Canadian scientists using ancient coins to map trading routes

[Viggen]

Canadian scientists probing the metal content of coins exchanged thousands of years ago have discovered a new way to map ancient trade patterns, to retrace economic ups and downs at the dawn of western civilization and even to shed new light on the collapse of the Roman Empire. Researchers at McMaster University in Hamilton are using nuclear radiation to identify changes in metal content among ancient Greek and Roman coins held in a world-class collection amassed at the university since the 1940s.

 

...full article at Montreal Gazette

[Melvadius]

A potentially interesting study but I wonder if they have thought through all of the ramifications and the varying factors which could have an influence on the composition of the coins in their collection.

 

Firtsly the report metions that so far they have only analyised 20 coins although they intend anlysing another 100. Given the sheer volume of ancient coins in circulation in a country like Greece, let alone in the entirity of the Roman empire, along with ifferent mint sites and the possibility of gold or silver based coinage or even treasures raided from defeated enemies being melted down and 'restruck' that seems an extremely small sample base.

 

Secondly, as I've mentioned in previous posts, some recent research into trace elements in metal ores indicates that a lot of the 'marker' elements which each source may contain are actually quite volatile and can easily be lost during processing or even additional elements transmitted in the case of coins or other items being struck by metal hammers.

 

Taken together, irrespective of how good their analysis is these issues may make getting a 'positive' match between coin and ore origins extremely problematical to say the least.

 

Despite this I will be interested to see if they can come to any conclusions at the end of their research.