Ores from the ore washeries in the Lavriotiki

27

Th. Rehren, D. Vanhove & H. Mussche

Abstract Zusammenfassung
The Lavriotiki, the south-eastern part of Attika in Die Lavriotiki, d.h. die Region um Laurion im S dosten
Greece, is one of humankind's most famous silver von Attika ist eines der ber hmtesten arch ologischen
mining regions. The most impressive evidence for Silberreviere. Die Ausbeutung der Lagerst tte er-
this activity today are remains of c. 250 ore wash- streckte sich von der Fr hbronzezeit bis in die Proto-
eries, installations used to concentrate the ore. These Byzantinische Epoche und erlebte eine Renaissance
ore washeries comprise by far the best evidence for vom mittleren 19. Jahrhundert AD bis in das ausge-
the beneficiation of ores in Antiquity, most of them hende 20. Jahrhundert. Der Höhepunkt der Aktivität
dating to the Classical period. The separation of the lag im 5. und 4. vorchristlichen Jahrhundert. Noch
primary ore into metal-rich concentrate and waste heute zeugen eindrucksvolle Reste von ca. 250
minerals or tailings exploited the density difference Erzwäschen aus dieser Periode von dem einstigen
between the various mineral constituents of the ore, Umfang der Erzgewinnung. Diese Erzwäschen sind
and was most certainly achieved through a washing
activity using running water. The industrial scale of
the operation and the vast quantities of water nec-
essary in its conduct required a careful management Fig. 1: The situation of Laurion and Thorikos in the south-
of water supplies in a semi-arid environment. It is pri- eastern part of Attika, Greece. Black are the major ore out-
marily the installations for water management which crops.
survived until today, allowing to reconstruct the ac-
Abb. 1: DIe Lage von Laurion und Thorikos im S dosten von
tual ore washing activities. Attika, Griechenland. Schwarz sind die wesentlichen Erzaus-
This paper focuses on the physical remains of the ore bisse.
as found within the washeries in an attempt to elu-
cidate the mineralogical nature of the primary ore,
some operational details of the beneficiation process,
and the quality of the concentrate. To this end, pub-
lished data from a number of excavations in the Lavri-
otiki is combined with information accumulated over
the last few decades during regional field surveys,
two dedicated study seasons in 1996 and '97, and
analyses of selected samples from several ore wash-
eries. It is demonstrated that the ore was mined in
Antiquity as galena, which since then has weathered
almost completely to cerussite. The characterisation
of the ore samples made it possible to identify two
different ore types, with about 1000 and 2000 grams
silver per ton of lead, respectively. In addition, the
processing of cupellation residue in several of the
washeries could be demonstrated. The system of
channels, platforms and basins which make up most
of the ore washeries is shown to serve exclusively
the water management, with the beneficiation activ-
ity proper being restricted to a device, probably made
of wood and now lost, situated in front of the water
tanks.

Metalla (Bochum) 9.1, 2002, 27-46

 die bei weitem besterhaltenen Beispiele antiker Erz- quantities of metal, both silver and possibly copper,
aufbereitung. Die Erzaufbereitung in der Antike er- from the Early Bronze Age onwards.
folgte durch eine Dichtetrennung des fein gemahle- The particular fame of the Lavriotiki as a mining
nen Erzes unter Ausnutzung fliessenden Wassers. district rests on the role which the rich revenues ob-
28 Das industrielle Ausmass der Aufbereitung und die tained by Athens from the mining activity played in
dazu nötigen Wassermengen erforderten ein sorg- building the city's naval fleet, and the subsequent de-
fältiges Management der Wasservorräte in dieser feat of the Persian naval force at the battle of Salamis
semiariden Region. Die zahlreichen Zisiternen und in 480 BC. The decision to spend the revenues on
die besondere Bauweise der Waschanlagen legen such a far-sighted investment rather than immediate
hiervon noch heute ein eindrucksvolles Zeugnis ab. consumption is credited by ancient authors such as
Herodotus, Xenophon, Aristoteles and Plutarchus to
Dieser Beitrag konzentriert sich auf die Untersuchung the then leader of the Athenians, Themistokles. Oth-
der tatsächlich in der Antike aufbereiten Erze, deren er written sources give some details, of mostly legal
Identität Gegenstand wiederspr chlicher Aussagen content, of the organisation of the mining industry
in der wissenschaftlichen Literatur ist. Hierzu during the 4th century BC (Crosby 1950; Vanhove
verbinden wir publizierte Informationen von einer 1994), as preserved in a number of leases and sev-
Anzahl von Ausgrabungen in der Lavriotiki mit Da- eral comments in political and private speeches, e.g.
ten unserer eigenen Geländearbeit und Laborunter- by Demosthenes. However, no significant ancient
suchungen aus den Jahren 1996 und 1997. Das Erz texts have survived about technological details of the
wurde in der Antike als Bleiglanz gewonnen und auf- mining industry.
bereitet, hat sich aber seither durch die Verwitterung The post-Classical activity is indicated by the new
des feinkörnigen Materials weitgehend zu Cerussit issue of Attic coinage in the 2nd century BC, the finds
umgewandelt. Dabei konnten zwei unterschiedliche of Megarian vessels in Thorikos and the Lavriotiki as
Erztypen identifiziert werden, die sich durch ihre Sil- well as amphorae from Knidos, Kos and elsewhere,
bergehalte von rund 1000 bzw. 2000 ppm, bezogen and type Lamboglia 2 amphorae, all dating to the 3rd
auf den Bleigehalt, und die Art der Begleitminerale to 1st centuries BC, and finally the forge in Thorikos,
unterscheiden. Zusätzlich konnte nachgewiesen wer- built up on the classical graves in the Metropolis.
den, dass auch Kupellationsr ckstände in einigen der In Roman times, according to Strabo in the 1st
Wäschereien aufbereitet wurden. Das System von century BC, the Lavriotiki was a scarred, waste land,
Kanälen, Plattformen und Basins, das gemeinsam die with only limited reworking of remains from earlier
einzelnen Wäschereien ausmacht, diente aus- activities, and little of its former glory preserved.
schliesslich dem Wassermanagement, während die But there was a revival, not only by mining, but
eigentlichen Aufbereitungsanlagen, die vermutlich also by re-furbishing and re-use of installations such
aus Holz bestanden und vor dem Haupt-Wassertank as dwellings and ore washeries. In the Proto-Byzan-
standen, nicht erhalten sind. tine period (4th to 6th centuries AD) miners went again
in the galleries in search for ore, as demonstrated by
archaeological finds. Eighty lamps were found in Mine
No 3 in Thorikos (Butcher 1982), and many others in
dumps near extraction pits throughout the Lavrioti-
Introduction ki (Vanhove 1994). This can be ascertained on an ar-
chitectural basis and the material used, i.e. the ma-
The Lavriotiki consists of the mountainous south- sonry of the constructions and the stones used. For
eastern part of Attika (Fig. 1), from ancient Thorikos repairing the walls they used not any longer the fresh-
and the modern town of Laurion in the east to ly-cut white-veined local marble as used in the Clas-
Sounion in the south. Its western border is defined sical period (Vanhove 1994), but the steril waste ma-
by a distinct north-south running valley between the terial from the mines, without dressing them, so that
granitic intrusion at Plaka in the north and Legrana the joints of the walls are not any longer lined out
in the south. Rich mineralised contact zones between neatly, but leave a rather careless impression. On
various stratigraphic units are exposed in the slopes many places, polychrome lead-glazed ceramic is scat-
and valleys cut into the highland. Periods of metal- tered around the dwellings. After these workers
lurgical activity span the Early Bronze Age to the Pro- stopped their activity in the Lavriotiki its glory was
to-Byzantine period, and again the last third of the waning.
19th and most of the 20th centuries AD. Its heydays, Such it remained for more than a millennium un-
however, were during the Classical period, during the til the 1860s, when first Italian and later French min-
5th and 4th centuries BC, although there is also evi- ing entrepreneurs revived the local mining industry.
dence for activity in the Hellenistic and Roman peri- Much of this mining aimed at the ancient remains,
od. Indirect evidence, such as lead isotope studies of both tailings and slag heaps, which covered the land-
metal artefacts, indicates the extraction of significant scape in vast quantities. Even after exhaustion of the

