How is forgery of ancient silver identified? A reply to Elsayed-Ali (2021)

Tzilla Eshel; Ayelet Gilboa; Naama Yahalom-Mack; Yigal Erel

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2021.105503

How is forgery of ancient silver identified? A reply to Elsayed-Ali (2021)

Tzilla Eshel, Ayelet Gilboa, Naama Yahalom-Mack, Yigal Erel

Department of Archaeology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

We respond to Hani E. Elsayed-Ali's critique according to which silver-copper alloys produced in the Southern Levant during the Late Bronze Age III (∼1200‒1150 BCE) do not constitute forgery, as we proposed. We argue that the technical analyses of weight and reflectance suggested by Elsayed-Ali are not reliable stand-alone means for the identification of forgery in silver-copper-(arsenic) alloys, and that deliberateness, rather than identifiability should be used to tell apart debasement from forgery. We stand behind our original claim, that the addition of arsenic, and the use of silver coatings of copper cores are evidence of deliberate, standardized forgery.

Original language	English
Article number	105503
Journal	Journal of Archaeological Science
Volume	138
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2021.105503
State	Published - Feb 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We wish to thank Hani E. Elsayed-Ali for his fresh look at the subject of silver forgery and forgery in general. We thank Yitzchak Jaffe from the University of Haifa for some of the theoretical references. We also thank the editors of JAS who provided us with the opportunity to respond to Elsayed-Ali's comment, and the anonymous reviewers for the helpful remarks.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier Ltd

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Archaeology
Archaeology

Access to Document

10.1016/j.jas.2021.105503

Cite this

@article{9631a142dba44927ac27c0ca2295988b,

title = "How is forgery of ancient silver identified? A reply to Elsayed-Ali (2021)",

abstract = "We respond to Hani E. Elsayed-Ali's critique according to which silver-copper alloys produced in the Southern Levant during the Late Bronze Age III (∼1200‒1150 BCE) do not constitute forgery, as we proposed. We argue that the technical analyses of weight and reflectance suggested by Elsayed-Ali are not reliable stand-alone means for the identification of forgery in silver-copper-(arsenic) alloys, and that deliberateness, rather than identifiability should be used to tell apart debasement from forgery. We stand behind our original claim, that the addition of arsenic, and the use of silver coatings of copper cores are evidence of deliberate, standardized forgery.",

author = "Tzilla Eshel and Ayelet Gilboa and Naama Yahalom-Mack and Yigal Erel",

note = "Funding Information: We wish to thank Hani E. Elsayed-Ali for his fresh look at the subject of silver forgery and forgery in general. We thank Yitzchak Jaffe from the University of Haifa for some of the theoretical references. We also thank the editors of JAS who provided us with the opportunity to respond to Elsayed-Ali's comment, and the anonymous reviewers for the helpful remarks. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 Elsevier Ltd",

year = "2022",

month = feb,

doi = "10.1016/j.jas.2021.105503",

language = "English",

volume = "138",

journal = "Journal of Archaeological Science",

issn = "0305-4403",

publisher = "Academic Press Inc.",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - How is forgery of ancient silver identified? A reply to Elsayed-Ali (2021)

AU - Eshel, Tzilla

AU - Gilboa, Ayelet

AU - Yahalom-Mack, Naama

AU - Erel, Yigal

N1 - Funding Information: We wish to thank Hani E. Elsayed-Ali for his fresh look at the subject of silver forgery and forgery in general. We thank Yitzchak Jaffe from the University of Haifa for some of the theoretical references. We also thank the editors of JAS who provided us with the opportunity to respond to Elsayed-Ali's comment, and the anonymous reviewers for the helpful remarks. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 Elsevier Ltd

PY - 2022/2

Y1 - 2022/2

N2 - We respond to Hani E. Elsayed-Ali's critique according to which silver-copper alloys produced in the Southern Levant during the Late Bronze Age III (∼1200‒1150 BCE) do not constitute forgery, as we proposed. We argue that the technical analyses of weight and reflectance suggested by Elsayed-Ali are not reliable stand-alone means for the identification of forgery in silver-copper-(arsenic) alloys, and that deliberateness, rather than identifiability should be used to tell apart debasement from forgery. We stand behind our original claim, that the addition of arsenic, and the use of silver coatings of copper cores are evidence of deliberate, standardized forgery.

AB - We respond to Hani E. Elsayed-Ali's critique according to which silver-copper alloys produced in the Southern Levant during the Late Bronze Age III (∼1200‒1150 BCE) do not constitute forgery, as we proposed. We argue that the technical analyses of weight and reflectance suggested by Elsayed-Ali are not reliable stand-alone means for the identification of forgery in silver-copper-(arsenic) alloys, and that deliberateness, rather than identifiability should be used to tell apart debasement from forgery. We stand behind our original claim, that the addition of arsenic, and the use of silver coatings of copper cores are evidence of deliberate, standardized forgery.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85123760894&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.jas.2021.105503

DO - 10.1016/j.jas.2021.105503

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85123760894

VL - 138

JO - Journal of Archaeological Science

JF - Journal of Archaeological Science

SN - 0305-4403

M1 - 105503

ER -

How is forgery of ancient silver identified? A reply to Elsayed-Ali (2021)

Abstract

Bibliographical note

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this