| Silver is a precious metal that has been used by | | | | of Spanish silver. After the Punic Wars, the |
| humans since the dawn of civilization. In this first | | | | Romans replaced the Carthaginians as the |
| part of a two part series we will look at the early | | | | exploiters of Spanish silver and extended their |
| history of silver. | | | | silver mining to other areas of continental Europe. |
| Old World Silver (4000 BC - 1500 AD) | | | | Spanish mines were a critically important source |
| The area of Anatolia (modern Turkey) is | | | | of silver for nearly 1,000 years, though their |
| considered the first major source of mined silver. | | | | exploitation was halted temporarily by the Moorish |
| It provided the resource to craftsman throughout | | | | conquest of Spain in the 8th century A.D. |
| Asia Minor. Silver from the Anatolian region largely | | | | Spanish mines not only provided a substantial |
| served as the silver source for the Western | | | | portion of domestic needs of the Roman Empire |
| cultures flourishing in the Near East, Crete, and | | | | until 476 A.D. They also served as a critical source |
| Greece. | | | | of silver for the Asian spice trade. To meet the |
| Silver craftsmanship was centered largely in Asia | | | | burgeoning trading requirements, Greece, Asia |
| Minor and Greek Islands, along with areas of | | | | Minor, and Italy supplemented the Spanish |
| mainland Greece dominated by the Mycenaean | | | | production. |
| culture. | | | | The Moorish invasion of Spain necessitated that |
| Asia Minor provided most of the supply for the | | | | the exploitation of silver move to a broader |
| flourishing silver market. | | | | spectrum of countries, principally in Central Europe. |
| A concentrated effort to mine silver began | | | | Several major silver mine discoveries were made |
| sometime after 3000 B.C. | | | | between 750 and 1200 A.D., including the classic |
| The first sophisticated processing of silver ore | | | | Schemnitz, Rammelsburg, Goslar, and Saxony |
| was attributed to the Chaldeans in about 2500 | | | | regions in Germany. Discoveries of silver were |
| B.C., who used a "cupellation" process to extract | | | | also made in Austria-Hungary and elsewhere in |
| silver from lead-silver ores. | | | | Eastern Europe. |
| The need for traditional silver resulted in the | | | | Although mine production in Spain dominated the |
| location and exploitation of silver deposits in what | | | | first 1,000 years A.D., it was balanced by the |
| is now Armenia.
After the catastrophic | | | | decline in production at Laurium and Asia Minor. |
| destruction of the Minoan (Cretan) civilization in | | | | The real expansion in production occurred in the |
| 1600 B.C. and the decline of the Mycenaean | | | | 500-year period from 1000-1500 A.D., when the |
| culture around 1200 B.C., the focus of silver | | | | number of mining locations and, to a lesser |
| production changed. | | | | extent, the improvements in mining and |
| The mines of Laurium (near Athens) became the | | | | processing technology occurred. |
| leading production center and provided silver for | | | | A major area of silver production was the |
| the burgeoning Greek civilization. The silver trade | | | | discovery of the New World in 1492, after which |
| throughout Asia Minor and North Africa expanded | | | | time major silver mines in Mexico, Bolivia, and |
| significantly after the 8th century B.C.
| | | | Peru were opened, leading to a rapid rise in the |
|
The Laurium mines were highly | | | | annual world production of silver. |
| productive; estimates from historical writings and | | | | This rise, coupled with improved techniques for |
| physical evidence from old mine dumps indicate | | | | extracting silver from ore, broadened both the |
| silver production to have been about 1 million troy | | | | quality and quantity of ore that could be exploited. |
| ounces per year at Laurium during the height if | | | | Later improvements, particularly in the late 19th |
| production (600 B.C. to 300 B.C.). | | | | and early 20th centuries, vastly enhanced the |
| For about 1,000 years ending around the 1st | | | | base of silver production and accelerated the |
| century A.D., the Laurium mines were the largest | | | | exploitation of silver as a byproduct of base-metal |
| individual source of world silver production. Outside | | | | mining. |
| the Laurium mines, production was concentrated | | | | Only about 25 percent of cumulative world silver |
| mainly in Asia Minor, Sardinia, other Grecian | | | | production occurred before the 1770s. |
| locations and, to a limited extent, in Asia. | | | | In the next article we will look at New World |
| The period following the heyday of Greek mining | | | | production of silver and its role in the silver |
| in Laurium included the Carthaginians' exploitation | | | | industry. |