In Roman times, rotary querns and different types of millstones, driven either by horse-capstan or water power, were produced in the lava quarries of the quaternary volcanic Eifel region and exported ...to many parts of the Empire. The geographic distribution of Roman lava millstones from the Eifel region provides important information about trade patterns and, in cases of well dated millstones, also allows an estimate as to when the Roman lava quarrying in the Eifel region began. Sixty-two millstones from Germany, France and Austria were sampled and analyzed for major and trace elements by X-ray fluorescence. To determine their provenance, the millstone data was evaluated by a combination of geochemical discrimination and cluster and discriminant analyses using an extensive and detailed database of all Roman lava quarries in the Eifel region. An Eifel provenance could be confirmed for forty-four artefacts and, furthermore, determined down to the exact lava flow. The affiliation of the other artefacts to other possible regions where millstones of comparable lava were extracted was carried out on the basis of geochemical data from the literature. However, because of insufficient data, only assumptions about the regional provenance can be made. The origins of the other finds are assumed to be the Vogelsberg region, the Massif Central, Orvieto, and, possibly, the Pannonian Basin. A preliminary map of the distribution of Eifel millstones in Roman times based on these data is presented; the beginning of Roman lava quarrying can be constrained to 8–7 BC.
► Data evaluated by geochemical discrimination combined with multivariate analyses. ► Exact source determination is only possible for millstones from the Eifel region. ► Without adequate raw material data from the field provenances can only be assumed. ► Few millstones from Vogelsberg, Orvieto, Massif Central, and Pannonian Basin.
Roman millstones of assumed Eifel origin were produced and exported in huge quantities to many parts of Roman Europe and can be used as tracers for trade patterns in Roman times. This study presents ...for the first time a raw-material centred geochemical definition of the 13 well-known Roman basaltic lava quarries in the Quaternary East and West Eifel volcanic fields. The aim is to find a way to characterize the individual exploitation sites precisely by means of their geochemical composition and to recommend a standard procedure for further millstone provenance analysis. Based on major and trace element composition analyses by XRF, a differentiation of each quarry is achieved by using a combination of geochemical discrimination and cluster and discriminant analysis. Therefore, for provenance analysis of a unknown millstone sample the following procedure is recommended: (1) geochemical discrimination to check if it actually belongs to the volcanic Eifel quarries; (2) cluster analysis to check to which quarry or cluster of quarries the millstone can be affiliated; and (3) discriminant analysis to assign the sample to its quarry of origin with a certain confidence.
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