Metalla (Bochum) 9.1, 2002, 27-46

economically viable ore reserves in the Lavriotiki in bility of archaeology to deal with practically all as-
the 1970s, smelting for lead, zinc and silver in Lauri- pects of human's environment, live and death, a high-
on continued for some more years, using the exist- ly specialised and systematic approach based on team
ing smelters to process imported ore concentrate. At work is necessary to cover adequately technological
present, the works of the former Compagnie Fran- as well as archaeological issues - the wish of the late 29
caise des Mines du Laurion (CFML) are part of an in- C. Conophagos. Despite the recent developments in
dustrial archaeological park, developed with much archaeology with all their technical and scientific un-
local support and a grant from the European Com- derpinnings, and an abundance of published work
mission. on the Laurion, too much is still based on 19th cen-
tury observations, and much more primary, i.e. field,
The identification in the mid 19th century AD of research has to be done in the Lavriotiki (Weisgerber
huge deposits of obviously artificial materials (e.g. & Heinrich 1983).
Cordella 1864, 1869; Binder 1895; Ardaillon 1897; most This paper aims to contribute at least some fresh
of it summarised in Conophagos 1980) and the ex- observations relating to long-standing issues, such
cavation of it during modern mining stimulated an as the nature of the ore mined in Antiquity, and the
early interest in the origins of these deposits. As so function of the washeries. The former is addressed
often (Weisgerber pers. com.), it was educated min- by mineralogical and chemical analyses of tailings
ing engineers who first recorded what they found, and other waste products excavated from a number
preserving at least some documentation before de- of ore washeries and their surroundings. For this, we
struction. Academic interest in social, economic and were able to sample materials from a number of col-
legal aspects, primarily based on written sources, set lections in Germany and Belgium, and past and pre-
in only about a century later (Crosby 1950; Lauffer sent excavations under permit by the second Ephor-
1979; Kalcyk 1982; Vanhove 1996). It was soon fol- ate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities and the ar-
lowed by archaeological surveys and excavations, chaeologist, Maria Oikonomakou, responsible for the
first based on Ardaillon's earlier work (Cunningham whole area. The discussion of the function of the
1967) and later on dedicated excavations (Mussche washeries is based on observations during two ex-
& Conophagos 1973; Jones 1988; Photos-Jones & tended field surveys in the vicinity of Thorikos and
Jones 1994). To the present day the definitive vol- the northern part of the Lavriotiki, and on published
ume on the ancient mining industry of the Lavriotiki data from C. Conophagos' excavations in the 1970s
is written by a metallurgist, the late Professor Con- (Conophagos 1980) and the recent British excavations
stantinos Conophagos (1980; Fig. 2). in Agrileza (Jones 1984, 1988; Photos-Jones & Jones
1994). A further aspect of the project, carried out in
In the absence of written sources on ancient metal- collaboration between the Deutsches Bergbau-Mu-
lurgical practice in the Lavriotiki, we have to rely in seum in Bochum and the Belgian School in Greece:
most parts on archaeological evidence to study, and University Ghent with a grant from the Volkswagen-
hopefully understand, this past mining and smelting. Foundation in Hanover / Germany, covered the land-
What is this archaeological evidence? Remains of scape archaeology of the Lavriotiki and the setting of
washeries and cisterns, dwellings and workshops, the various installations within the local environment.
furnaces, sanctuaries and cemetries, roads and tow- This will be dealt with in a separate publication else-
er complexes and so on. Despite the inherent flexi- where.

Fig. 2: Tomb of the late Professor

Constantinos Conophagos and his
wife, Evgenia, in Thorikos. The mon-
ument is buildt from lumps of slag
from the modern metallurgical plant.

Abb. 2: Das Grab von Professor Kon-

stantinos Konophagos und seiner
Frau, Evgenia, in Thorikos. Das Denk-
mal ist aus Schlackenklötzen der
modernen H tte errichtet.

Metalla (Bochum) 9.1, 2002, 27-46

 The nature of the ore mined in the mineralisation and possible alterations over ge-
Antiquity ological times. Cordella (1869: 68) gives between 1200
and 3500 grams of silver per ton of lead for the Ca-
The geology of southern Attika is well known, not mariza ore, and 800 to 3000 grams per ton for 'irreg-
30 least due to the economic importance of the ore de- ular masses' of ore. Pernicka (1981) found silver con-
posits in the Lavriotiki (Marinos & Petraschek 1956) centrations relative to lead of between 500 ppm in
and continuing interest in the ore-forming process- the north of the deposit near Plaka, and 5000 ppm,
es involved in their formation. The primary ore, pre- i.e. about half a percent, in vein mineralisations just
cipitated probably from a number of hydrothermal west of Thorikos. In a recent paper, Krysko (2001) dis-
solutions and particularly enriched at the interfaces cusses the possibility of very rich silver ore having
between different lithologies (primarily three 'con- been found in the earliest phase of the workings at
tacts' between various marbles and schist and shale Laurion; however, no direct evidence for such ore has
sequences), consists of galena and sphalerite with been unearthed yet. But even within an individual
varying amounts of pyrite, chalcopyrite, and several working huge differences in the silver content of the
minor sulphides in a matrix of gangue minerals such ore are possible, as recently demonstrated for a me-
as fluorspar, quartz, calcite, siderite and others. The dieval silver mine in Germany (Rehren et al. 1999a).
silver was found to be bound primarily to galena, Theoretical considerations, as used by both
partly as solid solution within the galena lattice, part- Conophagos (1980) and Bachmann (1982) to support
ly as discreet particles of rich minerals intergrown their mutually exclusive interpretations, allow us to
with the galena (Pernicka 1981). Inevitably, this pri- explain most of the observations within the frame-
mary ore weathered to some degree near the surface, work of either basic assumption; hence it appeared
to form a number of secondary minerals, notably necessary to tackle the central, though 'almost laugh-
cerussite, smithonite and malachite. The deposit is able' (Weisgerber & Heinrich 1983: 196) issue of the
known to have produced during the modern mining ore type mined in Antiquity head-on, through a de-
period an ore of 20 to 60 wt% lead with between 800 tailed microscopical investigation of the archaeolog-
and 3000 grams silver per ton of lead. It is generally ical material preserved in the tailings. The analyses
assumed (e.g. Conophagos 1980; Bachmann 1982) of ancient tailings, taken from secure contexts, guar-
that the mining during the Classical period was for anteed that we were studying material which was ac-
the argentiferous lead mineral, containing about 0.1 tually processed in Antiquity, rather than freshly
percent silver, which was smelted to rich lead metal. mined ore either left behind by the ancients for eco-
From this, the silver was then extracted by cupella- nomic reasons in the ancient galleries, or from parts
tion. of the deposit mined in the modern period only, and
Based on his experience as a metallurgist with the hence inaccessible to them altogether. We had, how-
CFML and various analyses of tailings from the an- ever, to take into account the weathering of the ma-
cient beneficiation, locally known as ekvolades , terial over the last two and a half millennia, greatly
Conophagos (1980) concluded that it was mainly facilitated by the small grain size of the crushed and
cerussite which was mined and processed in Antiq- ground material and hence its large reactive surface
uity. Cerussite, or lead carbonate, is indeed easier to area. Therefore, microscopical studies were given
smelt than galena, lead sulphide, and would thus preference over other phase-identifying approaches
have been a suitable ore. H.G. Bachmann (1982) ar- such as X-ray diffraction (XRD). This allowed us not
gues, however, that the chemical and mineralogical only to identify the phases present, but also to inter-
composition of ancient slags from the Lavriotiki pret the microstructure of the material for effects of
strongly indicates the smelting of sulphidic ore, and weathering, and possible remains of the primary
that the prevalence of lead oxide over lead sulfide in structure.
the ancient ekvolades, cited by Conophagos (1980)
as evidence for the use of cerussite, could well be
due to weathering of the primary mineral subsequent
to its deposition in Antiquity. A further issue in this The sample material
context is the richness of the ore, i.e. the silver con-
tent relative to lead. Conophagos (1980) gives here a There were two major occurrences of remains of the
figure of about 1000 ppm, or 0.1 percent, again based ancient beneficiation processes, one being the mas-
on his experience with the modern workings. More sive ekvolades accumulated in Antiquity, the other
detailed geochemical investigations of the Laurion much more small-scale scatters of tailings within the
deposit (Pernicka 1981), however, and experience ore washeries themselves. The ancient tailing heaps,
with ore deposits in general, urge us to be cautious estimated in the 19th century to total several million
with such general statements. The silver content of tons, were thoroughly reworked in later periods for
the ore can vary to a great extent between different their residual lead and silver content. In particular the
parts of a deposit, depending on the exact nature of mining activity of the 4th to 6th and the 19th and 20th

Metalla (Bochum) 9.1, 2002, 27-46

 31

Fig. 3a: Thick blanket of processing remains (dark brown) Fig. 3b: Close-up of the layer of processing remains over-
within the ore washery at the Property Mecha. Length of lying the artificial floor of the ore washery. Length of nail c.
the nail (in the centre of the image) c. 6 cm. 6 cm.

