COMMENTS ON F. BEGEMANN, E. PERNICKA, S. SCHMITT-STRECKER, 'THERMI ON LESBOS: A CASE STUDY OF CHANGING TRADE PATTERNS', OXFORD JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY, 14(2) (1995), 123–135.

Summary. A considerable part of the paper on which I comment is devoted to criticisms of the trace element analyses made in Oxford and the authors argue that analytical problems exist at Oxford for at least the elements Co, Pb and Zn. A close examination of 'blind' analyses made in the British Museum, in Heidelberg and in Oxford of a series of ancient copper based alloys circulated by V. Rychner, University of Neuchatel, shows that agreement is in fact excellent between these laboratories. Analyses in Oxford of a series of copper based alloys certified for their content of various trace elements by the U.S. National Institute for Standards and Technology shows excellent agreement with those certified values. There has been a problem with the analyses of very low contents of Co in copper alloys, less than about 10 ppm, which affects the published analyses of Co (at such low levels only) from both Oxford and Heidelberg prior to 1993; this problem has now been recognised and overcome independently by both laboratories.