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David M. Gitlitz, University of New Mexico Press, 2019, pp. xii + 300 David M. Gitlitz's I Living in Silverado: Secret Jews in the Silver Mining Towns of Colonial Mexico i is an in-depth study of three extended families of New Christians and crypto-Jews who lived between the Iberian Peninsula and the Viceroyalty of New Spain (spread over Mexico City and the silver mining towns of Pachuca, Tlalpujahua and Taxco). In other words, the author explores how different degrees of endogamic (between New Christians and potential crypto-Jews) and exogamic marriages (with an Old Christian spouse) affected the preservation of crypto-Jewish circles. [Extracted from the article]

The article discusses the challenges faced by family-governed Mineral-Oil-Gas-Integrated (MOGI) and Stand Alone Minerals (SAM) businesses in the face of a depressed market and increasing competition. Family businesses play a crucial role in the economy, especially in India, where they control a significant portion of assets. The article also highlights successful family-owned businesses such as Hancock Prospecting, showcasing their wealth and diverse mining operations.

This paper presents an underground silver mining operation outside Gomez Palacio, Durango, Mexico, terminated around the 1930s, of which previous knowledge of its operations was poor. Durango's current silver exploration campaigns are likely to overlook historic silver mining sites due to interest in specific prospect regions. A two-dimensional (2D) Electrical Resistivity Imaging (ERI) survey coupled with reconnaissance of the area was performed at this historic silver mining site. The exploration campaign aimed to find the abandoned mineshaft, map its subsurface extent, and explore the occurrence of mineralization zones (silver ore). The ERI survey comprised five profiles measured with the extended dipole-dipole array with a consistent electrode spacing of 5 m. The smooth, robust, and damped least-squares inversion methods were used to invert the 2D data. Our field observations and ERI survey results collectively reveal the following findings: (a) reconnaissance reveals mining infrastructure consistent with historical mining activity; the infrastructure includes a complex of habitational rooms, an ore-processing pit near a concrete slab next to a dirt road, and two limestone-wall structures interpreted as the entrance of abandoned backfilled mineshafts named Mesquite and Lechuguilla; (b) high-resistivity anomalies suggest vestiges of shallow, underground mine workings including backfilled mineshafts that connect a mine gallery complex, and (c) various low-resistivity anomalies, juxtaposed against mine galleries, suggestive of unmined shallow vein-type and manto-type mineralization of hydrothermal origin. The imaging depth is estimated at ~65 m. Underground silver mining moved southwards and was limited to ~40 m depth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the examples of silver safety bullets (SSB) to enhance early recognition of these strategies. Topics discussed include examine the allure of SSBs so, by seeing these, leaders are less likely to allow themselves to be seduced into going where they know they really should not go, akin to getting a strong sugar craving, then gorging on candy; strengthen leadership decision-making and planning to enhance injury prevention and safety culture.

The development of the Islamic glass industry in Egypt is explored entirely through the chemical composition of Islamic glass coin weights dated between the seventh and twelfth centuries (they frequently bear the names of Egyptian officials), and recently analysed by the author and colleagues. Particularly interesting is the section on the possible existence of a specialized Mesopotamian production of high-quality colourless glass, which was used to manufacture luxury glass such as facet-cut vessels and which appears to have travelled over very long distances. However, to what extent the variations traced in the glass weights are representative of the whole Egyptian glass industry is difficult to say, as the author points out. [Extracted from the article]

"The Scandinavian Early Modern World, a Global Historical Archaeology" by Jonas M. Nordin is a comprehensive exploration of the role of Scandinavia and Scandinavians in the early modern global world. The book examines the political, economic, and personal impacts of the mining industry in Northern Sweden, shedding light on its significance in the global network. Nordin weaves together multiple threads of events and actions to provide a clear and understandable global view of Scandinavia's role in the early modern world. The book also emphasizes the importance of understanding the complexity and diversity of history, avoiding methodological nationalism and highlighting the influences of various societies on Scandinavia. [Extracted from the article]

