The supply of metals in the later Roman Empire: framing the question

Whether the later Roman Empire ran short of precious or base metals, either at the level of the state or in private life, is a question that can only be answered in a tentative fashion. Surveying the period from the mid-2nd to the mid-7th c., this article weighs the difficulties presented by the full range of material and textual evidence, while attempting to establish a balance between all regions of the Roman world. It concludes by suggesting that there probably were indeed crises of metal production at certain periods, caused by the depletion of usable ores and hypothetically by a shortage of fuel.