Until recently, what was known about the trade of tin in the ancient Near East was based in large part on information derived from the extensive commercial archives found at the archaeological site of Kültepe (ancient Kaneš) in Turkey dating to the Middle Bronze Age (MBA) c. 1900-1750 BC. These archives were produced by an expatriate community of traders native to the city of Assur in modern-day Iraq and document an extensive shipping of tin ingots from unnamed sources east of their hometown. Tin was carried by donkeys through northern Syria and across the Taurus Mountains to Anatolia where it was sold for silver.

This paper presents the first set of tin isotope analyses of bronze objects from Kültepe to test the image provided by these ancient archives, finding that all artifacts dated to the main period of Assyrian trade excavated in the residential areas of the site indeed have high tin content and high values of δ¹²⁴Sn (0.77–1.74‰) relative to the NIST 3161a standard. Such high values currently compare best with ores from Central Asia. The isotopic analysis of artifacts from the Assyrian Trading Colony Period of Kültepe is therefore consistent with the textual evidence.

However, Early Bronze Age samples recovered at the site are instead characterized by lower ranges that extend to neutral δ¹²⁴Sn values (0.02–1.31‰). Likewise, one artifact coming from Mound Level 7 (c. 1830-1700) at the center of the site where public buildings were concentrated, and one object dated to the Hellenistic Period (Mound Level 2), when the site saw a resurgence in political importance, likewise have lower δ¹²⁴Sn compositions of 0.11 and 0.31‰, respectively. Both samples also have low to moderate tin content.

The Early Bronze Age artifacts form a linear array between artifacts from low δ¹²⁴Sn-low Sn wt% to high δ¹²⁴Sn-high Sn wt% that suggests a mixing of two compositional groups – not simply the mixing of two isotopically distinct reservoirs of tin, but also distinct in the amount of tin present in the alloy. This would be consistent with the recycling of low tin bronze objects with local tin, together with high tin bronzes containing tin from Central Asia. The two samples from Mound Levels 7 and 2 suggest that although Central Asian tin was predominant in the MBA, Anatolian tin may have continued to be used in a separate bronze production system that remained active at shifting varying of intensity throughout antiquity.

直到最近，人们对古代近东锡贸易的了解在很大程度上是基于在土耳其 Kültepe（古卡内斯）考古遗址中发现的可追溯到青铜时代中期的大量商业档案中获得的信息 (MBA ） C。公元前 1900-1750 年。这些档案由居住在现代伊拉克阿苏尔市的外籍商人社区制作，记录了从他们家乡以东的无名来源大量运输锡锭的情况。锡由驴子运载，穿越叙利亚北部，越过金牛座山脉到达安纳托利亚，在那里出售白银。

本文对来自 Kültepe 的青铜器进行了第一组锡同位素分析，以测试这些古代档案提供的图像，发现在该遗址的住宅区出土的所有可追溯到亚述贸易主要时期的文物确实具有很高的锡含量相对于 NIST 3161a 标准， δ ¹²⁴ Sn值较高(0.77–1.74‰)。目前，如此高的价值与来自中亚的矿石相比是最好的。因此，对库尔特佩亚述贸易殖民地时期文物的同位素分析与文献证据一致。

然而，在该地点发现的早期青铜时代样本的特点是范围较低，延伸至中性 δ ¹²⁴ Sn 值 (0.02–1.31‰)。同样，一件文物来自公共建筑集中的遗址中心的第 7 级土丘（约 1830-1700 年），还有一件文物可追溯到希腊化时期（第 2 级土丘），当时该遗址见证了政治复兴重要性，同样具有较低的 δ ¹²⁴ Sn 成分，分别为 0.11 和 0.31‰。两个样品也具有低至中等的锡含量。

早期青铜时代文物在从低 δ ¹²⁴ Sn-低 Sn wt% 到高 δ ¹²⁴ Sn-高 Sn wt% 的文物之间形成线性阵列，这表明两个成分组的混合 - 不仅仅是两个同位素不同储层的混合锡，但合金中锡的含量也有所不同。这与回收含有当地锡的低锡青铜器以及来自中亚的含有锡的高锡青铜器是一致的。来自土丘第 7 层和第 2 层的两个样本表明，尽管中亚锡在 MBA 中占主导地位，但安纳托利亚锡可能继续用于单独的青铜生产系统，该系统在整个古代的强度变化中保持活跃。