STATISTICAL EVALUATION OF THE PRESENTLY ACCUMULATED LEAD ISOTOPE DATA FROM ANATOLIA AND SURROUNDING REGIONS

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Abstract
Several hundred new stable lead isotope ratio determinations of ore and slag specimens from ancient mining sites throughout Anatolia and of samples of artefacts of the Chalcolithic, Bronze Age and Early Iron Age from museum collections in Turkey and the United States have been combined with the accumulated published isotope determinations of such specimens from throughout the eastern Mediterranean and Aegean regions to form a data base of nearly 1000 analyses. It is the purpose of this paper to evaluate the practical effectiveness of using this now extensive data base to discriminate between the many sources of metals throughout this region and to propose methods to enhance this discrimination. By using the full three‐dimensional isotopic data in multivariate statistical treatments and by separating isotopically resolvable source groups within some of the source areas and isolating statistically outlying specimens from them, it has been possible to characterize some ore sources more precisely and compactly and thereby achieve better resolution between ore sources. It has also been possible to isolate isotopically compatible artefact groups which possibly relate to ore sources that, as yet, have not been well defined by isotopic analysis.