Tin sources and trade in ancient times
Encyclopedia
Tin
is an essential metal
in the creation of tin bronzes and its acquisition has been an important part of Bronze Age
and later cultures throughout ancient history
. Its use began in the Near East
and the Balkans
around 3000 BC. Tin is a relatively rare element in the Earth’s crust
, with approximately 2 ppm (parts per million), compared to iron
with 50,000 ppm., copper
with 70 ppm, lead
with 16 ppm, arsenic
with 5 ppm, silver
with 0.1 ppm, and gold
with 0.005 ppm . Ancient sources of tin were therefore rare and the metal usually had to be traded over very long distances to meet demand in areas lacking tin deposits.
Known sources of tin exploited in ancient times include the southeastern tin belt running from Yunnan province in China
down the Malaysian Peninsula, Devon
and Cornwall
in England
, Brittany
in France
, the border between Germany
and Czech Republic
, Spain
, Portugal
, Italy
, and Central
and Southern Africa
. Other minor sources of tin have been suggested in Iran
, Syria
, and Egypt
, but the archaeological evidence is inconclusive.
extraction and use can be dated to the beginnings of the Bronze Age around 3000 BC, when it was observed that copper
objects formed of polymetallic ores
with different metal contents had different physical properties . The earliest bronze objects had tin or arsenic content of less than 2% and are therefore believed to be the result of unintentional alloying due to trace metal content in the copper ore . The addition of a second metal to copper increases its hardness, lowers the melting temperature, and improves the casting
process by producing a more fluid melt that cools to a denser, less spongy metal . This was an important innovation that allowed for the much more complex shapes cast in closed moulds of the Bronze Age. Arsenical bronze
objects appear first in the Near East where arsenic is commonly found in association with copper ore, but the health risks
were quickly realized and the quest for sources of the much less hazardous tin ores began early in the Bronze Age . This created the demand for rare tin metal and formed a trade
network that linked the distant sources of tin to the markets of Bronze Age cultures.
Cassiterite
(SnO2), the tin oxide form of tin, was most likely the original source of tin in ancient times. Other forms of tin ores are less abundant sulfides such as stannite
that require a more involved smelting
process. Cassiterite often accumulates in alluvial channels as placer deposits due to the fact that it is harder, heavier, and more chemically resistant than the granite
in which it typically forms . These deposits can be easily seen in river banks as cassiterite is usually black, purple or otherwise dark in colour, a feature exploited by early Bronze Age prospectors. It is likely that the earliest deposits were alluvial in nature, and perhaps exploited by the same methods used for panning gold
in placer deposits.
offers a glimpse into that time period’s trade and cultural interactions, and has therefore been the focus of intense archaeological studies. However, a number of problems have plagued the study of ancient tin such as the limited archaeological remains of placer mining
, the destruction of ancient mines by modern mining
operations, and the poor preservation of pure tin objects due to tin disease or tin pest
. These problems are compounded by the difficulty in provenancing tin objects and ores to their geological deposits using isotopic or trace element analyses. Current archaeological debate
is concerned with the origins of tin in the earliest Bronze Age cultures of the Near East .
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Europe
has very few sources of tin. It was therefore of extreme importance throughout ancient times to import
it long distances from known tin mining districts of antiquity, namely Erzgebirge along the border between Germany and Czech Republic, the Iberian Peninsula
, Brittany
in France, and Devon
and Cornwall
in southwestern England . Another minor source of tin is known to exist at Monte Valerio in Tuscany
, Italy. This source was exploited by Etruscan
miners around 800 BC, but it was not a significant source of tin for the rest of the Mediterranean
. The Etruscans themselves found the need to import tin from the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula at that time and later from Cornwall .
Tin was first mined in Europe around 2500 BC in Erzgebirge, and knowledge of tin bronze and tin extraction techniques spread from there to Brittany and Cornwall around 2000 BC and from northwestern Europe to northwestern Spain and Portugal around the same time .
Brittany has significant sources of tin which show evidence of being extensively exploited after the Roman
conquest of Gaul
during the first century BC and onwards . Brittany remained a significant source of tin throughout the medieval period.
