Three pairs of silver ingots belong to the hoard of objects (“Priam’s Treasure”) discovered by Schliemann at Hisarlik. Two pairs of smaller bars weigh almost exactly 6 ounces +/- .05 of an ounce. Another pair, which appear quite a bit larger, are also thinner, and therefore weigh only 1/2 ounce more than the smaller bars (6 1/2 ounces +/- .17 of an ounce). The uniform weight of these bars suggests that Trojan smiths were already using standardized weights and measures. Schliemann thought one of these bars was equivalent to a Homeric talent.

In Egypt, transactions could be recorded using various weights and measures of grain, oil, fat, linen, etcetera, but the final tally was always given in silver. Barry Kemp notes that the term for silver was used colloquially in ancient Egypt “to mean something very close to the modern word ‘money’.”¹Kemp 2006, 308 This is true in many other languages, also, where the word for silver is also the word for money (i.e. Hebrew, kesef). We’ve seen the same phenomena at Ebla and in Sumer.

Hacksilver from Megiddo VI (Iron Age)

Spiral rings from Alacahoyuk

Finding Silver

Sargon of Akkad (c. 2200 BC) boasted of conquering as far west as the “Cedar Forest and the Silver Mountains.”²It has been argued that the Silver Mountains should be located in north-eastern Iran and that the statement is intended to convey the full expanse of territory over which he ruled from Anatolia to Iran. However, all of the other geographical locations named in the inscription are located in the west. It is more likely that the cedar forests and the silver mountains are a pair of geographical locations located next to each other in south central Anatolia. The “Cedar Forest” was probably located in the Amanus mountains on the Mediterranean coast, near Iskendrum, in modern Turkey while the “Silver Mountains” likely correspond to the nearby mountains of south-central Anatolia near Keban.³Moorey 1994, 234 Perhaps the Trojan smiths sourced their silver from these mountains. Another potential source of silver, sometimes overlooked, are the Carpathian mountains of central Europe.⁴Dayton 1978, 156

ARC/Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien

Unlike gold, which is often found in nugget form, silver is almost always found in combination with other minerals, especially lead. Silver-bearing lead ore (“galena”) must be “cupelled” in order to separate the silver from the lead. It generally takes a ton of lead ore to produce just a few ounces of silver.⁵Moorey 1994, 233 The process of refining silver known as “cupellation” is complex and energy intensive. Some scholars think it was not invented until the Lydians began refining silver for use in their coinage in the 6th century BC.⁶Dayton 1978, 114 Others argue that the process must have already been known in the Early Bronze period.⁷See Moorey 1994, 232-233 for discussion.

Known as “dry” silver, lead-free silver ore is even more rare than gold. However, in light of the difficulties involved with extracting silver from galena, it has been suggested that sources of dry silver were more plentiful in ancient times but have since been worked out.⁸Merkel 2022, 2 Dry silver ore does not need to be “cupelled.” Rather, it can be smelted using the same methods used to smelt simple copper ores such as malachite and azurite. There are reports, for example, of a mass of chlorobromide “dry” silver ore found in Chile which weighed 45,000 pounds and produced 35,000 pounds of silver!⁹Dayton 1978, 114 However, as noted previously, this silver is very rare today. Even though it may not have been quite so rare in ancient times, in light of the numerous references in ancient texts to the refining silver, and its widespread use as money, it is likely that knowledge of cupellation predates the 7th century BC.¹⁰K. Prag writes, “In the second half of the fourth millennium BC there was a ‘surprisingly widespread use (and preservation) of silver objects, which have been found in relatively large numbers, relatively that is in metallurgical terms, in Egypt, Levant and in Anatolia.” (Prag 1978, 36, cited in Moorey 1994, 235) “This silver was cupelled silver.” (iPrag 1978, 40, cited in Moorey 1994, 235)