

4 September 2021

4 September 2021

In the forest near the Southern Moravian Fortress Lukov, two members of the Society of Friends of the Lukov Fortress...

The Gobi Wall: Ancient Statecraft Hidden in Mongolia’s Sands

17 June 2025

17 June 2025

Stretching 321 kilometers across the arid highlands of southern Mongolia, the Gobi Wall has long stood as a silent enigma...

Japan’s possibly oldest stone molds for bronze casting discovered at Yoshinogari ruins

4 December 2023

4 December 2023

At the Yoshinogari Ruins in the western prefecture of Saga, relics including stone casting molds for bronze artifacts have been...

In France, a burial with six ankle bracelets was uncovered

22 December 2022

22 December 2022

An individual bedecked in copper jewelry was discovered during the excavation of a protohistoric necropolis in Aubagne, southeastern France. The...

Well-Preserved Wooden Houses Over 2,000 Years Old Discovered in Zhejiang, China

15 March 2025

15 March 2025

In a remarkable archaeological find, researchers in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province, China, have uncovered exceptionally well-preserved wooden houses dating back over...

3500-year-old menhir discovered in Mahbubabad, India

15 March 2022

15 March 2022

Six feet in height stone, also called a menhir, was found on the roadside of Ellarigudem, a hamlet of Beechrajupally...

Researchers Found Evidence in Ethiopia of a Human Population that Survived the Eruption of the Toba Supervolcano 74,000 Years Ago

22 March 2024

22 March 2024

Researchers working in the Horn of Africa, also known as the Somali Peninsula have uncovered evidence showing how Middle Stone...

1500-year-old Amulet Made to Ward off the Evil Eye in Galilee

26 May 2021

26 May 2021

Discovered about 40 years ago in the Galilee village of Arbel, the necklace sheds light on life 1500 years ago....

Oldest known alphabet unearthed in ancient Syrian city -500 years older than thought

22 November 2024

22 November 2024

Johns Hopkins University researchers uncovered evidence of the oldest alphabetic writing in human history. The writing was etched onto finger-length...

Unusual construction material may be linked to the Tower of Babel

5 November 2021

5 November 2021

Archaeologists have recently discovered bitumen and mortar plastered onto a brick dating back to the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar II. This...

New documentary searches history of Turkey’s 7,000-year-old Arslantepe Mound

28 December 2021

28 December 2021

The tale of Turkey’s fascinating 7,000-year-old Arslantepe Mound, an ancient building in Malatya, eastern Turkey that was just added to...

Extraordinary discovery for the Western Baltic Sea region: a 400-year-old shipwreck Found at Bottom of German River

3 August 2022

3 August 2022

During a routine measurement at Trave, near Lübeck, in the northern part of Germany,  Kiel-Holtenau Waterways and Shipping Authority (Wasserstraßen-...

200 Feet to the Past: The Millennium-Old Mystery of the Himalayan Towers

8 May 2025

8 May 2025

In the remote and rugged landscapes of the Himalayas, a series of enigmatic structures known as the Himalayan Towers, or...

Assyrian seal found in the ancient Kef Fortress built by the Urartians

18 November 2024

18 November 2024

An alabaster seal, believed to be from the Assyrian Empire and belonging to a nobleman, was discovered in the ancient...