Iberian tin was widely traded across the Mediterranean during the Bronze Age, and extensively exploited during Roman times
, but its tin deposits were largely forgotten throughout the medieval period and only rediscovered in the 18th century and only re-gained importance during the mid 19th century .
Devon and Cornwall were important sources of tin for Europe and the Mediterranean throughout ancient times, but began dominating the market during late Roman times
in the 3rd century AD with the exhaustion of many Spanish tin mines . Cornwall maintained its importance as a source of tin throughout medieval times and into the modern period .
.
While there are a few sources of cassiterite in Central Asia
, namely in Uzbekistan
, Tajikistan
, and Afghanistan
that show signs of having been exploited starting around 2000 BC , there is disagreement between archaeologists as to whether they were significant sources of tin for the earliest Bronze Age cultures of the Near East .
In Northern Asia the only tin deposits considered exploitable by ancient peoples occur in the far eastern region of Siberia
(Dayton 2003:165). This source of tin appears to have been exploited by the Eurasian Steppe
people known as the Turbino
culture of the Middle Bronze Age (1000 BC) as well as northern Chinese
cultures around the same time .
Eastern Asia has a number of small cassiterite deposits along the Yellow River
which were exploited by the earliest Chinese Bronze Age culture of Erlitou and the Shang Dynasty
(2500 to 1800 BC). However, the richest deposits for the region, and indeed the world, lie in Southeastern Asia, from Yunnan Province in China down the Malaysian Peninsula. The deposits in Yunnan province were not mined until around 700 BC, but by the Han Dynasty
had become the main source of tin in China according to historical texts of the Han, Jin, Tang
, and Song
dynasties . Other cultures of Southeast Asia exploited the abundant cassiterite resources sometime between second and third millenniums BC, but due to the lack of archaeological work in the region little else is known about tin exploitation during ancient times in that part of the world.
Tin was used in the Indian subcontinent
starting in the second half of the second millennium BC . While India
does have some small scattered deposits of tin, they were not a major source of tin for Indian Bronze Age cultures as shown by their dependence on imported tin.
are known to have actively mined, smelted and traded tin between the 11th and 15th centuries AD .
, with minor deposits in southern Peru
, Colombia
, Brazil
, and northwestern Argentina
, and major deposits of exploitable cassiterite in northern Bolivia
. These deposits were exploited as early as 1000 AD in the manufacture of tin bronze by Andean
cultures, including the later Inca culture who considered tin bronze as the "imperial alloy". In North America
, the only known exploitable source of tin during ancient times is located in the Zacatecas
tin province of north central Mexico
which supplied west Mexican cultures with enough tin for bronze production.
, but metals were not exploited in Australia
until the arrival of Europe
ans in the 17th century.
and lead isotope analysis
to determine the origins of tin objects around the world .
, Europe, or elsewhere.
As early as 2500 BC, Erzgebirge had begun exporting tin, using the well established Baltic amber trade route
to supply Scandinavia
as well as the Mediterranean with tin . By 2000 BC, the extraction of tin in England, France, Spain, and Portugal had begun and tin was traded to the Mediterranean sporadically from all these sources. Evidence of tin trade in the Mediterranean can be seen in a number of Bronze Age shipwrecks containing tin ingots such as the Uluburun off the coast of Turkey
dated 1300 BC which carried over 300 copper bars weighing 10 tons, and approximately 40 tin bars weighing 1 ton . While Sardinia
does not appear to have much in terms of significant sources of tin, it does have rich copper and other mineral wealth and served as a centre for metals trade during the Bronze Age and likely actively imported tin from the Iberian Peninsula for export to the rest of the Mediterranean .
By classical Greek
times, the tin sources were well established. Greece
and the Western Mediterranean appear to have traded their tin from European sources, while the Near East acquired their tin from Central Asian sources through the Silk Road
. For example, Iron Age
Greece had access to tin from Iberia by way of the Phoenicians who traded extensively there, from Erzgebirge by way of the Baltic Amber Road overland route, or from Brittany and Cornwall through overland routes from their colony at Massalia (modern day Marseilles) established in the 6th century BC . In 450 BC, Herodotus
described tin as coming from Northern European islands named the Cassiterides
along the extreme borders of the world, suggesting very long distance trade, likely from Britain, northwestern Iberia, or Brittany, supplying tin to Greece and other Mediterranean cultures . It should be noted that the idea that the Phoenicians went to Cornwall for its tin and supplied it to the whole of the Mediterranean has no archaeological basis and is largely considered a myth .