Abb. 3a: Dicke Schicht dunkler Verarbeitungsr ckstände Abb. 3b: Nahaufnahme der Schicht von Verarbeitungs-
innerhalb der Erzwäsche in der Property Mecha. Länge des r ckständen, aufliegend auf dem k nstlichen Boden der
Nagels (Bildmitte) ca. 6 cm. Erzwäsche. Länge des Nagels ca. 6 cm.

centuries concentrated on these 'deposits' and even- initial characterisation and the development of iden-
tually removed them almost completely, using then tification parameters, it became possible to visually
modern beneficiation and smelting techniques. Hence, identify this type of material in almost every ore wash-
they are now almost totally gone, and what is left be- ery excavated so far, typically as thin layers of rather
hind may well have been re-worked and re-deposit- limited extension at the working platform (Fig. 4), and
ed once or twice. Weisgerber and Heinrich (1983) re- occasionally on the drying floors as well. We were
port one surviving occurrence in the Legrana Valley, able to identify several of these among the samples
and several others are said to exist in the Lavriotiki. taken in the 1960s from within the boundaries of the
However, due to the general scarcity of this type of Thorikos excavation of the Belgian School. In addi-
material, and the seemingly insurmountable prob- tion, it was possible under the licence of the present
lems in their proper dating and allocation to a spe- project to sample a number of ore washeries exca-
cific washery or mining district, they were thought to vated previously within the northern part of the Lavri-
be less suitable for the intended study. In contrast, otiki, and from current excavations of the second
the material preserved within the ore washeries ap- Ephorate under the direction of M. Oikonomakou. It
peared to be much more promising, suggesting a
close chronological and regional link between the pe-
riod of use of the installation, and the material pre-
served within it. Initially, tailings were known only Fig. 4: Typical flimsy layer of processing remains preserved
from a few - and unfortunately not yet completely in an ore washery. Tip of shoe for scale.
identified - washeries, where they were found in the
Abb. 4: Typische Form d nner Verarbeitungsr ckstände in
progress of excavations in such quantities that they einer Erzwäsche. Schuhspitze als Maßstab.
attracted the attention of scholars interested in min-
ing history. As such, they were added over several
decades to various collections in Europe, including
the Deutsches Bergbau-Museum, and provided the
initial material for our investigation; subsequently,
similar occurrences were uncovered in controlled ex-
cavations, e.g. by Maria Oikonomakou at the Prop-
erty Mecha (Rehren et al. 1999b), where it covers one
corner of the installation up to ten centimeteres thick,
equalling an estimated quantity of some 360 kg (sam-
ple LTH2; Fig. 3a, b), and within the ancient town of
Thorikos where a small mound of this material was
uncovered, comprising several hundred kilograms
(Mussche 1968; samples LTO and LTU). Following

Metalla (Bochum) 9.1, 2002, 27-46

32

Fig. 5: Thin section through a sample of the third ore type.

Note the frequent red specks of litharge. Width of image c
3 cm.

Abb. 5: D nnschliff durch eine Probe des dritten Erztyps.

Die zahlreichen roten Partikel sind Bleiglätte. Bildbreite ca.
3 cm.

is this body of material from within the actual ore

washeries which forms the core of the current sci-
Fig. 6a, b: Galena as remnants in the core of a cerussite grain
entific investigation of the ancient tailings. A detailed (centre), showing the progressive weathering of the sulfide
geographical discussion of the samples will be giv- mineral preserved in the microscopic texture of the crushed
en within the forthcoming publication on the geo- ore.
morphological aspect of the project.
Abb. 6a, b: Bleiglanz als Relikt im Kern eines Cerussit-
Korns (Mitte). Die Form zeigt die fortschreitended Verwit-
The ancient tailings were macroscopically identified terung des Sulfidminerals im gebrochenen Erz.
by their distinct sugar-like grain size and angular
shape, a brownish reddish colour, and the prevalence
of ore minerals such as fluorspar, lead minerals etc.
Fig. 6c: Very clear example of galena (centre) surrounded
when studied in the field with a hand lens or binoc-
by a homogenous layer of cerussite, clearly demonstrating
ular microscope. Typically, the originally loose ma- that this transformation occured only after the crushing of
terial had solidified over the millennia, adhering di- the ore.
rectly to the original surface of the floors of the wash- Abb. 6c: Sehr deutliches Beispiel von Bleiglanz (Mitte)
eries, cemented by a matrix of clay minerals, iron umgeben von einem gleichmässigen Saum von Cerussit.
hydroxides and various carbonates. Differences in Das Gef ge ist offenkundig erst nach dem Brechen des Erzes
thermal expansion and weathering effects following entstanden.
the excavation of these washeries lead to the palling
of the edges of these layers, often separating them
from the underlying floor surfaces while retaining the
initial texture of the anthropogenic sediment. In ef-
fect, the material is distinctly different from the sur-
rounding geological soil, which has a much lighter
yellow or terra rossa colour, a clearly different grain
size distribution and well rounded grain shapes, and
a very different mineralogical composition. Already
during the fieldwork it became apparent that there
are three different types of tailings, two relatively
coarse ones and one rather fine-grained. The two
coarse ones are separated by different gangue min-
eral associations, one being characterised by a high
percentage of fluorspar crystals (see below). The fine-

Metalla (Bochum) 9.1, 2002, 27-46

grained type is characterised by the frequent occur- ings; based on an average lead content of seven per-
rence of tiny bright red flakes within the matrix (Fig. cent by weight and a density of lead minerals of two
5). When present in large enough quantities, e.g. such to three times the density of gangue minerals, it was
as the massive infill of one of the washeries exca- expected to find about two to three percent by vol-
vated by M. Oikonomakou at the Property Mecha or ume (or area in the thin sections) of lead minerals. 33
indeed the material from the Thorikos excavation, The investigation of the two coarse grained types of
this third type is recognisably denser than the previ- tailings confirmed this expectation; within a matrix
ous two. of carbonatised clayey material we found an abun-
dance of gangue minerals such as siderite, goethite,
calcite, fluorspar, sphalerite, and the occasional grain
of cerussite or galena. Very often, these lead miner-
Mineralogical results al grains were of roughly isometric or euhedral shape,
consisting of a core of galena surrounded by a layer
The mineralogical work aimed to identify the nature
of the ore processed in Antiquity; was it galena or
cerussite? It was known from previous work, sum-
marised by Conophagos (1980), that the ancient tail- Fig. 8a-c: Litharge cake from Thorikos (top, scale in cm) and
ings contained on average still seven weight percent thin section from a similar fragment with silver-rich lead
lead, and 140 ppm of silver. This clearly indicated that metal prill (Centre and bottom).
the beneficiation process as carried out during the Abb. 8a-c: Bleiglätte-Kuchen von Thorikos (oben, Maßstab
Classical period was not quantitatively successful; in- in cm) und D nnschliff eines ähnlichen Fragmentes mit sil-
deed, even modern technology can not easily achieve berreichem Blei-Tropfen (Mitte und unten).
a complete separation of ore into tailings and con-
centrate based on density differences alone. In-
evitably, some of the rich mineral will remain with
the tailings, while the concentrate will always con-
tain some gangue minerals as well. In contrast to
slags, where the smelting products are mineralogi-
cally and chemically very different from the initial ore,
both the tailings and the concentrate will have qual-
itatively the same range of mineral phases present
in the initial ore, though at quantitatively different
proportions. This is the underlying rationale which
allows us to mineralogically characterise the initial
ore - and thus the concentrate - based on the study
of the tailings.
The microscopical work hence concentrated on
the identification of the rich mineral within the tail-

Fig. 7: Litharge crystals in a clay-rich matrix. Sample from

an ore washery in the Thorikos region.

Abb. 7: Kristalle von Bleiglätte in einer tonigen Grundmasse.

Probe aus einer Erzwäsche bei Thorikos.

Metalla (Bochum) 9.1, 2002, 27-46

 would have fractured differently from cubic galena;
furthermore, it would be highly unlikely that mixed
aggregates of cerussite and galena would always frac-
ture in such a way that a core of galena is surround-
34 ed by cerussite. Instead, it is assumed that the ore
was crushed as galena, resulting in grains which sub-
sequently weathered to cerussite during burial. This
weathering was greatly facilitated by the crushing of
the ore, providing a large surface area relative to the
grain volume. Obviously, weathering would start at
the surface and penetrate then towards the core of
the grain, roughly preserving the initial shape of the
grain, and a residual core in the centre (Fig. 6c). This
weathering explains the apparent discrepancy be-
tween the early analyses of the tailings, cited by
Conophagos (1980), to contain much more lead ox-
ide than lead sulphide, or the more recent identifica-
tion by XRD of cerussite in the tailings by Photos-
Jones & Jones (1994) on the one hand, and on the
other hand Bachmann's (1982) observation that the
slags clearly indicate the processing of sulphidic rather
than oxidic ore. The chemical and XRD analyses de-
scribed the status quo, and can not take into account
any weathering effect, which becomes visible only in
the microscopic study. In this instance, even a firm
identification of cerussite by means of X-ray diffrac-
tion as the dominant lead mineral would not allow
an adequate interpretation. In effect, both are right:
The tailings do contain now predominantly cerussite,
and the slag was derived from the smelting of a sul-
phidic ore. As far as the situation in Antiquity is con-
cerned, we can safely assume that the mining and
smelting was for argentiferous galena, and only to a
very limited extend possibly also for cerussite. So far,
a straight forward answer to a straight forward ques-
tion, proving correct an earlier theoretical suggestion
put forward by H.G. Bachmann (1982: 250).

