[Authors and titles are listed at the end of the review]
While Hispania has long been understood to be Rome’s primary source of lead, scholarship on the lead industry has benefitted from numerous scientific advances in recent years. Underwater archaeologists have uncovered dozens of new ingots, stamped lead bars that were lost en route to their destinations in shipping accidents. Many of these have been sourced to the Iberian Peninsula using lead isotope analysis (LIA), which is increasingly accurate. Drawing on these advances, this book presents a comprehensive view of the Roman lead industry in Hispania during the Late Republic and Early Empire. Claude Domergue and Christian Rico, who have been instrumental in the field, serve as editors, joined by an interdisciplinary team of specialists in geology, archaeometry, archaeology, and epigraphy.
The book is presented in three sections: Part 1 details the geology and archaeology of the mines; Part 2 concerns the ingots; and Part 3, based largely on ingot epigraphy, discusses the organization of the trade in Spanish lead. Equally as long is an illustrated epigraphic catalog of ingot stamps and markings. The appendices detail the contexts of Spanish ingot discoveries and provide tables with the basic characteristics of the ingots analyzed.
Part 1 commences with a chapter by Manteca and Palero Fernández, who detail the lead-rich geology of Cartagena-La Unión and Mazarrón in Murcia; the mountains of Gadór, Alhamilla, and Almagrera in Almería; and the Sierra Morena extending across southern Iberia. Descriptions of each mining zone within these regions include subsections on geological formation, mineralization morphology, mining evidence, and LIA data. A strength of the chapter is the incorporation of documentation from 19th and 20th century mining engineers, which clarifies how much ancient evidence was lost during modern exploitation. The authors show that the Romans preferentially exploited deposits with high silver content, as they were targeting both metals, and that the challenges of water evacuation were the main limiting factor for the depth of ancient galleries.
Chapter 2 details the archaeology of the mining zones, weaving together evidence from mining engineers, ancient texts and epigraphy, and archaeological prospection and excavation, much of which has been undertaken as rescue archaeology. The social dynamics of settlement and territorial occupation come into focus most clearly in the section on Cartagena-La Unión and Mazarrón by Antolinos Marín and Rico. The authors skillfully reconstruct the complex social and economic networks that emerged in the region after the Roman conquest. Particularly interesting are the links drawn between Italian architecture and material culture in mining zones, Italian family names stamped on ingots, and the role of these same people revealed through urban and votive epigraphy. Other regions are less well documented. In Almería, no mining settlements have been excavated. The Sierra Morena has fared somewhat better. Domergue details the settlements of La Loba and Cerro del Plomo and other scattered evidence. He tries to reconcile the fact that most archaeological evidence is from the Late Republic, while the ingots from this region largely date to the 1st century CE, suggesting that early mining was perhaps limited and not for long-distance markets.
In the final chapter of Part 1, Palero Fernández, Quarati, and Trincherini return to the LIA data. They provide a practical guide to understanding the isotopic “signatures” for each lead mining district in Iberia. They assemble existing data and 53 new samples in a comprehensive table and numerous graphs. Coupled with the geological information in Chapter 1, this is an invaluable resource, enabling those conducting analyses of lead objects to understand the reliability of their provenience interpretations.
Part 2 turns to the ingots. In Chapter 4, Domergue and Rico present an updated typology, classifying Spanish ingots into categories with parabolic (D1, D3), triangular (D2), and trapezoidal (D4) cross-sections. These have chronological and spatial correlations, which can be further refined by the stamp paleography and onomastics. The authors’ hypothesis for how ingots were cast is helpful since there is no archaeological evidence for this phase of production. They suggest that casting involved creating a terracotta “proto-ingot” mold with the stamp impression, which was then used to make a mold in negative. This mold was fired, and then used to create another mold in positive. The second mold was pressed repeatedly into sand, producing depressions into which molten lead was poured. This is a compelling reconstruction, which explains the identical imperfections on some ingots of the same type, irregularities which originated in the mold during firing. My only question is how the detailed stamps would have been maintained through each stage – perhaps a future project for the experimental archaeologist.