The early Roman world was mainly supplied with tin from its Iberian provinces of Gallaecia
and Lusitania
and to a lesser extent Tuscany. Pliny
mentions that in 80 BC, a senatorial decree halted all mining on the Italian Peninsula
, stopping any tin mining activity in Tuscany and increasing Roman dependence on tin from Brittany, Iberia, and Cornwall. After the Roman conquest of Gaul, Brittany’s tin deposits saw intensified exploitation after the first century BC . With the exhaustion of the Iberian tin mines, Cornwall became a major supplier of tin for the Romans after the 3rd century AD .
Throughout the medieval period, demand for tin increased as pewter
gained popularity. Brittany and Cornwall remained the major producers and exporters of tin throughout the Mediterranean through to modern times .
Near Eastern development of bronze technology spread across Central Asia by way of the Eurasian Steppes, and with it came the knowledge and technology for tin prospection and extraction. By 2000 to 1500 BC Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan appear to have exploited their sources of tin, carrying the resources east and west along the Silk Road crossing Central Asia . This trade link likely followed an existing trade route of lapis lazuli
, a highly prized semi-precious blue gemstone
, and chlorite vessels decorated with turquoise
from Central Asia that have been found as far west as Egypt and that date to the same period .
In China, early tin was extracted along the Yellow River in Erlitou and Shang times between 2500 and 1800 BC. By Han and later times, China imported its tin from what is today Yunnan province. This has remained China’s main source of tin throughout history and into modern times .
It is unlikely that Southeast Asian tin from Indochina
was widely traded around the world in ancient times as the area was only opened up to Indian, Muslim
, and European traders around 800 AD .
Roman trade to India is well known from historical texts such as Pliny’s Natural History (book VI, 26), and tin is mentioned as one of the resources being exported from Rome to Southern Arabia, Somaliland
, and India .
Tin
Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn and atomic number 50. It is a main group metal in group 14 of the periodic table. Tin shows chemical similarity to both neighboring group 14 elements, germanium and lead and has two possible oxidation states, +2 and the slightly more stable +4...
is an essential metal
Metal
A metal , is an element, compound, or alloy that is a good conductor of both electricity and heat. Metals are usually malleable and shiny, that is they reflect most of incident light...
in the creation of tin bronzes and its acquisition has been an important part of Bronze Age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
and later cultures throughout ancient history
Ancient history
Ancient history is the study of the written past from the beginning of recorded human history to the Early Middle Ages. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, with Cuneiform script, the oldest discovered form of coherent writing, from the protoliterate period around the 30th century BC...
. Its use began in the Near East
Near East
The Near East is a geographical term that covers different countries for geographers, archeologists, and historians, on the one hand, and for political scientists, economists, and journalists, on the other...
and the Balkans
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
around 3000 BC. Tin is a relatively rare element in the Earth’s crust
Crust (geology)
In geology, the crust is the outermost solid shell of a rocky planet or natural satellite, which is chemically distinct from the underlying mantle...
, with approximately 2 ppm (parts per million), compared to iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
with 50,000 ppm., copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
with 70 ppm, lead
Lead
Lead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...
with 16 ppm, arsenic
Arsenic
Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As, atomic number 33 and relative atomic mass 74.92. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in conjunction with sulfur and metals, and also as a pure elemental crystal. It was first documented by Albertus Magnus in 1250.Arsenic is a metalloid...
with 5 ppm, silver
Silver
Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
with 0.1 ppm, and gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
with 0.005 ppm . Ancient sources of tin were therefore rare and the metal usually had to be traded over very long distances to meet demand in areas lacking tin deposits.
Known sources of tin exploited in ancient times include the southeastern tin belt running from Yunnan province in China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
down the Malaysian Peninsula, Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
and Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, the border between Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, and Central
Central Africa
Central Africa is a core region of the African continent which includes Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Rwanda....
and Southern Africa
Southern Africa
Southern Africa is the southernmost region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. Within the region are numerous territories, including the Republic of South Africa ; nowadays, the simpler term South Africa is generally reserved for the country in English.-UN...
