Local mining or lead importation in the Roman province of Africa Proconsularis? Lead isotope analysis of curse tablets from Roman Carthage,Tunisia

This study attempts to determine if there was Roman lead mining in Africa Proconsularis, approximately the area of modern day Tunisia, using lead isotope analysis. Another important aspect of the study is the innovative use of electron microprobe analysis (EMPA) as a screening tool to greatly reduce the number of expensive lead isotope analyses needed for the study. The EMPA X-ray mapping for arsenic, antimony, copper, and silver narrowed the sample of curse tablets to those most likely produced from Tunisian ores; these tablets were then tested using thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS) analysis. A total of 96 Roman lead curse tablets from Carthage, Tunisia were screened with EMPA and twenty selected for TIMS to determine the ore sources of the lead used to manufacture the tablets. Comparing the lead isotope ratios of twelve of the sixteen tablets most likely to be made of Tunisian lead to samples of Tunisian ores suggests that the Romans were mining lead in Africa Proconsularis and were not relying solely on imports.     

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DOCUMENTS AND SPEECHES ON COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS 1952–1962. Nicholas Mansergh (ed.). London, New York, Toronto, Oxford University Press, 1963 for the Royal Institute of International Affairs. Pp. xxi, 775. £stg. 6–0–0.

THE POST‐WAR TRANSFORMATION OF THE COMMONWEALTH: Reflections on the Asian‐African Contribution. M. S. Rajan. London, Asia Publishing House, 1963, for the Indian School of International Studies, Pp. 67. Stg. 18/‐.

COMMUNITY AND CONTENTION: BRITAIN AND AMERICA IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY. Bruce M. Russett. M.I.T. Press, Cambridge, Mass. Pp. xii, 252, $7.00.

PEACE KEEPING BY UNITED NATIONS FORCES FROM SUEZ TO THE CONGO. A. L. Burns and Nina Heathcote. Princeton Studies in World Politics, Number 4, 1963, pp. 256.

NEUTRALISM. Peter Lyon. Leicester University Press, 1963. Pp. 216. U.K. price 25/‐.

THE ATLANTIC ALLIANCE: A SHORT POLITICAL GUIDE. Alvin J. Cottrell and James E. Dougherty. London, Pall Mall Press, 1964. Pp. 262. U.K. price 30/‐.

THE ECONOMIC INTEGRATION OP HUNGARY INTO THE SOVIET BLOC. L. Zsoldos. Bureau of Business Research, Ohio State University, 1963. Pp. 149. Price $5.00.

VOSPOMINANIYA O FEVRALSKOY REVOLYUTSII. MEMOIRS OF THE FEBRUARY (MARCH RUSSIAN) REVOLUTION. I. G. Tsereteli. Mouton & Co., Paris. The Hague. 1963. Two volumes. I, xxx + 494; II, 429 & Index. Published with the cooperation of the Russian Institute of Columbia University and the Russian Research Centre of Harvard University.

ALBANIA AND THE SINO‐SOVIET RIFT. William E. Griffith. The M.I.T. Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1963. Pp. 423. Australian price £1/9/6.

MAO AGAINST KHRUSHCHEV. A SHORT HISTORY OF THE SINO‐SOVIET CONFLICT. David Floyd. London, Pall Mall Press, 1964. Pp. 456. Stg. 50/‐.

TIBET AND ITS HISTORY. H. E. Richardson. London, Oxford University Press, 1962. Pp. ix + 297, illustrated, maps. Australian price 65/‐.

THE TWO VIET‐NAMS. Bernard B. Fall. London, Pall Mall Press, 1963. Pp. viii + 493. Stg. 50/‐.

PROBLEMS OP FREEDOM: SOUTH VIETNAM SINCE INDEPENDENCE. Wesley R. Fishel (ed.). New York, The Free Press, 1961. Pp. xiv + 233. $6.95.

FROM COLONIALISM TO COMMUNISM: A CASE HISTORY OF NORTH VIETNAM. Hoang Van Chi. London, Pall Mall Press, 1964. Pp. xv + 252. Stg. 40/‐.

INDONESIA. Ruth T. McVey (ed.). New Haven, HRAF Press, 1963. Pp. xviii + 600. $12.00.

THE DECLINE OF CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY IN INDONESIA. Herbert Feitk. Cornell University Press, 1962. ‘Pp. xx + 618. $8.75.

THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF INDEPENDENT MALAYA: A CASE STUDY IN DEVELOPMENT. T. H. Silcock and E. K. Fisk (eds.). Australian National University, 1963. Pp. 306 + xi. 42/‐.