Salt, silver, and gold: early innovations in precious metal refining

Abstract

This study explores Egyptian and Persian silver artifacts from the Louvre Museum to trace the origins and development of gold and silver refining methods. While conventional theories attribute the emergence of gold parting through salt cementation to Lydia in the Iron Age, our findings indicate that this technique was already in use during the Middle Bronze Age. Lead isotope and elemental analyses reveal two distinct silver sources: (1) Aegean silver, characterized by positive lead model ages, and (2) silver extracted from gold cementation, distinguished by mantle-derived lead with future Pb model ages. The results demonstrate that ancient Egyptian and Middle Eastern metallurgists employed salt-based refining processes, utilizing chalk as a reactive medium to enhance silver recovery. This evidence overturns the long-standing belief that the Lydians pioneered gold parting, showing instead that the process was well established over a millennium earlier.

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