. Other minor sources of tin have been suggested in Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
, Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
, and Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, but the archaeological evidence is inconclusive.
Early use
TinTin
Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn and atomic number 50. It is a main group metal in group 14 of the periodic table. Tin shows chemical similarity to both neighboring group 14 elements, germanium and lead and has two possible oxidation states, +2 and the slightly more stable +4...
extraction and use can be dated to the beginnings of the Bronze Age around 3000 BC, when it was observed that copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
objects formed of polymetallic ores
Orés
Orés is a municipality in the Cinco Villas, in the province of Zaragoza, in the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It belongs to the comarca of Cinco Villas. It is placed 104 km to the northwest of the provincial capital city, Zaragoza. Its coordinates are: 42° 17' N, 1° 00' W, and is...
with different metal contents had different physical properties . The earliest bronze objects had tin or arsenic content of less than 2% and are therefore believed to be the result of unintentional alloying due to trace metal content in the copper ore . The addition of a second metal to copper increases its hardness, lowers the melting temperature, and improves the casting
Casting
In metalworking, casting involves pouring liquid metal into a mold, which contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape, and then allowing it to cool and solidify. The solidified part is also known as a casting, which is ejected or broken out of the mold to complete the process...
process by producing a more fluid melt that cools to a denser, less spongy metal . This was an important innovation that allowed for the much more complex shapes cast in closed moulds of the Bronze Age. Arsenical bronze
Arsenical bronze
Arsenical bronze is an alloy in which arsenic is added to copper as opposed to, or in addition to other constituent metals. The use of arsenic with copper, either as the secondary constituent or with another component such as tin, results in a stronger final product and better casting...
objects appear first in the Near East where arsenic is commonly found in association with copper ore, but the health risks
Arsenic poisoning
Arsenic poisoning is a medical condition caused by increased levels of the element arsenic in the body. Arsenic interferes with cellular longevity by allosteric inhibition of an essential metabolic enzyme...
were quickly realized and the quest for sources of the much less hazardous tin ores began early in the Bronze Age . This created the demand for rare tin metal and formed a trade
Trade
Trade is the transfer of ownership of goods and services from one person or entity to another. Trade is sometimes loosely called commerce or financial transaction or barter. A network that allows trade is called a market. The original form of trade was barter, the direct exchange of goods and...
network that linked the distant sources of tin to the markets of Bronze Age cultures.
Cassiterite
Cassiterite
Cassiterite is a tin oxide mineral, SnO2. It is generally opaque, but it is translucent in thin crystals. Its luster and multiple crystal faces produce a desirable gem...
(SnO2), the tin oxide form of tin, was most likely the original source of tin in ancient times. Other forms of tin ores are less abundant sulfides such as stannite
Stannite
Stannite is a mineral, a sulfide of copper, iron, and tin. The chemical formula Cu2FeSnS4. Zinc commonly occurs with the iron and trace germanium may be present. Stannite is used as an ore of tin, consisting of approximately 28% tin, 13% iron, 30% copper, 30% sulfur by mass...
that require a more involved smelting
Smelting
Smelting is a form of extractive metallurgy; its main use is to produce a metal from its ore. This includes iron extraction from iron ore, and copper extraction and other base metals from their ores...
process. Cassiterite often accumulates in alluvial channels as placer deposits due to the fact that it is harder, heavier, and more chemically resistant than the granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
in which it typically forms . These deposits can be easily seen in river banks as cassiterite is usually black, purple or otherwise dark in colour, a feature exploited by early Bronze Age prospectors. It is likely that the earliest deposits were alluvial in nature, and perhaps exploited by the same methods used for panning gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
in placer deposits.
Archaeological Importance
The importance of tin metal to the success of Bronze Age cultures and the scarcity of the resourceResource
A resource is a source or supply from which benefit is produced, typically of limited availability.Resource may also refer to:* Resource , substances or objects required by a biological organism for normal maintenance, growth, and reproduction...
offers a glimpse into that time period’s trade and cultural interactions, and has therefore been the focus of intense archaeological studies. However, a number of problems have plagued the study of ancient tin such as the limited archaeological remains of placer mining
Placer mining
Placer mining is the mining of alluvial deposits for minerals. This may be done by open-pit or by various surface excavating equipment or tunneling equipment....