In Chapter 5, Palero Fernández, Quarati, and Trincherini present LIA of 211 ingots, assigning them to the Sierra Morena or southeastern Iberian sources. Notably, all Roman ingots from the southeast are type D1, while D1-4 forms are all found in the Sierra Morena. They present a novel methodology for calculating the probability of ingot attribution to a specific geological district within each region. This method is promising but in need of additional refinement because not all sources have been sampled and the probability of attribution remains low in most cases. The method’s potential and pitfalls are evident in the following chapter, in which Domergue and Rico attempt to link the companies attested on ingot stamps with their locations based on the LIA of the ingots they produced. Some ingots from the same producer have results that suggest they come from different places. Twelve ingots with the stamp MINVCIORUM, for instance, are attributed to five geological deposits within the Sierra Morena. This scenario is possible but implausible: it would require ore from different mines to be transported to one foundry, but kept strictly separate during smelting.
Part 2 concludes with a chapter concerning ingots of non-Spanish origin by Domergue and Palero Fernández, detailing select ingots from Germany and Britain and providing the LIA values for other deposits across the Mediterranean. Some other sources are indistinguishable from Spanish ones. This issue is illustrated with the debate surrounding the ingots from the Comacchio shipwreck, a useful cautionary tale.[1] Domergue concedes that the ingots are Macedonian not Spanish, as he had originally proposed, showing how his team was mislead because Macedonia—geologically similar to Iberia—was absent from their original database.
The third section, exceptionally well done, reconstructs the lead trade based on ingot epigraphy and distribution. Chapters 8 and 9 present the inscriptions added to ingots at the time of production and during their transport in order to understand the organization of mining and the subsequent commercialization of lead. Much of the analysis builds on Stefanile’s meticulous work tracing family names on stamps to reconstruct migration patterns from Campania to southeast Iberia.[2] The authors envision a system in which mining enterprises were set up by individuals, groups, or larger societates, all attested on stamps. Companies provided financial backing for the labor (drawn from local populations) and paid taxes. Importantly, they eschew the lingering view that publicani were actively mining under state contracts, suggesting their role was limited to tax collection. Next, Domergue and Rico present the stamps and incised markings added to some ingots after their production, hypothesizing that these inscriptions, usually initials, signify moments when ingots transferred ownership. The scarcity of post-production markings in the southeast therefore suggests that the producers were often involved in their commercialization. By contrast, ingots with multiple markings from the Sierra Morena could change hands up to two times before leaving on their long-distance maritime journeys.
These journeys are explored further in Chapter 10, in which Domergue and Rico reconstruct the usual trade routes based on shipwrecks containing ingots and isolated ingot finds. Carthago Nova and Hispalis were the main maritime ports for the southeast and the Sierra Morena respectively. They suggest that most ingots were destined for Italy, probably arriving at Puteoli or, later, Rome via Portus. The Tyrrhenian ports were also probably stop-overs for ingots destined for the central Mediterranean. Ships going to Italy passed through the Strait of Bonifacio, where numerous wrecks are attested, or sometimes south of Sardinia. Other direct routes brought ingots to Gaul and to Atlantic and Mediterranean North Africa. Significantly, lead ingots were often shipped with amphorae containing food as part of mixed cargoes on private merchant ships. Although it was extracted with lead, silver is not present on a single shipwreck and must have been transported separately.
Domergue and Rico express hope in their conclusion that the volume will serve as an essential reference for future research, a goal they have certainly achieved. While the printed tome is of excellent quality, an open access version is also available, which will help with data accessibility and reuse. The LIA data on Iberian geological signatures and ingots will be indispensable to future archaeometric analyses. Archaeologists will be interested in the sections on mining settlements and shipwrecks. The epigraphic sections will allow ingots to enter into scholarship on inscribed instrumentum and the Roman economy.[3] Collectively, the interpretations presented are relevant to ancient economic and social historians for their new insights into the organization of Republican mining, a topic better understood for the Imperial period.[4] The authors also offer insights into the role of the state in mining in the early centuries after the initial conquest of Iberia, suggesting that lead extraction and trade remained largely in private hands. The discussion of the mechanics of Italian involvement in mining is a particular strength of the book. The underlying assumption is that these newcomers drew from local labor and existing structures. The authors usually refer to these local structures as “Iberian,” which allows them to gloss over the Carthaginian role in mining prior to the Roman conquest, topic that deserves more consideration. Another underexplored topic is how silver from these same mines entered into state hands for minting. It remains to be seen how this volume will intersect with the not-yet-released corpus of Roman ingots being assembled by a German team.[5]
One cannot overstate Domergue’s pioneering role in modeling and promoting interdisciplinary research on ancient mining, a topic he has been publishing on since the 1960s![6] There is elegance and utility in the interdisciplinary nature of this book, which represents the cumulative achievements of these collaborations over Domergue’s long career and builds on the specialized skills that Rico and the other co-authors bring to the project. Domergue also frequently recounts personal anecdotes: his commissioning of handmade iron tools to sample ingots before LIA was established as a technique, hoping they would eventually be useful; the technical difficulties of creating the still-standard maps of the mines in Iberia before GPS was invented; his frustrations with “sacagéneros,” a colloquial Spanish word for opportunistic scavengers who resmelted Roman slag and displaced archaeological material. These stories are endearing, but also give the book additional historiographical value in light of Domergue’s own transformative scholarly role, showing just how far research on lead mining has come in one lifetime.