The investigation of the third type of macroscopical-

Fig. 9a-c: Scatter of mostly weathered droplets of lead, leav-
ing behind a stippled network of silver metal in cerussite ly identified tailings, however, gave a surprising re-
matrix. The original outline of the lead metal prill is still vis- sult. The main 'primary' lead phase present here is
ible in the texture of the cerussite. litharge, not galena (Fig. 7a, b), often weathered to
cerussite, and embedded in a fine matrix of clay min-
Abb. 9a-c: Gruppe von weitgehend verwitterten Blei-
tröpfchen, erkennbar an dem punktförmigen Netzwerk von erals, calcite and iron hydroxides. It has to be stressed
Silbermetall in einer Cerussit-reichen Grundmasse. Die ur- that such litharge does not occur in any quantity as
spr ngliche Form der Bleimetall-Tropfen ist in der Textur a natural mineral. Not only is in this type of material
des Cerussits erhalten.
the lead present in a different, artificial, phase, but
also at much larger quantities than in the previous
two types, resulting in the recognisably higher den-
sity of this type. The texture of the litharge clearly in-
of varying thickness of cerussite. The interface be- dicates that it has formed during cupellation, i.e. the
tween galena and cerussite is typically irregular, of- oxidising treatment of argentiferous lead metal. For
ten with tiny islands of sulphide preserved in the in- comparison, we analysed also a number of solid
ner parts of the cerussite layer (Fig. 6a, b), but not litharge cakes from the Thorikos excavation (Fig. 8a,
near the surface. This texture is interpreted as a clear b).
indication that the ore mineral was mined, ground Occasionally, there are small crystals of silver
and beneficiated as galena. Massive aggregates of and/or copper metal preserved in the litharge (Fig.
cerussite, a rhomboedric pseudohexagonal mineral, 9a, b), representing prills of lead metal (Fig. 9c). The

Metalla (Bochum) 9.1, 2002, 27-46

grain size, and its narrow scatter, of the litharge from The chemical analysis of the tailings focussed further
the ore washeries indicates that the material was ini- on the identification of other minor elements related
tially similar to the massive cakes, but subsequently to the lead mineralisation, such as nickel, copper, ar-
crushed and ground in preparation for a washing op- senic and antimony, and the major gangue compo-
eration. This beneficiation of litharge obviously took nents, primarily calcium carbonate and fluoride, sil- 35
place within the ore washeries and on a regular scale, ica, zinc compounds, iron and manganese (hydr)ox-
as is evident from the massive and frequent occur- ide, etc. Dissolution was in some cases incomplete
rence of it at several such installations. At present, with an insoluble residue of up to 20 wt%; this chem-
however, it is unclear whether this litharge is the ically refractory material was analysed by SEM-EDS
waste product of this washing, or its concentrate. If and XRD, and found to be fluorspar, resistant against
it constitutes the waste, what then was the concen- the solvents used. Based on previous experience with
trate? A higher quality or better enriched litharge, or ICP analysis of weathered lead-rich material and the
a metal phase such as lead metal prills or silver crys- difficulties in bringing pre-existing silver halides into
tals? However, if it in itself was the concentrate, as solution, a multi-step dissolution procedure was used
indicated by its richness, why then do we find such including a final cyanide leach of any residual mate-
large quantities still present in some of the washeries, rial, regardless of whether a residue was visible or
obviously discarded like a worthless material? Some not (Rehren & Prange 1998). The amount of silver re-
initial discussion of this is given elsewhere, suggesting covered from the cyanide leach was typically higher
the production in Roman times of litharge for med- than the one found in the main solution, indicating a
ical purposes such as ointments, as indeed reported thorough weathering of the primary silver-bearing
for litharge from the Lavriotiki by Pliny and mineral; however, no regular pattern or ratio of the
Dioscurides (Rehren et al. 1999b). silver content between main solution and cyanide
leach was found which would have allowed the loss
of silver to be estimated when using the main solu-
tion only. The silver data given here is the combined
Chemical results data from both solutions.

The chemical analysis of the tailings was initially un- Based on the chemical analyses, we were able to dis-
dertaken with the aim to gain a better impression tinguish two different ore types, in direct agreement
about the silver content - relative to lead - of the an- with the visual identification based on the fluorspar
cient ore concentrate and hence the lead smelted. A content mentioned above. Most samples, taken from
reliable figure could only be obtained through the the excavations at and around Thorikos, have be-
analysis of undoubtedly ancient mineral. Even the tween 15 and 20 wt% each of silica, iron oxide, and
analysis of ancient lead metal is necessarily am- lime, plus about 12 wt% lead oxide and 10 wt% zinc
biguous; the metal could either be primary, rich, bul- oxide (Tab. 1). This ore type is labelled Thorikos Ore,
lion, or desilvered metal, or primary lead of inter- in contrast to the second ore type, tentatively labelled
mediate or low silver content, not worthwhile desil- Fluorspar Ore, which has 15 to 20 wt% each of
vering (Rehren & Prange 1998: 189, Fig. 4). fluorspar and soluble lime, probably calcite, plus ten
As mentioned above, various analyses of ore sam- weight percent each silica and lead oxide, but less
ples from the Laurion ore field indicated a consider- than five weight percent each zinc oxide and iron ox-
able variability of the silver content relative to lead ide (Tab. 2). The two ore types differ not only in their
across the deposit (Cordella 1869; Pernicka 1981). major elemental and mineralogical composition. At
This latter study also confirmed through microprobe the trace element level, the second type has concen-
analyses that the silver is almost entirely present with- trations of antimony similar to the first one, but only
in galena, either as solid solution within the mineral one third of the arsenic concentrations relative to lead
lattice or as microscopic inclusions of silver-rich min- oxide (0.8 wt% instead of 2.7 wt%). In contrast, its sil-
erals such as miargyrite or matildite. No lead-free sil- ver concentration relative to lead oxide is significantly
ver minerals of low density such as jarosite were ever higher, between 1500 and 1700 ppm, instead of an
reported from the Lavriotiki. One may hence safely average of 950 ppm in the former. (For ease of cal-
assume that the beneficiation of the ore into tailings culation, the trace element data were normalised to
and concentrate, based on the different densities of lead oxide, not lead metal; the resulting rich lead
the lead mineral and the gangue, did not influence would thus have a silver contents about eight per-
the ratio of silver to lead, but only the absolute lead/sil- cent higher than indicated here, plus a further pre-
ver content of the various products. It is thus rea- mium due to the preferential loss of lead over silver
sonable to normalise the silver content found in the into the slag. Bachmann (1982: 248) found on aver-
tailings relative to the lead content, and to take this age 15 wt% lead (calculated as metal), but typically
figure as a reliable indicator of the richness of the only about 30 to 50 ppm silver in slags from Lauri-
charge processed at the ore washery. on.) We hope to be able to characterise the second

Metalla (Bochum) 9.1, 2002, 27-46

 ore type more fully through additional sampling in occur at less than two weight percent each. A marked
the future. This second ore type should have been of reduction as compared to the other ores is also visi-
better quality for the ancient smelter, not only due to ble at the trace element level, again normalised in the
its higher relative silver content, but also through the table to 100 % lead oxide. Copper, arsenic and anti-
36 fluxing properties of the fluorspar. mony, all present at between about one and three
percent (normalised to lead oxide) in the other ores,
The third ore type, already characterised microscop- contribute here only about half a percent each. The
ically by its preponderant litharge content, is chem- most dramatic reduction, however, occurs with the
ically very distinct from the previous two types (Tab. normalised silver content, down to an average 150
3). Beside the dominant lead oxide, averaging 65 wt%, ppm.
the two most important oxides are silica and lime All this is easily explained by the nature of this
with about five to seven weight percent each. Iron material as cupellation residue, originating from the
and zinc oxide, prominent in the two other ore types, oxidising of argentiferous lead in order to retrieve the

Tab. 1: Chemical composition of the Thorikos Ore, predominant at the ore washeries around Thorikos and the northern
part of the mining district. The upper part gives total oxide concentrations as found by ICP analyses. Low totals are likely
due to carbonate and hydrous content (many of the metals analysed are likely to be present as carbonate or hydroxo com-
pounds). CaF2 gives the weight percent of insoluble residue. Trace element concentrations indicated by * in the lower
table are normalised to 100 wt% PbO. All data in weight percent. Analyses by W. Steger, Deutsches Bergbau-Museum,
Bochum.

Tab. 1: Chemische Zusammensetzung des Thorikos-Erzes, vorherrschend in den Erzwäschen um Thorikos und im nörd-
lichen Teil des Bergbaubezirks. Die obere Hälfte gibt Oxid-Konzentrationen gemäss ICP-Analyse; niedrige Analysensum-
men sind eine Folge von Karbonat- und Hydroxid-Mineralen. CaF2 gibt den prozentualen Gewichtsanteil an unlöslichem
R ckstand. Die mit einem * gekennzeichneten Spurenelement-Konzentrationen in der unteren Hälfte sind normiert auf 100
Gew.% Bleioxid als Bezugsgrösse. Alle Angaben in Gewichtsprozent. Analysen W. Steger, Deutsches Bergbau-Museum.