, the destruction of ancient mines by modern mining
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
operations, and the poor preservation of pure tin objects due to tin disease or tin pest
Tin pest
Tin pest is an autocatalytic, allotropic transformation of the element tin, which causes deterioration of tin objects at low temperatures. Tin pest has also been called tin disease, tin blight or tin leprosy ....
. These problems are compounded by the difficulty in provenancing tin objects and ores to their geological deposits using isotopic or trace element analyses. Current archaeological debate
Debate
Debate or debating is a method of interactive and representational argument. Debate is a broader form of argument than logical argument, which only examines consistency from axiom, and factual argument, which only examines what is or isn't the case or rhetoric which is a technique of persuasion...
is concerned with the origins of tin in the earliest Bronze Age cultures of the Near East .
Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
has very few sources of tin. It was therefore of extreme importance throughout ancient times to import
Import
The term import is derived from the conceptual meaning as to bring in the goods and services into the port of a country. The buyer of such goods and services is referred to an "importer" who is based in the country of import whereas the overseas based seller is referred to as an "exporter". Thus...
it long distances from known tin mining districts of antiquity, namely Erzgebirge along the border between Germany and Czech Republic, the Iberian Peninsula
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
, Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
in France, and Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
and Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
in southwestern England . Another minor source of tin is known to exist at Monte Valerio in Tuscany
Tuscany
Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....
, Italy. This source was exploited by Etruscan
Etruscan civilization
Etruscan civilization is the modern English name given to a civilization of ancient Italy in the area corresponding roughly to Tuscany. The ancient Romans called its creators the Tusci or Etrusci...
miners around 800 BC, but it was not a significant source of tin for the rest of the Mediterranean
Mediterranean Basin
In biogeography, the Mediterranean Basin refers to the lands around the Mediterranean Sea that have a Mediterranean climate, with mild, rainy winters and hot, dry summers, which supports characteristic Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub vegetation...
. The Etruscans themselves found the need to import tin from the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula at that time and later from Cornwall .
Tin was first mined in Europe around 2500 BC in Erzgebirge, and knowledge of tin bronze and tin extraction techniques spread from there to Brittany and Cornwall around 2000 BC and from northwestern Europe to northwestern Spain and Portugal around the same time .
Brittany has significant sources of tin which show evidence of being extensively exploited after the Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
conquest of Gaul
Gaul
Gaul was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine. The Gauls were the speakers of...
during the first century BC and onwards . Brittany remained a significant source of tin throughout the medieval period.
Iberian tin was widely traded across the Mediterranean during the Bronze Age, and extensively exploited during Roman times
Hispania
Another theory holds that the name derives from Ezpanna, the Basque word for "border" or "edge", thus meaning the farthest area or place. Isidore of Sevilla considered Hispania derived from Hispalis....
, but its tin deposits were largely forgotten throughout the medieval period and only rediscovered in the 18th century and only re-gained importance during the mid 19th century .
Devon and Cornwall were important sources of tin for Europe and the Mediterranean throughout ancient times, but began dominating the market during late Roman times
Roman Britain
Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...
in the 3rd century AD with the exhaustion of many Spanish tin mines . Cornwall maintained its importance as a source of tin throughout medieval times and into the modern period .
Asia
Western Asia has very little tin ore; the few sources that have been found recently are relatively small and too insignificant to have played a major role during most of ancient history . However, it is possible that they were exploited at the very onset of the Bronze Age and are responsible for the development of early bronze manufacturing technologyTechnology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
.
While there are a few sources of cassiterite in Central Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
, namely in Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan , officially the Republic of Uzbekistan is a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia and one of the six independent Turkic states. It shares borders with Kazakhstan to the west and to the north, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the east, and Afghanistan and Turkmenistan to the south....
, Tajikistan
Tajikistan
Tajikistan , officially the Republic of Tajikistan , is a mountainous landlocked country in Central Asia. Afghanistan borders it to the south, Uzbekistan to the west, Kyrgyzstan to the north, and China to the east....