Top French officials made plans in early 1960 to transform an abandoned silver mine in Corsica, called the Argentella Massif, into an underground site for nuclear explosions. By June 1960, they had canceled these plans. This article shows how a mass movement on the Mediterranean island forced their hand, and it explains why Corsicans of diverse political affiliations took to the streets. The Argentella project—and the health, environmental, and strategic risks that it entailed—looked in Corsica like evidence that Paris saw the islanders as second-class citizens, even residents of an internal colony. French police intelligence, which maintained surveillance on the Corsican anti-nuclear movement, feared that this movement might have drawn inspiration from the contemporaneous struggle for national liberation in Algeria, where French nuclear explosions began. The Argentella protests illustrated national disagreements about French nuclear ambitions that previous scholarship, proposing official consensus, has minimized. They show how, in a nuclear-armed democracy, local officials, political activists, and ordinary citizens can shape nuclear-weapons policy. But Corsican anti-nuclear action in 1960 did not demand disarmament. These protests also illuminate a longer trajectory in French nuclear history, which involved atmospheric explosions in colonized territories in Algeria and Polynesia until the 1970s, despite local and international resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mutual relations between the Bosnian Kingdom and the Serbian Despotate can be observed in the period between 1402, when Prince Stefan Lazarević received the title of despot from John VII Palaeologus, until the Ottoman conquest of the Despotate in 1459. The most significant conflicts between Bosnian rulers and nobles with Serbian despots were fought over the rich Srebrenica silver mine. This town, with the fortress of Srebrenik, was located in the Middle Podrinje region, near the river Drina, which in this area represented the border between the two countries. The stronger economic rise of Srebrenica was followed during the 14th century when it gradually developed and became one of the most important mines in Southeast Europe. The seeds of the conflict around Srebrenica were sown by the Hungarian King Sigismund of Luxembourg. The Hungarian king first managed to get Srebrenica for himself, and then in the period 1411–1413, he handed it over to his vassal, despot Stefan. From this time until the end of the existence of the Serbian Despotate in 1459, Srebrenica changed its owner several times. Bosnian kings, nobles, and Serbian despots took part in the conflicts around Srebrenica, and in certain periods specific agreements were established regarding the ownership of this place, which brought in large revenues. A solid number of sources about Srebrenica have been preserved in the State Archives in Dubrovnik due to the fact that the Ragusan merchants and craftsmen saw great economic potential in this place and established a large colony. The interests of the Ragusan authorities were moving in the direction of obtaining timely information from this place, and they often sent delegations to conduct diplomatic negotiations with the local authorities regarding the status of their citizens in this place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The discovery of the industrial method of amalgamation for poor silver minerals in Pachuca (New Spain), in 1554, caused the Almadén quicksilver mine to become the most important in the Spanish metropolitan territory. The shortage of free manpower obliged the Crown to assign to her forced labourers and slaves to increase the production of quicksilver and thus be able to supply the growing need of American silver mining. The present research allows us to know the living and working conditions of the Almadén inmates in the 1770s, according to the writings of Josef Ramón de Osta y Fernández, a native of the town of Peralta, in the Kingdom of Navarra, forced in mercurial mines and died in his Royal Prison in 1778. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Until very recently, efforts to preserve industrial heritage in Spain have been almost non-existent. Only in the last few years the appreciation of the historical and cultural value of buildings, machines, and tools, which are the tangible memory of the world of labour. In the case of Almadén, the mining and metallurgical heritage, which is a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site since June 2012, is paired by an urban heritage that undoubtedly deserves to be saved for posterity. The aim of this article is to analyse the changes that Almadén underwent in the second half of the 18th century. During this period, the original hamlet was transformed into the most important mining town in Spain. To this end, the article draws on an exhaustive bibliographic review of works on the history and heritage of Almadén, as well as on research on extant sources from the period, including manuscripts, plans, and drawings, preserved in national archives. Also, different sites in the town have been studied in detail, and images of them have been obtained. The study provides a better appreciation of the effort undertaken in during the Age of Enlightenment to turn Almadén not only into a vital resource for the development of silver mining in the Viceroyalty of New Spain, but also into a modern town where miners and their families could lead a decent life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The article argues that legal authorities in Potosí's seventeenth-century silver mint policed the coining process by racializing crime. Analyzing how mint authorities exercised power over laborers by assigning duties, setting policies, policing coin production, and punishing disobedience shows how daily interactions shaped race. In an environment of declining silver yields and rampant fraud, Spanish authorities displaced suspicion and blame onto the most vulnerable populations. Broad categories like negro and indio were cast as criminal by nature, facilitating continued exploitation of forced labor and constraining the possibilities for identity formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Silver amalgamation technologies revolutionized the production of precious metals in the colonial Andes and throughout Latin America, changing the region and the global economy in ways that are almost impossible to fully comprehend even today. We know a great deal about the productive capacity of Potosí's amalgamation refineries (ingenios), but little of other aspects of workers' experiences within those walled environments. Most archaeological studies of ingenios focus on their material cultural remains; most literary studies of ingenio analyze the term's resonance within the conventions of baroque aesthetics. By combining methods of archaeological and literary study, this article sheds light on understudied aspects of family life, clandestine silver production, and definitions of scientific knowledge in the colonial Andean silver industry. Doing so enables us to tell a richer, more complete, and more complex story of the silver that circulated as coins within the global reaches of the early modern Spanish empire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indigenous people played a critical though unacknowledged role in the discovery of silver in sixteenth-century Spanish America. This article uncovers the roles and experiences of indigenous prospectors in New Spain (Mexico) and Peru. In the early decades of the colonial project, Iberians relied heavily on the knowledge and skill of native prospectors because they had little to no experience or training in mining. Drawing on a vibrant precontact tradition of metallurgy and mining in the Americas, indigenous prospectors hunted for metal, they assessed the potential productivity of a site, and they understood the legal protocol involved in claiming a mine for the owner/s. This article argues that the contributions and lived experiences of these overlooked specialized laborers reveals that indigenous knowledge played a critical role in the formative years of silver mining in the Americas, illustrating their important social, legal, and technological contributions to production and to the economic trajectory of colony and metropole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the destruction of a silver mining camp Tombstone, Arizona from 1881 to 1882. A background of Tombstone is provided which was established by prospector Ed Schieffelin in 1877, however it was not regulated and was constructed with cheap materials. Also tackled are the causes of the fires, efforts to prevent fires, and financial losses incurred by businesses in Tombstone.