Sample SiO2 Al2O3 Fe2O3 MnO CaO ZnO PbO Total CaF2

LTP-1 18.6 3.24 17.9 1.27 13.9 6.6 5.8 69.76 0.4
LTP-1a 18.9 2.35 21.6 1.59 5.12 15.3 13.2 80.45 1.40
LTP-ex 19.6 5.01 7.9 0.46 20.0 5.3 14.3 75.04 0.57
LTP-b2 20.3 3.49 18.9 1.25 14.6 7.3 6.5 74.80 0.8
LTP 18.1 2.25 22.6 12.2 6.30 15.0 10.5 89.70 1.9
LAT-W 19.8 3.00 15.4 1.53 15.5 6.5 5.1 69.07 2.3
LTH-2e 18.8 2.55 16.3 1.29 19.5 8.5 8.8 79.45 1.59
LTH-2f 15.6 3.19 9.9 0.69 24.8 6.2 7.6 70.51 2.18
LTH-4 19.1 2.55 13.1 0.89 11.8 19.0 11.9 80.67 0.69
LDK-F1 17.0 0.70 10.2 0.70 9.71 15.3 13.5 70.43 4.11
LDK-F2 19.1 1.40 5.4 0.59 19.4 5.2 25.2 79.37 0.70
LDK-H 17.1 1.90 8.2 0.97 11.7 7.1 22.3 73.55 0.79
Average 18.5 2.64 13.95 1.95 14.36 9.8 12.1 76.07 1.45

Sample PbO S Ni* Cu* ZnO* Ba As* Sb* Ag*

LTP-1 5.82 0.15 0.069 2.06 113 5.15 1.65 0.0860

LTP-1a 13.2 0.18 0.008 1.74 116 0.005 4.02 0.325 0.0850
LTP-ex 14.3 0.09 0.007 0.42 37 0.019 0.15 1.19 0.0830
LTP-b2 6.46 0.15 0.140 1.86 113 3.87 1.50 0.0990
LTP 10.5 0.22 0.067 1.52 143 4.38 1.33 0.1110
LAT-W 5.07 0.19 0.079 1.72 129 2.96 2.56 0.1560
LTH-2e 8.76 0.25 0.137 2.40 98 0.520 4.11 0.73 0.0750
LTH-2f 7.57 0.12 0.489 1.72 82 2.910 1.59 1.32 0.0950
LTH-4 11.9 0.17 0.008 1.26 160 0.084 2.69 0.57 0.0610
LDK-F1 13.5 0.22 0.044 0.74 113 0.390 2.89 1.19 0.0870
LDK-F2 25.2 0.12 0.004 0.32 21 0.035 0.20 0.52 0.0530
LDK-H 22.3 0.15 0.009 0.49 32 0.550 1.26 0.85 0.1490
Average 12.05 0.17 0.088 1.35 96.3 0.564 2.77 1.15 0.0950

Metalla (Bochum) 9.1, 2002, 27-46

 Sample SiO2 Al2O3 Fe2O3 MnO CaO ZnO PbO Total CaF2

UKN-1 11.82 3.14 3.80 0.39 16.50 4.93 10.53 53.62 15.42
UKN-2 9.50 1.54 2.93 0.26 18.28 3.27 8.64 46.11 20.50
37
Sample PbO S Ni* Cu* ZnO* Ba As* Sb* Ag*

UKN-1 10.53 0.11 0.044 0.94 52.62 0.14 0.747 1.82 0.170
UKN-2 8.64 0.10 0.018 1.14 43.11 0.02 0.764 0.71 0.150

Tab. 2: Fluorspar Ore, tentatively named after the significant fluorspar content and thought to originate from the central
part of the Lauriotike (Ardaillon 1897: 65). See Table 1 for details of the data presentation in this table. All data in weight
percent. Analyses by W. Steger, Deutsches Bergbau-Museum, Bochum.

Tab. 2: Chemische Zusammensetzung des Fluorit-Erzes, versuchsweise so genannt nach dem deutlichen Fluorit-Gehalt.
Dieser Erztyp stammt vermutlich aus dem Zentralteil der Lauriotike (Ardaillon 1897: 65). Siehe Tabelle 1 f r Details zur
Präsentation der Daten in dieser Tabelle. Alle Angaben in Gewichtsprozent. Analysen W. Steger, Deutsches Bergbau-
Museum.

metallic silver after oxidation of all of the less noble ter elements is thus no surprise. During the oxidation
metals. During smelting of the primary ore, only lead, of the argentiferous lead, as already during the smelt-
silver, copper, arsenic and antimony will have formed ing, a fair amount of the arsenic will have volatised,
a metallic phase, while zinc and iron went into the explaining the significantly lower level of this impu-
slag. The almost complete absence of these two lat- rity in the litharge as compared to the ore. Antimo-

Tab. 3: Litharge Ore, predominant at some ore washeries around Thorikos and the northern part of the mining district.
See Table 1 for details of the data presentation in this table. All data in weight percent. Analyses by W. Steger, Deutsches
Bergbau-Museum, Bochum.

Tab. 3: Chemische Zusammensetzung des Bleiglätte-Erzes, vorherrschend in den Erzwäschen um Thorikos und im nördlichen
Teil des Bergbaubezirks. Siehe Tabelle 1 f r Details zur Präsentation der Daten in dieser Tabelle. Alle Angaben in Gewichts-
prozent. Analysen W. Steger, Deutsches Bergbau-Museum.

Sample SiO2 Al2O3 Fe2O3 MnO CaO ZnO PbO Total CaF2

LTU-a 5.8 1.10 1.51 0.09 3.39 0.76 76.2 91.34 0.30
LTU-b1 8.6 1.52 2.76 0.18 5.30 1.25 70.9 92.95 0.10
LTH-2d 4.9 0.94 0.90 0.12 4.12 0.48 69.5 83.21 0.50
LMP-2b 4.9 0.91 1.06 0.06 4.86 0.62 69.2 84.03 0.10
LTH-2 3.3 0.78 0.62 0.14 3.21 0.24 68.4 78.87 0.09
LMP-Be 3.5 0.89 2.59 0.08 2.00 1.78 65.5 78.57 4.63
LTO-b 10.8 2.87 3.20 0.16 6.28 4.20 57.5 87.55 0.39
LTH-1a 10.9 1.51 0.96 0.04 9.56 0.33 56.8 82.05 0.20
LTO-a 8.5 2.28 2.93 0.19 6.86 3.19 52.0 78.95 1.20
Average 6.8 1.42 1.84 0.12 5.06 1.43 65.1 84.17 0.83

Sample PbO S Ni* Cu* ZnO* Ba As* Sb* Ag*

LTU-a 76.2 0.09 0.001 0.29 1.00 0.037 0.39 0.93 0.0120
LTU-b1 70.9 0.11 0.001 0.30 1.76 0.047 0.38 0.68 0.0140
LTH-2d 69.5 0.10 0.013 1.12 0.69 0.07 0.39 0.0090
LMP-2b 69.2 0.12 0.001 0.33 0.90 0.038 1.13 0.40 0.0190
LTH-2 68.4 0.07 0.009 1.11 0.35 0.08 0.39 0.0090
LMP-Be 65.5 0.17 0.006 0.17 2.72 0.017 1.33 0.32 0.0100
LTO-b 57.5 0.10 0.005 0.16 7.30 0.022 0.44 1.01 0.0120
LTH-1a 56.8 0.07 0.002 0.12 0.58 0.009 0.23 1.06 0.0190
LTO-a 52.0 0.13 0.006 1.23 6.13 0.46 1.17 0.0330
Average 65.1 0.11 0.005 0.54 2.38 0.028 0.50 0.71 0.0150

Metalla (Bochum) 9.1, 2002, 27-46

 ny, on the other hand, and copper are less likely to Ores and ore washeries
volatise. The reduction in antimony is hence less pro-
nounced, with more than half of the initial concen- The ore washeries form the core of the preserved ar-
tration preserved in the litharge, the remainder has chaeological evidence for the processing of ore min-
38 probably gone into the slag. The lower copper con- erals in the Lavriotiki. Already Cordella (1869) and Ar-
centrations in the litharge as compared to the pri- daillon (1897) know them in their hundreds, and re-
mary ore are more difficult to explain; only a very mi- mark upon both their basic similarity in the general
nor proportion of it may have gone with the silver layout, and the plethora of technical variability in the
(Pernicka & Bachmann 1983: 594-5). For the time be- detail of their individual design. For the purpose of
ing, it is assumed that in the litharge, copper is pre- this study, and following the seminal work of
sent predominantly as copper oxide, while in the ore, Conophagos (1980), it may suffice to repeat here only
it is present as copper sulphide. The former is more a very general summary of the individual units which
likely to weather and migrate under burial conditions together make up a typical washery. Detailed de-
than the latter, suggesting that the difference may be scription of individual examples are given, e.g., by
due to differential corrosion behaviour rather than Conophagos (1980), Jones (1984; 1988) and Photos-
different initial concentrations. In addition, some of Jones & Jones (1994: 313-331). In a recent important
it may have gone into a - hypothetical - matte phase paper, Kakavoyannis (2001) summarises the devel-
during smelting. The regular presence of sulphides opment of these washeries and gives an interesting
in the slags, as reported by Bachmann (1982), sup- discussion of their function.
ports this interpretation, although no detailed inves- A typical washery has a rectangular water tank, a
tigation of this possibility has yet been done. few metres wide, less than a metre deep from front
The silver content, of about 150 ppm (omitting the to back, and standing originally more than one me-
unusually rich sample LTO-a, and normalising to lead tre high. The front wall of this tank consists of a thin
metal, not oxide), is in reasonably good agreement stone slab with several funnel-shaped water outlets
with the generally accepted level of about 100 ppm at certain intervals at half the full height. These out-
for desilvered lead of the Roman period (Rehren & lets are thought to have had plugs to close or open
Prange 1998: 189). It is roughly one order of magni- them individually. In front of this water tank, of the
tude lower than the initial silver content of the ore same width and about 1.5 to 2 metres deep, is a
mineral, indicating that about ninety percent of the smooth work floor, slightly inclined away from the
total silver content of the concentrate was success- tank and leading to the first of four connected chan-
fully extracted during the Classical period. Whether nels. These four channels are a few decimetres wide
the difference is significant between the 150 ppm and deep, and are typically arranged around a cen-
found here and the 100 ppm generally assumed for tral rectangular area, identified as a drying floor. This
desilvered Roman lead, and possibly indicating a pro- drying floor, of the same width as the working floor
cedural improvement within the same principal tech- and up to several metres long, forms an extension of
nology of smelting and cupellation, remains to be the latter, separated from it by the first channel. At
discussed. the two far corners of the drying floor, and at the near-