Authors and Titles
Avant-propos (Claude Domergue)
Introduction (Claude Domergue)
Part 1. Les mines de plomb romaines d’Espagne: Sud-Est (Carthagène) et Sierra Morena
- La géologie: Districts, gisements, minerais (José Ignacio Manteca and Fernando J. Palero Fernández)
- L’archéologie: L’exploitation antique: données textuelles et traces matérielles (Claude Domergue, Juan Antonio Antolinos Marín, and Christian Rico)
- L’archéométrie: Caractérisation isotopique du plomb des grands districts hispaniques (Fernando J. Palero Fernández, Piero Quarati, and Pier Renato Trincherini)
Part 2. Les lingots de plomb hispano-romains
- Identification, typologie et chronologie des lingots (Claude Domergue and Christian Rico)
- La détermination des provenances: l’apport des analyses isotopiques du plomb (Fernando J. Palero Fernández, Piero Quarati, and Pier Renato Trincherini)
- Les approches archéologique et archéométrique: accords et divergences (Claude Domergue and Christian Rico)
- La contre-épreuve par les lingots romains d’autres origines (Claude Domergue and Fernando J. Palero Fernández)
Part 3. Ce que disent les lingots des mines de plomb-argent hispaniques et du commerce de leurs produits
- La mise en valeur des mines: Conditions et structures de production du plomb (Claude Domergue, Christian Rico and Michele Stefanile)
- Le commerce du plomb hispanique d’après l’épigraphie des lingots (Claude Domergue and Christian Rico)
- Les marchés et les itinéraires du plomb de l’Hispanie romaine (Claude Domergue and Christian Rico)
Conclusion Générale (Claude Domergue and Christian Rico)
Catalogue épigraphique des lingots de plomb hispano‑romains (Claude Domergue, Christian Rico, and Michele Stefanile)
Appendix 1: Les lieux de découverte de lingots de plomb hispano‑romains (Claude Domergue and Christian Rico)
Appendix 2: Tableaux généraux des lingots de plomb hispaniques (Claude Domergue and Christian Rico)
Appendix 3: Dimensions et poids des lingots de plomb hispaniques (Claude Domergue and Christian Rico)
Bibliographie Générale
Table des marques de producteurs et des cachets de commerce
Notes
[1] For a recent summary, see Bode, Michael, Norbert Hanel, and Peter Rothenhöfer. “Roman Lead Ingots from Macedonia—the Augustan Shipwreck of Comacchio (Prov. Ferrara, Italy) and the Reinterpretation of Its Lead Ingots’ Provenance Deduced from Lead Isotope Analysis.” Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 13, no. 10 (2021): 163. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-021-01430-0.
[2] Stefanile, Michele. Dalla Campania alle Hispaniae: L’emigrazione dalla Campania romana alle coste mediterranee della Penisola Iberica in età tardo-repubblicana e proto-imperiale. Napoli: Università degli Studi di Napoli “L’Orientale,” 2017.
[3] Ingots are often absent from this scholarship, e.g.: Pucci, Giuseppe. “Inscribed Instrumentum and the Ancient Economy.” In Epigraphic Evidence: Ancient History from Inscriptions, edited by John Bodel, 137–52. London and New York: Routledge, 2001.
[4] Hirt, Alfred Michael. Imperial Mines and Quarries in the Roman World: Organizational Aspects 27 BC-AD 235. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.
[5] Rothenhöfer, Peter. “Corpus der römischen Bleibarren. Historisch-archäologische und naturwissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zur Bleiproduktion im Römischen Reich. Die Arbeiten des Jahres 2018.” e-Forschungsberichte des DAI, 2018, 71–74. https://doi.org/10.34780/l2y2-1l2b.
[6] See especially: Domergue, Claude. Catalogue des mines et des fonderies antiques de la péninsule Ibérique. Collection de la Casa de Velázquez 23. Madrid: Casa de Velázquez, 1987; Domergue, Claude. Les mines de la péninsule Ibérique dans l’Antiquité romaine. Rome: École Française de Rome, 1990.