The first is the author's version of the processes of mining and refining silver with mercury and their environmental impact (ch. 1). The ecotoxicological consequences of mining and refining silver ores are well established, so a straightforward exposition of the chemical and physical facts makes a compelling case study that needs no embellishment. Water was indispensable for refining silver ores using mercury. [Extracted from the article]

The article discusses the development of water resources in Tombstone, Arizona, during the second half of the 19th century. It discusses the use of the San Pedro River as a water source, the importance of securing water resources for the fledgling silver ore mining industry and other businesses vital to the growth of Tombstone, and the implications of two major fires suffered in Tombstone for water resource development. The article also discusses the establishment of firms including the Sycamore Spring Water Company, the Richmond Water Company, and the Tombstone Water, Mill, and Lumber Company.

Following the life and movements of a well-connected Ottoman Orthodox in the Russian Empire, this article seeks to contribute towards an understanding of the ways in which individuals and groups from the Black Sea region were incorporated into the business and statecraft of empire. Alexander Levantinos, a technician from Gümüşhane, in the Pontus or Black Sea region of Anatolia, serves as a characteristic example of Pontic iterant miners, moving within the Russian and Ottoman Empires and the territories in-between in search of new veins to exploit. Initially intending to search for copper in Russia, Levantinos was eventually granted permission to move to the region of Nerchinsk, where he established silver mines and transferred the necessary skills for silver mining to local workers. Simultaneously, he was engaged in trade with China. Levantinos' biography demonstrates the overlap between state service, craftsmanship, and trade in Russia of the early eighteenth century. The tension between the transfer of skills and commercial transaction as an autonomous sphere, and transfer and exchange as embedded in a range of power relationships is central to Levantinos' achievement. This tension should serve to underline the degree to which actors such as Levantinos contributed to the expansion of the simultaneously "minimalist" and "activist" Russian state, an expansion from which they benefited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A donation stele discovered in the 1980 records that the community of the Fulong silver mines raised some 4500 liang of silver to build a temple dedicated to the God of Wealth in 1814. The site in a remote mountain range in northern Yunnan evidently was a prosperous and populous mining town. Yet it appears in no government record. Centered on the case study, this paper provides insights into social self-organization of communities and the structures within the Qing government that allowed the operation of mines that were registered with the local governments and submitted taxes yet kept out of the communications with the central government. The analysis contributes a specific example of communal governance structures and explains the two layers in late imperial administration, one which was official and documented in gazetteers and central records, and another which was customary and usually undocumented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Studia Histórica: Historia Moderna is the property of Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article, titled "Editor's Corner: Philanthropy and Public History," explores the use of material objects in understanding the history of philanthropy. The guest editor, Amanda Moniz, brings together a collection of articles that examine how physical objects can tell stories about charitable giving throughout history. The authors in this special issue expand the definition of philanthropy to include small acts of love for humanity, and they use material culture to deepen our understanding of philanthropy while also acknowledging its potential for creating inequalities and cultural loss. The articles cover a range of topics, including teaching with objects, silver mining in Nevada, promoting Black education after the Civil War, records of orphan asylums, women's institutions in colonial Mexico, and the misuse of Indigenous material culture by philanthropic organizations. Overall, this collection offers valuable insights into various forms of philanthropic giving. [Extracted from the article]