Fig. 10: Photograph of an ore wash-

ery north west of Thorikos. The view
is from the water tank, with the work
floor in the forefield and the drying
floor in the centre.

Abb. 10: Aufnahme einer Erzwäsche

nord-westlich von Thorikos. Der Blick
ist vom Wassertank ber die Arbeits-
fläche (Vordergrund) zur Trocken-
fläche (Mitte).

Metalla (Bochum) 9.1, 2002, 27-46

by left-hand corner when looking from the working litharge rather than ore tailings. The distribution of
floor, are settling basins. These basins are either ore tailings within the washeries is in good accord
round or rectangular, and considerably deeper, eas- with their mode of operation as reconstructed by
ily more than a metre, than the channels which they Conophagos (1980); the actual beneficiation took place
link with each other. The channels have a very slight on some sort of probably wooden installation on the 39
slope from the first one counter-clockwise up to the work floor, resulting in some scatter of material
final, near-by, settling basin. Although the final basin around these installations. Though most of this was
is very close to the first channel, often only a few cen- likely fed back into the process, some will inevitably
timetres away, there is hardly ever a connection be- have escaped the attention and remained on the work
tween the two other than via the long way around floor surface. The bulk of the tailings of the (tenta-
the drying floor. Clearly, the water is intended to flow tive) sluice box operating on the work floor will have
from the tank through the outlets into the first chan- collected in the first channel, from where they were
nel, and then counter clockwise through the sequence ladled onto the drying floor to allow their water con-
of basins and channels to the final basin, from where tent to seep back into circulation. From here, the tail-
it was bailed back into the tank. This circular flow of ings were then either re-worked to extract more of
water, however, can not have occurred at any sig- the rich mineral, or considered lean enough to be dis-
nificant velocity; the inclination along the channels carded for good (or rather re-working in later cen-
is almost negligible, the water supply through the turies). Little if any material will have been ladled onto
small number of outlets from the tank limited, and the drying floor from the other channels; hence, far
the flow often further hampered by barriers within less frequent are traces of tailings next to those. But
the channels, some initially built together with the in- how was the decision taken to either re-work, or dis-
stallation, some obviously added later. All surfaces card, the material? Published general statements on
are worked to an extremely high standard of masonry, the lead content of ancient tailing heaps as well as
either hewn into the country rock or finished with the our own data indicate a fair, and fairly consistent,
Lavriotiki's famous watertight plaster (Conophagos control over the lead content of the tailings, of around
1975; Mishara 1989), allowing to this day the growth five to ten weight percent lead. This indicates that a
of swamp grass in the settling basins even during pe- reliable and reproducable means to assess the qual-
riods of draught. ity of beneficiation did exist in Antiquity.

Remains of tailings were typically found on the work The primary ore mineral processed and concentrat-
floor, and often on the drying floor immediately op- ed in Antiquity was galena, not cerussite. This is of
posite the first channel as well. considerable importance for the argument. While
Occasionally, heaps of lead-rich material were cerussite is whitish and has a density of 6.5 g/cm3,
found stacked away in various buildings adjacent to galena is black and has a density of 7.5. This has to
the washeries, or as thick covers within the installa- be seen - literally - in contrast to the main gangue
tions; typically, these latter occurrences turned out minerals processed along with the ore mineral, cal-
to be of the third type of material, re-processed cite (white to pale yellow, density 2.7), fluorspar (white

Fig. 11: Detail of an ore washery, with

remains of the tank (left) and the work-
floor (front centre). The canal to the
right separates the drying floor, ex-
tending to the right beyond the frame.
The final settling basin in the centre
holds swamp grass even in the sum-
mer. The canal is carefully separated
from the settling basin, forcing the wa-
ter to flow around the entire installa-
tion.

Abb. 11: Detail einer Erzwäsche mit

Wassertank (links) und der Arbeits-
fläche (Mitte im Vordergrund). Der
vordere Kanal trennt die Trockenfläche
ab, die sich nach rechts erstreckt. Das
im Wasserlauf letzte Sammelbecken
ist in der Bildmitte zu sehen; in ihm
wachsen auch im Sommer Sumpf-
gräser. Der vordere Kanal ist sorgfältig
vom Sammelbecken abgegrenzt, so
dass das Wasser die gesamte Anlage
umfliessen muss.

Metalla (Bochum) 9.1, 2002, 27-46

 to various pastel colours, density 3.2), and siderite moliaki. Cistern A seems to be Archaic, but nothing
(pale to dark brown, density of 3.8). The separation can be said for certain about its relation to the rest of
is generally accepted to have occurred by means of the construction." Meanwhile the impression devel-
water; this immediately moves the argument from oped that the so-called Lesbian style of the masonry
40 real densities to effective densities, i.e. those effec- of Cistern A seems to occur in the Lavriotiki even into
tive under water, taking into account the buoyancy the second quarter of the fifth century BC. Regard-
of the minerals. For the sake of convenience, one may less, this is not a satisfactory or decisive argument.
take the density of water as 1 and reduce all mineral
values by this; while the absolute differences between
the light and the heavy minerals remain the same, Theoretical and archaeological considerations
the relative differences increase considerably. In air,
galena is just over two times as heavy than fluorspar, Reconsidering the problem, there are three factors
while in water, it is three times as heavy. Cerussite, to be examined:
in contrast, is only two and a half times as heavy in 1. the technical aspect: the building of the plant and
water than fluorspar. Quite obviously, galena not only the operating system,
responds much better to a density-controlled sepa- 2. the economical aspect: the relation of investment
ration than cerussite, but the quality control of the and yield, and
operation will also be much easier, based on the 3. the archaeological aspect.
colour contrast between the various minerals in-
volved. Both excess gangue mineral levels in the con- First, there is the question of the construction of a he-
centrate, and intolerable loss of rich mineral to the licoidal plant. This was, of course, a very complicat-
tailings, become immediately obvious without any ed and precise task. About 10 cubic meters, or about
need for chemical analysis or elaborate testing. Thus, 25 tons, of stone were needed for around 30 stone
the question (Photos-Jones & Jones 1994: 334) of blocks (approximately 0.80 meters wide by 0.70 me-
how the distinction was made between worthless tail- ters high) of the 20 meter-long circuit (Fig 12). These
ings, those worth further processing, and concentrate had to be transported to the plant location. Follow-
of sufficient quality for the smelter, is easily answered. ing transportation, they had to be cut and assembled
with two well-joining faces (Fig 13), and last but not
So far, we have concentrated on the rectangular mod- least, levelled. Considering the weight of the blocks,
el of ore washeries. In addition, there are four circu- this must have been done with a lifting device which
lar installations, know as helicoidal washeries (Muss- required moving for each block - about 30 times. Once
che & Conophagos 1973). The chronological rela- this preparation was finished, there was the painstak-
tionship of these to the dominant type is still not firmly ing cutting of 180 bowls by skilled stonecutters, with
established; the fact that one remained unfinished a smooth, very precise denivellation of about 0.06 m
could indicate that this model was superseded by the over the total length of 20 m. After the cutting, the
later, rectangular type which allowed a much higher bowls required rubbing down to the present smooth
throughput of ore. On the other hand, the helicoidal finish.
type may have served a more specialised purpose, In comparison, in Thorikos, the building of a nor-
requiring a much more precise and lasting installa- mal-sized rectangular washery with three workmen
tion than the supposed wooden sluice box operated (one of whom was very skilled) was realized in about
at the rectangular washeries. Recently, Klemm and 20 days, translating into 60 working days total. Here
Klemm (1994) reported the discovery of fragments the only levelling problem was the five overflows
of another helicoidal installation in an Egyptian gold- within the course of the surrounding channels. The
mining region; again, however, no precise date is giv- inclination of the wooden sluices was easily adapt-
en for it. able to the quality of the ores. It is a very conserva-
tive calculation if we suppose that the building of a
helicoidal washery took only twice as much time.
Next comes the operating of the helicoidal wash-
The Helicoidal Washeries ery. The ores were placed little by little in the very
beginning of the circuit. As we experienced during
An outstanding problem is the chronology and func- Conophagos's tests in the reconstructed washery,
tion of the helicoidal washeries. So far, four of them two men were needed to turn over the concentrate
are known: Demoliaki, Megala Pevka 1, Megala Pev- continuously with their hands. After a short time,
ka 2, and Berzeko (Mussche & Conophagos 1973: 67). there was a perfect material classification: in the first
None of these washeries is well-dated by finds from four meters of the circuit was concentrated ore, fol-
the foundation layers. In 1973, it was stated that lowed by gravel, sand, and finally silt and clay. This
(Mussche & Conophagos 1973: 65) "there is practi- means a classification of waste material over about
cally no evidence for dating the entire plant at De- 16 meters, something completely useless. Moreover,

