About silver at the intersection of physics and history
My father, who works at the Weizmann Institute, in the laboratory of plasma physics, took us to his colleague Sana Shilshteynu who deals with metals.
Archaeologists bring their findings to it and it analyzes the material (metal, ceramics) of various artifacts.
In the 7th century BC, coins appeared in Europe (they appeared earlier in China). In the pre-coin period, ingots of various metals, in particular, silver, were used as money. The term “chopped silver” is found in various historical texts. There is this term in several places in the Tanakh. This is due to the fact that the calculations used pieces of silver, cut off from a large ingot. The origin of the word “ruble” is connected with such a calculation system. The severed metal had to be weighed. The emergence of such monetary units as “pound” or “shekel” is connected with this procedure.
Chopped silver
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Sanae brought pieces of silver from Tel Dora (10th century BC, Phoenicians) and Beit Shean (11th century BC) There, among the different pieces of jewelry, were pieces of silver trapezoidal shape. In some of them were blotches of copper. Christina Thompson, a specialist in chopped silver, suggested (http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/bpl/ojoa/2003/00000022/00000001/art00005) that these were the first counterfeiters who covered pieces of copper with silver. However, Sana believes that all these pieces are nuggets of silver.
Trapezoidal pieces
Silver interspersed with copper
To prove his hypothesis, he cites the shape of pieces, a high percentage of silver in “added” copper, and the fact that such nuggets are known in geology.
Of other interesting things, he said that when crucibles for melting silver from the city of David (somewhere 10 century BC) were brought to him for analysis, he discovered that silver in its crucibles is of typical composition for the 20th century BC . Now it’s the turn of historians to wrestle with what it means - in the crucibles they melted old (millennial!) Jewelery, or the technology of the Jews was lagging behind for a thousand years or something else.
He also told how they were shining with neutrons ancient Canaan axes and found a drawing of animals that was not visible under the layer of oxides.
As usual - the most interesting things - at the junction of sciences.
Archaeologists bring their findings to it and it analyzes the material (metal, ceramics) of various artifacts.
In the 7th century BC, coins appeared in Europe (they appeared earlier in China). In the pre-coin period, ingots of various metals, in particular, silver, were used as money. The term “chopped silver” is found in various historical texts. There is this term in several places in the Tanakh. This is due to the fact that the calculations used pieces of silver, cut off from a large ingot. The origin of the word “ruble” is connected with such a calculation system. The severed metal had to be weighed. The emergence of such monetary units as “pound” or “shekel” is connected with this procedure.
Chopped silver
')
Sanae brought pieces of silver from Tel Dora (10th century BC, Phoenicians) and Beit Shean (11th century BC) There, among the different pieces of jewelry, were pieces of silver trapezoidal shape. In some of them were blotches of copper. Christina Thompson, a specialist in chopped silver, suggested (http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/bpl/ojoa/2003/00000022/00000001/art00005) that these were the first counterfeiters who covered pieces of copper with silver. However, Sana believes that all these pieces are nuggets of silver.
Trapezoidal pieces
Silver interspersed with copper
To prove his hypothesis, he cites the shape of pieces, a high percentage of silver in “added” copper, and the fact that such nuggets are known in geology.
Of other interesting things, he said that when crucibles for melting silver from the city of David (somewhere 10 century BC) were brought to him for analysis, he discovered that silver in its crucibles is of typical composition for the 20th century BC . Now it’s the turn of historians to wrestle with what it means - in the crucibles they melted old (millennial!) Jewelery, or the technology of the Jews was lagging behind for a thousand years or something else.
He also told how they were shining with neutrons ancient Canaan axes and found a drawing of animals that was not visible under the layer of oxides.
As usual - the most interesting things - at the junction of sciences.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/83973/
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