, and Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
that show signs of having been exploited starting around 2000 BC , there is disagreement between archaeologists as to whether they were significant sources of tin for the earliest Bronze Age cultures of the Near East .
In Northern Asia the only tin deposits considered exploitable by ancient peoples occur in the far eastern region of Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
(Dayton 2003:165). This source of tin appears to have been exploited by the Eurasian Steppe
Eurasian Steppe
The Eurasian Steppe is the vast steppe ecoregion of Eurasia in the Temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands Biome. It stretches from Hungary to Mongolia...
people known as the Turbino
Seima-Turbino Phenomenon
Seima-Turbino refers to burial sites dating around 1500 BC found across northern Eurasia, from Finland to Mongolia. The buried were nomadic warriors and metal-workers, travelling on horseback or two-wheeled chariots. These nomads originated from the Altai Mountains...
culture of the Middle Bronze Age (1000 BC) as well as northern Chinese
History of China
Chinese civilization originated in various regional centers along both the Yellow River and the Yangtze River valleys in the Neolithic era, but the Yellow River is said to be the Cradle of Chinese Civilization. With thousands of years of continuous history, China is one of the world's oldest...
cultures around the same time .
Eastern Asia has a number of small cassiterite deposits along the Yellow River
Yellow River
The Yellow River or Huang He, formerly known as the Hwang Ho, is the second-longest river in China and the sixth-longest in the world at the estimated length of . Originating in the Bayan Har Mountains in Qinghai Province in western China, it flows through nine provinces of China and empties into...
which were exploited by the earliest Chinese Bronze Age culture of Erlitou and the Shang Dynasty
Shang Dynasty
The Shang Dynasty or Yin Dynasty was, according to traditional sources, the second Chinese dynasty, after the Xia. They ruled in the northeastern regions of the area known as "China proper" in the Yellow River valley...
(2500 to 1800 BC). However, the richest deposits for the region, and indeed the world, lie in Southeastern Asia, from Yunnan Province in China down the Malaysian Peninsula. The deposits in Yunnan province were not mined until around 700 BC, but by the Han Dynasty
Han Dynasty
The Han Dynasty was the second imperial dynasty of China, preceded by the Qin Dynasty and succeeded by the Three Kingdoms . It was founded by the rebel leader Liu Bang, known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu of Han. It was briefly interrupted by the Xin Dynasty of the former regent Wang Mang...
had become the main source of tin in China according to historical texts of the Han, Jin, Tang
Tang Dynasty
The Tang Dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire...
, and Song
Song Dynasty
The Song Dynasty was a ruling dynasty in China between 960 and 1279; it succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, and was followed by the Yuan Dynasty. It was the first government in world history to issue banknotes or paper money, and the first Chinese government to establish a...
dynasties . Other cultures of Southeast Asia exploited the abundant cassiterite resources sometime between second and third millenniums BC, but due to the lack of archaeological work in the region little else is known about tin exploitation during ancient times in that part of the world.
Tin was used in the Indian subcontinent
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...
starting in the second half of the second millennium BC . While India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
does have some small scattered deposits of tin, they were not a major source of tin for Indian Bronze Age cultures as shown by their dependence on imported tin.
Africa
While rich veins of tin are known to exist in Central and South Africa, whether these were exploited during ancient times is still debated . However, the Bantu culture of ZimbabweZimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
are known to have actively mined, smelted and traded tin between the 11th and 15th centuries AD .
Americas
Tin deposits exist in many parts of South AmericaSouth America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
, with minor deposits in southern Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
, Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, and northwestern Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, and major deposits of exploitable cassiterite in northern Bolivia
Bolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
. These deposits were exploited as early as 1000 AD in the manufacture of tin bronze by Andean
Andes
The Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...
cultures, including the later Inca culture who considered tin bronze as the "imperial alloy". In North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, the only known exploitable source of tin during ancient times is located in the Zacatecas
Zacatecas
Zacatecas officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Zacatecas is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 58 municipalities and its capital city is Zacatecas....
tin province of north central Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
which supplied west Mexican cultures with enough tin for bronze production.