Metalla (Bochum) 9.1, 2002, 27-46

 sumption, both types allowed for a perfect recycling
of the water, although it was more difficult to protect
the helicoidal type against evaporation by the sun.
The construction of the helicoidal washery was cer-
tainly more chip-proof, but once damaged difficult, 41
ore even impossible, to restore - and even useless,
once worn out by the constant friction by the turning
concentrate. Repairs in the rectangular type, howev-
er, were easy to carry out.

Secondly, there is the economical aspect. Unfortu-

nately here are many unknowns, such the exact prices
and the wages, with very little monetary data exist-
ing. The average price of a slave was about 200
Drachmes (Lauffer 1979: 65), with skilled workmen
or a foreman with experience in metallurgy being
substantially more expensive, more than 1000 Dr.
Sosias, for example, was 6000 Dr (Lauffer 1979: 67).
It is evident that every ergastirion needed one man
with the necessary know-how.
We have seen that the construction of a helicoidal
washery must have been substantially more expen-
sive than that of a rectangular one. Therefore their
construction and operating only made sense if it re-
sulted in greater yield or higher quality. The yield of
a helicoidal washery can be estimated at about two
Fig. 12: Photograph of joint between two blocks of a heli- tons in 12 hours. That of a rectangular with three wa-
coidal washery near Megala Pevka.
ter outlets was about 4.5 tons in the same time, i.e.
Abb. 12: Aufnahme einer Fuge zwischen zwei Blöcken einer more than twice as much (Conophagos 1980: 244).
kreisförmigen Erzwäsche bei Megala Pevka.
The only remaining solution is the higher quality in
operation, but in the absence of experiments we are
at the end of the operation, all 180 bowls would have limited to hypothesis. Here the argumentation of
had to be emptied and cleaned by hand. The con- Conophagos (1980: 252) is not convincing. It is ab-
clusion is that only the bowls in the very beginning solutely uncertain that the helicoidal washeries are
of the circuit were productive, with the existence of an imitation of the wooden sluices; not one fragment
the remaining about 140 bowls solely for the purifi- of a wooden sluice was ever found. We do not know
cation of the water. In this case, the investment was, how they were made, what kind of wood was used,
of course, extremely disproportionate to the target. what the quality of output was at different inclina-
It seems more than reasonable that the builders of tions and different watering methods. There remains
the helicoidal washeries would have realized this one element: the greater operational length of the he-
quickly and stopped their trials. An objection to this licoidal sluice, permitting a very precise treatment of
argument is that the operational length of the heli- difficult ores or litharge. It cannot be denied, howev-
coidal washery (approximately 4 meters) is more than er, that in the helicoidal sluice, at the point where the
double that of a washing table in a rectangular wash- concentrate ends and the waste material or tailings
ery (1.80 to 2.00 meters). On the other hand, the op- begins, there is also a certain loss. This problem can-
eration in a helicoidal washery occurred once only, not be solved without thoroughly conducted trials.
requiring complete cleaning after each operation.
Conversely, in a rectangular washery, operating with According to Conophagos (1980: 251), litharge con-
wooden sluices, the work is easily repeatable and tained on average 66 grams of silver per ton; thus a
hence more continous. Furthermore, it is of course helicoidal sluice could produce a maximum of 132
true that we don't know exactly how the wooden grams of silver in 12 hours. This equals, assuming a
sluices were made - whether, perhaps, there were 10 per cent loss, 27 Dr per day (with the Athenian
different methods or variations adapted to various Drachme equal to 4.37 grams), or 9855 Dr per year.
qualities of ore. Conophagos (1980: 251) also compares the met-
allurgical results of conventional and helicoidal wash-
Two other technical aspects are water consumption eries: with ores containing 16 per cent lead, a rec-
and solidity of the construction. In terms of water con- tangular plant produced a concentrate of 50 per cent

Metalla (Bochum) 9.1, 2002, 27-46

 lead, and a helicoidal one of 45 per cent. This is an by the building of a rectangular one, and the Berzeko
almost equal result, despite the incraesed operational plant was so badly destroyed that it is very hazardous
length of the helicoidal washeries. Tests, however, to conclude something at all. In my opinion there is
with ores containing less than 16 per cent were not no solid archaeological proof for an archaeological
42 made, and the issue of the quality of the concentrate dating of them at all. Few sherds were found in the
has to remain open until further experiments are surroundings, with none Roman or Palaeo-Christian.
done. Moreover, it is well established that in an ergastiria
If we calculate for each ergastirion one free fore- in activity in the fifth or fourth century BC, there are
man and five slaves (two crushing the material, one always many typical sherds. It is also obvious that
transporting water, two turning over material in many rectangular washeries were brought into use
bowls), the total capital cost for the six should be - if again in the fourth through the sixth centuries AD,
we estimate a depreciation over six years survival of with (or without) alterations or adaptations. A char-
the slaves - about 570 Dr per year. We must also add acteristic feature of those Palaeo-Christian miners is
in the costs of building the plant, food, clothing, wa- that they were not investors, but poor squatters, in-
ter supply, transport (assuming 1 Dr per ton per mile, stalling themselves in ruined and abandoned
easily 730 Dr per year), melting down, cupellation, dwellings and trying to extract immediate profits.
and minting (Van Looy 1987). They were not inventing expensive, sophisticated
It is evident that according to these calculations workshops, demanding a considerable capital to in-
a helicoidal washery produced not even half of its in- vest. The extreme skill of perfect and precise stone-
vestment, or less than 4927 Dr (14,700 Dr for the three cutting required to build a helicoidal washery is, on
known plants), a ridiculous amount, whereas Aris- the contrary, typical for the fifth century BC.
toteles speaks of an annual yield of 600,000 Dr for the
mines in total (Mussche 1998: 16). Even if this figure What conclusion can we reach? There are two pos-
is perhaps to a certain extent too high, the reality lies sibilities: either the helicoidal washeries date from
certainly in the hundreds of thousands. the fifth century BC or the fourth to the sixth centuries
AD. Up to the present time, although there are no de-
Our third aspect is the archaeological one. Although cisive arguments yet known, there are rather strong
their construction is even more sturdy than those of indications in favour of the earlier date.
the rectangular washeries, so far only four plants were
found against more than 200 rectangular ergastiria. As early as 1987 R.F. Tylecote (Tylecote 1987: 63-4)
Of these four, one in Megala Pevka remained unfin- was sceptical about the efficiency of both the rec-
ished, the second one in Megala Pevka was destroyed tangular and the helicoidal washeries, noting that

Fig. 13: Photograph of

a sequence of blocks
forming a helicoidal
washery near Megala
Pevka.

Abb. 13: Aufnahme

einer Reihe von Blök-
ken einer kreisförmi-
gen Erzwäsche bei
Megala Pevka.

