Auriferous silver in western Asia: ore or alloy?

Among the early silver artefacts known from Egypt and the Near East, there is a large group of objects composed of silver bearing up to 30, even 50 wt% gold. The composition of two fragments from silver artefacts excavated in fourth millennium BC contexts at Tell esh-Shuna in northern Jordan relates them to this auriferous group. A review of traditional ideas concerning early west Asian silver, in the light of recent analytical data from both artefactual and geological sources, indicates that some reconsideration is required. The oft-cited suggestion, initially made by Lucas (1928), that there existed exploitation of silver-dominated placer deposits in ancient Egypt, seems a less convincing explanation for the compositional patterns detectable in ancient silver artefacts than alternatives such as mixing as a result of recycling.