Australia
The tin belt of Southeast Asia extends all the way down to TasmaniaTasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
, but metals were not exploited in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
until the arrival of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
ans in the 17th century.
Ancient trade
Due to the scattered nature of tin deposits around the world and its essential nature for the creation of tin bronze, tin trade played an important role in the development of cultures throughout ancient times. Archaeologists have reconstructed parts of the extensive trade networks of ancient cultures from the Bronze Age to modern times using historical texts, archaeological excavations, and trace elementTrace element
In analytical chemistry, a trace element is an element in a sample that has an average concentration of less than 100 parts per million measured in atomic count, or less than 100 micrograms per gram....
and lead isotope analysis
Isotope analysis
Isotope analysis is the identification of isotopic signature, the distribution of certain stable isotopes and chemical elements within chemical compounds. This can be applied to a food web to make it possible to draw direct inferences regarding diet, trophic level, and subsistence...
to determine the origins of tin objects around the world .
Mediterranean
The earliest sources of tin in the Early Bronze Age in the Near East are still unknown and the subject of much debate in archaeology . Possibilities include minor now-depleted sources in the Near East, trade from Central Asia , Sub-Saharan AfricaSub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa as a geographical term refers to the area of the African continent which lies south of the Sahara. A political definition of Sub-Saharan Africa, instead, covers all African countries which are fully or partially located south of the Sahara...
, Europe, or elsewhere.
As early as 2500 BC, Erzgebirge had begun exporting tin, using the well established Baltic amber trade route
Amber Road
The Amber Road was an ancient trade route for the transfer of amber. As one of the waterways and ancient highways, for centuries the road led from Europe to Asia and back, and from northern Africa to the Baltic Sea....
to supply Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
as well as the Mediterranean with tin . By 2000 BC, the extraction of tin in England, France, Spain, and Portugal had begun and tin was traded to the Mediterranean sporadically from all these sources. Evidence of tin trade in the Mediterranean can be seen in a number of Bronze Age shipwrecks containing tin ingots such as the Uluburun off the coast of Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
dated 1300 BC which carried over 300 copper bars weighing 10 tons, and approximately 40 tin bars weighing 1 ton . While Sardinia
Sardinia
Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...
does not appear to have much in terms of significant sources of tin, it does have rich copper and other mineral wealth and served as a centre for metals trade during the Bronze Age and likely actively imported tin from the Iberian Peninsula for export to the rest of the Mediterranean .
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
times, the tin sources were well established. Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
and the Western Mediterranean appear to have traded their tin from European sources, while the Near East acquired their tin from Central Asian sources through the Silk Road
Silk Road
The Silk Road or Silk Route refers to a historical network of interlinking trade routes across the Afro-Eurasian landmass that connected East, South, and Western Asia with the Mediterranean and European world, as well as parts of North and East Africa...
. For example, Iron Age
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
Greece had access to tin from Iberia by way of the Phoenicians who traded extensively there, from Erzgebirge by way of the Baltic Amber Road overland route, or from Brittany and Cornwall through overland routes from their colony at Massalia (modern day Marseilles) established in the 6th century BC . In 450 BC, Herodotus
Herodotus
Herodotus was an ancient Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus, Caria and lived in the 5th century BC . He has been called the "Father of History", and was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a...
described tin as coming from Northern European islands named the Cassiterides
Cassiterides
The Cassiterides, meaning Tin Islands , are an ancient geographical name of islands that were regarded as situated somewhere near the west coasts of Europe...
along the extreme borders of the world, suggesting very long distance trade, likely from Britain, northwestern Iberia, or Brittany, supplying tin to Greece and other Mediterranean cultures . It should be noted that the idea that the Phoenicians went to Cornwall for its tin and supplied it to the whole of the Mediterranean has no archaeological basis and is largely considered a myth .