Metalla (Bochum) 9.1, 2002, 27-46

"how efficient it was as a integral concentrating ver (see above, Fig. 9a-c); even textbooks of modern
process is difficult to estimate", and, specifically con- metallurgy point out the need to build the cupella-
cerning the helicoidal washeries, that it "is possible tion hearth most carefully to reduce such losses (e.g.,
that they were not nearly as efficient” as the almost Tafel & Wagenmann 1951). Some loss, however, was
certainly riffled sloping launders. inevitable and may have stimulated some effort to 43
retrieve this silver. The difference in density between
In the industrial process (and with approximately metal (11.3 for lead, 10.5 for silver) and litharge (9.5)
1,500,000 tons of ancient scories recorded in the 19th is much smaller than between the various ore min-
century, it was obvious that it was in Antiquity a real erals discussed above in the context of the rectan-
industrial exploitation), efficiency is essential. As we gular washeries; hence, a more careful treatment is
have seen, there are quite a number of arguments in necessary, requiring a much longer operational length
favour of an early date. As mentioned in Preliminary of the installation than the average sluice box would
Report IX (Mussche 1990: 38), "the change-over in offer. Also, any loss of the concentrate would be far
ore winning from high grades to lower grades cer- more serious than in the ore washeries proper: here,
tainly did not come about instantaneously, but was the concentrate would be almost pure silver metal,
a gradual process. If the yield proved unsatisfactory, there, it would be ore minerals with only a fraction
there will have been a search for new methods and of a percent of silver in it, requiring considerable ef-
concentration by running water will have been in- fort to extract the silver. Therefore, an installation cut
vented. (They knew e.g. that in the Strymon the gold into stone rather than built from wood, and from its
particles were concentrated by the centrifugal force very design easily to supervise, would make partic-
of the water in the sharp curves of the river.) This will ular sense in reducing accidental (and 'deliberate')
not have happened overnight. Improvements in the loss of concentrate.
later traditional type of washery will likewise have At present, we can only speculate whether such
been a matter of time. In the Lavrion it has been es- a supposed mechanical separation of metallic silver
tablished that the conventional type of washery ... from the cupellation hearth material was done con-
was operational towards the end of the fifth century temporaneously to the main smelting activity, as an
BC. This will undoubtedly have been preceded by a integral part of the total metallurgical procedure, or
great many experiments." as part of any later re-working. This was not neces-
sarily a re-working in one of the periods of resumed
In 2001, Kakavoyannis published his important find activity menitoned earlier, but could well have taken
of the rock-cut washery in Berzeko (Kakavoyannis place during the (early) Classical Period, when re-
2001: 365) as a forerunner of the classical washery. mains of an earlier, Bronze Age, cupellation were al-
The helicoidal type, also cut in stone, might have been ready available. Two of the four helicoidal washeries
one of the trials, but soon recognized as an error, as are close to the furnaces of MegalaPevka, a situation
too expensive and not sufficiently productive. May where one would expect the processing of litharge
this be the reason why Megala Pevka remained un- to take place, close to any cupellation activity to have
finished? taken place, rather than near to the mines, where the
rectangular washeries are typically situated.

The material processed in the helicoidal washeries

We were able to study in the field using a binocular Discussion and Conclusion
microscope remains adhering to the inside of the
bowls in the helicoidal washeries preserved. Appar- Based on our work in the northern Lavriotiki, we have
ently, they were all extremely fine-grained and rich been able to identify two geologically different ore
in litharge. Two samples from the installation at Mega- types which were processed at some time during the
la Pevka were available for chemical and microscop- Classical period. The two ore types, although both
ical analysis in Bochum (Tab. 3, LMP-2b and LMP- mined for their argentiferous galena, have distinct
Be), confirming the visual identification. In contrast mineralogical and chemical properties, and appear
to most of the other samples of this type, however, to follow a certain regional pattern. The Thorikos Ore
the material from the helicoidal washeries seems to was found primarily to the north and north-west of
be much finer. This, together with the careful and the region, while the ore labelled tentatively Fluorspar
labour-intensive design of these installations, one Ore appears to occur mostly in the central part of the
could tentatively interpret as indicating the use of Lavriotiki (Ardaillon 1897: 65 mentions particularly
these installations in the separation of mechanically ore from Soureza and Agrileza as rich in fluorspar).
trapped lead-silver droplets from the litharge and cu- More detailed fieldwork and analytical studies are
pellation hearth material. The latter is known to con- necessary, however, before a reliable interpretation
tain sometimes considerable quantities of such sil- of this phenomenon will become possible. Are these

Metalla (Bochum) 9.1, 2002, 27-46

 regional differences, or stratigraphic differences which aims at the extraction of silver, since only then
among the various contacts? The recent publication argentiferous lead is lost in the slag. Lead bound
by Photos-Jones & Jones (1994), considering mate- chemically, typically as a silicate glass or phase, is
rial from Agrileza, corroborates this division. Of par- virtually free of silver, and hence a loss tolerable for
44 ticular interest are the data for their third type of tail- the smelter. Thus, a low density and low viscosity
ings, which in appearance and location within the slag, allowing the bulk of the lead metal to settle out
washeries resembles most closely the material stud- of the melt, are more important for than a low lead
ied here. Mineralogical and chemical data provided silicate content.
for four samples of this type (Photos-Jones & Jones At present, we may assume that most Roman re-
1994: 340-1, 343 Table 5) indicate that they belong to working was either re-smelting of argentiferous slag,
our Fluorspar Ore, with fluorite as the main gangue aiming to isolate any metallic lead trapped in it me-
mineral and silver to lead ratio of between 700 and chanically, or a second washing of relatively rich tail-
1900 ppm (the value of 6866 ppm given in their Table ings to extract some more concentrate for fresh smelt-
5 has a decimal error in the calculation, and should ing activity. This may have included the processing
read 686.6 ppm). Further XRD data, however, indi- of litharge to be smelted together with galena. How-
cate the regular presence of cerussite in their sam- ever, only the systematic chemical and mineralogi-
ples. E. Photos-Jones explicitly interprets this as cerus- cal study of well-dated slags from known contexts
site being the primary ore mined in Antiquity (Pho- will allow us to address properly the issue of slag
tos-Jones & Jones 1994: 340, 352 and 357), an chemistry and possible improvements in smelting
interpretation contradicting our own results presented technology from the Classical to the Roman period.
above. However, the validity of our identification of
a distinct ore type rich in fluorspar is confirmed by A further, artificial, material rich in litharge was iden-
their data. tified as occurring frequently in the ore washeries.
Some of it was found in minor amounts in immedi-
The Fluorspar Ore was probably of much better qual- ate context with the helicoidal washeries, while the
ity for the ancient miners, not only because of its high- bulk of it originates from rectangular washeries. The
er silver content relative to lead. One may assume significance of this material has been discussed else-
that it was also more easily processed, with more where (Rehren et al. 1999b); the range of possibili-
lighter and whiter gangue minerals, such as fluorspar ties mentioned there, and those added in this publi-
and calcite, than the Thorikos Ore, which is richer in cation, only illuminate further the need to view the
sphalerite and iron compounds, both of darker colour ore washeries not only individually, but also in their
and higher density and hence more difficult to sepa- wider technological, chronological and spatial set-
rate from galena. The significance of this effect is un- ting within the mining landscape of the Lavriotiki. We
derlined by the considerably lower average lead con- hope to have contributed to this; but much more work
tent of the Fluorspar tailings as reported by Photos- remains to be done.
Jones and Jones (1994: Tables 2 and 5) and in this
paper, as compared to the Thorikos material. While
the latter has an average of 12 wt% lead oxide, and
at least five weight percent in the best sample, Pho-
tos-Jones & Jones (1994) report values of typically Acknowledgements
below six or seven weight percent lead, and an av-
erage between four and five percent. The average of We are most grateful to the Greek archaeological au-
our own two analyses of this ore is below ten weight thorities, in particular the second Ephorate and Maria
percent, i.e . also lower than the average of the Oikonomakou, for giving permission to sample sev-
Thorikos Ore. Thus, the yield of argentiferous lead eral of the ore washeries in the northern Lavriotiki.
mineral is higher in the washeries, as is the silver con- Further samples were taken from the collections of
tent of the lead metal smelted from the concentrate. the Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum, among
The strong fluxing ability of fluorspar has been men- them several which were presented to the museum
tioned already. by the then major of Laurion on the occasion of mu-
tual visits in Laurion and Bochum, and the earlier ex-
This leads on to another important discussion, name- cavations at Thorikos. Andreas Ludwig and Wolfgang
ly the quality of the slag and the efficiency of the Steger of the Deutsches Bergbau-Museum are
smelting operation. Bachmann (1982) reports lead thanked for their work, meticulous as usual, in sam-
contents of about 15 wt% in the slag, but rather low ple preparation and analysis. Last not least we ac-
silver levels. This indicates that most of the lead was knowledge the financial support of this project by the
present as a lead compound chemically bound in the Volkswagen-Foundation, Hanover / Germany, and the
slags, and not mechanically trapped as lead metal continuous encouragement of our work by G. Dege
droplets. Only the latter is deleterious for smelting and G. Weisgerber.

Metalla (Bochum) 9.1, 2002, 27-46

Authors' addresses Jones (ed.), Aspects of Ancient Mining and
Metallurgy: Acta of a British School at Athens
Prof. Dr. Thilo Rehren, Institute of Archaeology, Uni- Centenary Conference at Bangor, 1986, 10-22.
versity College London, 31-34 Gordon Square,
London WC1H 0PY, Great Britain. Kakavoyannis, E. (2001): The silver ore-processing 45
workshops of the Lavrion region. Annual of
Dr. Doris Vanhove, Department of Archaeology and the British School at Athens 96, 365-380.
Ancient History, University Gent, Belgium.
Kalcyk, H. (1982): Untersuchungen zum attischen Sil-
em. Prof. Dr. Herman Mussche, Pacificatielaan 81, B- berbergbau. Gebietsstruktur, Geschichte und
9000 Gent. Technik. Frankfurt/Bern.

Klemm, R. & Klemm, D. (1994): Chronologischer

Abriss der antiken Goldgewinnung in der Os-
twüste Ägyptens. Mitteilungen des Deutschen
Archäologischen Instituts Abteilung Kairo 50,
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