<p> The fabulous wealth of the Lydian Kingdom (in what is now western Turkey) was renowned throughout the classical world--in fact, Lydia's kings created the world's first coinage. The Harvard-Cornell Sardis Expedition has unearthed a gold refinery from the time of King Croesus (the sixth century B.C.) where impure gold from the Pactolus River was treated to produce pure gold and silver. Though the ancient treasure is now gone, this volume illuminates the industry and technology that produced the riches and offers the first authoritative survey of early gold refining and assaying techniques from around the world. The authors fully describe the excavation of the only known ancient refinery and the scientific study at the British Museum to reconstruct the refining process. The unique evidence from Sardis and accounts from historical sources shed light on ancient metallurgy. </p>

King Croesus' Gold: Excavations at Sardis and the History of Gold Refining (Monograph (Archaeological Exploration of Sardis (1958- )), 11,)

Arts & Photography

Ramage, Andrew

Craddock, P. T.

History & Criticism

British Museum Pubns Ltd

<p>This volume grew out of the proceedings of an international conference hosted by The British Museum in 1995, augmented by the inclusion of participants' more recent work and additional contributions by other leading experts in the field. Among the various topics are the early development of copper smelting technology as exemplified at Feinan, Jordan, the recognition of Bronze Age copper mining in the British Isles, and the discovery of Bronze Age tin mining and processing at Kestel and Goltepe in Turkey. The excavation of ancient smelting sites, long confined to Europe and the Near East, is now occurring in other parts of the world, as shown by reports on copper smelting in China and South Africa. More complex extraction processes include the treatment of silver-rich jarosite ores, crucible processes, and the production of brass by direct processes.</p>

Mining and Metal Production through the Ages

Politics & Social Sciences

Lang, Janet

Archaeology

British Museum Press

Originally published in 1985, the 18 papers in this volume, which were read at the Symposium on Early Furnace technology at the British Museum in 1982, have been reprinted. Contributors include: R.F. Tylecote & J.F. Merkel (experimental smelting techniques); W.A. Oddy & J. Swaddling (illustrations of metalworking furnaces on Greek vases); S. Bernus & N. Echard (metalworking in Niger); B. Rothenberg (copper smelting furnaces in the Araba, Israel); J.S. Hodgkinson & C.F. Tebutt (the Romano-British iron industry in the Weald); M. Bamberger (working conditions of the ancient copper smelting process); R.E. Clough (the iron industry in Iron Age and Roman Britain); E. Photos, S.J. Filippakis & C.J. Salter (investigations of some metallurgical remains at Knossos); M. Werner (evidence for gold-smelting in Yugoslavia in the Late Roman period).

Furnaces and Smelting Technology in Antiquity

History

Hughes,M. J.

Ancient Civilizations

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