The early Roman world was mainly supplied with tin from its Iberian provinces of Gallaecia
Gallaecia
Gallaecia or Callaecia, also known as Hispania Gallaecia, was the name of a Roman province and an early Mediaeval kingdom that comprised a territory in the north-west of Hispania...
and Lusitania
Lusitania
Lusitania or Hispania Lusitania was an ancient Roman province including approximately all of modern Portugal south of the Douro river and part of modern Spain . It was named after the Lusitani or Lusitanian people...
and to a lesser extent Tuscany. Pliny
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...
mentions that in 80 BC, a senatorial decree halted all mining on the Italian Peninsula
Italian Peninsula
The Italian Peninsula or Apennine Peninsula is one of the three large peninsulas of Southern Europe , spanning from the Po Valley in the north to the central Mediterranean Sea in the south. The peninsula's shape gives it the nickname Lo Stivale...
, stopping any tin mining activity in Tuscany and increasing Roman dependence on tin from Brittany, Iberia, and Cornwall. After the Roman conquest of Gaul, Brittany’s tin deposits saw intensified exploitation after the first century BC . With the exhaustion of the Iberian tin mines, Cornwall became a major supplier of tin for the Romans after the 3rd century AD .
Throughout the medieval period, demand for tin increased as pewter
Pewter
Pewter is a malleable metal alloy, traditionally 85–99% tin, with the remainder consisting of copper, antimony, bismuth and lead. Copper and antimony act as hardeners while lead is common in the lower grades of pewter, which have a bluish tint. It has a low melting point, around 170–230 °C ,...
gained popularity. Brittany and Cornwall remained the major producers and exporters of tin throughout the Mediterranean through to modern times .
Asia
Lapis lazuli
Lapis lazuli is a relatively rare semi-precious stone that has been prized since antiquity for its intense blue color....
, a highly prized semi-precious blue gemstone
Gemstone
A gemstone or gem is a piece of mineral, which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments...
, and chlorite vessels decorated with turquoise
Turquoise
Turquoise is an opaque, blue-to-green mineral that is a hydrous phosphate of copper and aluminium, with the chemical formula CuAl648·4. It is rare and valuable in finer grades and has been prized as a gem and ornamental stone for thousands of years owing to its unique hue...
from Central Asia that have been found as far west as Egypt and that date to the same period .
In China, early tin was extracted along the Yellow River in Erlitou and Shang times between 2500 and 1800 BC. By Han and later times, China imported its tin from what is today Yunnan province. This has remained China’s main source of tin throughout history and into modern times .
It is unlikely that Southeast Asian tin from Indochina
Indochina
The Indochinese peninsula, is a region in Southeast Asia. It lies roughly southwest of China, and east of India. The name has its origins in the French, Indochine, as a combination of the names of "China" and "India", and was adopted when French colonizers in Vietnam began expanding their territory...
was widely traded around the world in ancient times as the area was only opened up to Indian, Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
, and European traders around 800 AD .
Roman trade to India is well known from historical texts such as Pliny’s Natural History (book VI, 26), and tin is mentioned as one of the resources being exported from Rome to Southern Arabia, Somaliland
Somaliland
Somaliland is an unrecognised self-declared sovereign state that is internationally recognised as an autonomous region of Somalia. The government of Somaliland regards itself as the successor state to the British Somaliland protectorate, which was independent for a few days in 1960 as the State of...
, and India .
See also
- CassiteridesCassiteridesThe Cassiterides, meaning Tin Islands , are an ancient geographical name of islands that were regarded as situated somewhere near the west coasts of Europe...
- StannaryStannaryThe word stannary is historically applied to:*A tin mine, especially in Cornwall or Devon, South West England*A region containing tin works *A chartered entity comprising such a region, its works, and its workers...
- Tin pestTin pestTin pest is an autocatalytic, allotropic transformation of the element tin, which causes deterioration of tin objects at low temperatures. Tin pest has also been called tin disease, tin blight or tin leprosy ....
- Tin mining in BritainTin mining in BritainTin mining in Britain took place from prehistoric times until the 20th century. Mention of tin mining in Britain was made by many Classical writers. As South-West Britain was one of the few parts of England to escape glaciation, tin ore was readily available on the surface...
- Mining in Cornwall and Devon
- Dartmoor tin miningDartmoor tin-miningThe Dartmoor tin mining industry is thought to have originated in pre-Roman times, and continued right through to the 20th century. From the 12th century onwards tin mining was regulated by a Stannary Parliament which had its own laws....