C. L. EROS CELIUS, MERCATOR: INDUSTRIAL MINERALS EXPLOITATION IN THE ROMAN PERIOD IN MELOS

• E. Photos-Jones (Department of Archaeology, University of Glasgow, UK and Scottish Analytical Services for Art and Archaeology, Glasgow, UK)
• A. J. Hall (Department of Archaeology, University of Glasgow, UK)

The extraction, processing and use of industrial minerals (IMs) has for long eluded the archaeological record despite the frequent references in the Classical texts (Pliny, Discorides etc). IMs have been instrumental in many ways for the well-being of the peoples of antiquity, as for example medicines, pigments and mordants. Many of the islands in the Aegean and in particular Melos were well known producers and exporters of alum, sulphur, melian and other earths including absorbant clays like bentonites. Documentary evidence for men-in-business (Mercatores and negotiatores) operating ( allegedly trade in slaves ) in the Cyclades in the Roman period, nevertheless testify to an extensive trade network across the Mediterranean.

Given that many IMs are easily assimilated into the natural environment, (many are water-soluble) it was essential that a methodological approach distinctly different from that used in the extraction and processing of ore minerals and clays could be developed combining geological, geomorphological, sedimentary and chemical/ mineralogical investigations of the area under consideration, in parallel with a reconsidered surveying methodology and topographic mapping. A crucial issue in the processing of IMs is the need for a continuous source of low temperature necessary in sustaining evaporation leading to crystallisation. Such source was more likely to be derived from the island's geothermal energy rather than the burning of fuel from the island's scarce forest cover. The paper presents an account of work in progress.

Photos-Jones E., Atkinson, J.A., Hall, A.J., Cottier, A. and Sanders, G.D.R. 1999. The Aghia Kyriaki, Melos survey: prospecting for the elusive "earths" in the Classical/Roman period in the Aegean, Annual of the British School at Athens, 94, 306-346.

Renfrew, C. and Wagstaff M. 1982. (Eds.), An Island Polity: The Archaeology of exploitation in Milos. Cambridge University Press.