The aim of the study was to evaluate the pathological conditions in teeth from skeletal remains found in the medieval burial ground at Kutná Hora (13th–16th centuries, Czech Republic). We focused on the effect on dental health of socioeconomic changes associated with the boom in silver mining at the site. In this study, dental caries and antemortem tooth loss were recorded for 469 sexed adults (10,558 permanent teeth). Pathologies were analysed and presented by teeth and alveoli, and the differences between their frequencies were tested in sex-, age-, and burial context-separated groups (mass vs. individual graves). The oral conditions were characterised by a low frequency of caries and moderate frequency of antemortem tooth loss (AMTL). For caries, males and females showed the same frequencies while AMTL comparisons indicated a higher rate in females. Most differences emerged between age-separated and burial context-separated groups. The age progression of the pathologies was confirmed for both caries and AMTL. Skeletons from mass burials had higher caries and AMTL frequencies than those buried in individual graves. The dataset exhibited low caries and below average AMTL rates compared to other medieval European skeletal series. We think that life in this mining centre had a positive effect on the dental health of its inhabitants. The relatively poorer dental health of those buried in mass graves reflected either the specific composition of the population in the first half of the 14th century or the lower resilience of these individuals when facing mortality crises. • The sample exhibited low rates of caries and antemortem tooth loss. • Life in the mining centre had a positive effect on dental health of its inhabitants. • The age progression was confirmed for both caries and antemortem tooth loss. • Higher caries and AMTL frequencies were observed in the mass burials skeletons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interestingly, this gold is almost always as tiny inclusions in these and other associated sulfides such as pyrite, and good specimens showing either gold-bornite or gold-chalcopyrite combinations are rare. Somewhat lesser though similar examples of gold on pyrite are known from diverse Colorado localities such as the Ibex, Winnie, Fanny Rawlings, and Adelaide mines, Leadville, Lake County; wires protruding from cubes from the Orphan Boy mine, Boulder County; gold with pyrite crystals from the Krakajack No. 1 mine on Fourmile Creek in the Gold Hill district, also in Boulder County; and gold crystals on pyrite from the Alice mine and gold on pyrite from the Quito mine, Clear Creek County. Interestingly, of the two only Kalgoorlie has produced significant native gold with associated telluride minerals, Cripple Creek boasting only very small, generally unattractive gold specimens, most of which are pseudomorphs after original gold tellurides. In fact, so many gold specimens are essentially gold on and in quartz that one is left wondering what other minerals might be found intimately associated with gold in potentially collectible specimens, both macro (thumbnail through cabinet size) and micro. An example of the widespread association of carbonate minerals with gold deposits, some of which are known to have produced reasonable gold-carbonate association specimens, is given by Pardee and Park ([66]) in their summary work on gold deposits of the southeastern United States. [Extracted from the article]

The aim of this article is to analyze the ore dressing technics present during the peak production period of a silver mine in the Seventeenth-Century Andes, from an archaeological and historical perspective. It is not focused on the silver refinery constructions, or their description and social relationships, which are presented in the specialized literature, but rather on attention to the objects that were necessary for the silver production and to their location. We redefined those constructions, identified their social relations through historical sources and their characteristics regarding this particular period, type of mining camp, stage of the mines' silver production, and the power and labor relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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