Ancient Iron Metallurgy Research Papers (original) (raw)

The 18th century water-powered ironworks at Agoreggi, in the Basque country, was reconstructed based on contemporary historical records and archaeological investigations. In 1994-1999 three campaigns of experiments were carried out with the aim of reproducing the scale and technology of the iron production. This paper is a fully illustrated description of the experiments and, in particular, of the practical problems of the air delivery system and the use of the copper tobera (tuyere). In 1999 six agoas (blooms) were made of varying quality and size, the largest being a 30kg ferritic agoa smelted from 140kg of ore, but this is only about half the scale of the 18th century production.
It subsequently transpired that the mouth of the tobera used for the experiments should have been 170% larger, thus allowing more air to be blown into the furnace, and the making of agoas closer to the 18th century size. See Crew 2013, 'Twenty five years of bloomery experiments...', pages [46-48], for an overview of the experiments and a brief discussion of the tobera problem.

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- Experimental Archaeology, Historical Archaeology, Industrial History, Industrial Heritage

This paper describes our 17th experiment (XP17), which was the first occasion on which a reasonable bloom was made. The smelt was of 7.5kg of moderately rich bog iron ore, in a low shaft furnace, resulting in a low carbon bloom of 1600g. Half the bloom was refined to a billet (642g), then to a flat bar (350g), part of which was forged to a knife. If the whole bloom had been refined, the total losses would have been more than half the original weight, resulting in three smithing hearth slags from each stage of the process. The data is used to make a preliminary calculation of the production from the sites at Bryn y Castell and Crawcwellt, where considerable numbers of smithing hearth bottoms were found.

In 1987 to 1989 15 experiments were carried out, smelting bog-iron ores in a low shaft furnace. The data from XP13 to XP28 are presented, with quantifications of the smelting and of the refining to billets and bars. Analyses of the bog ores are given. Metallurgical analyses, micrographs and P maps of the blooms from XP22 and XP23 are given, and analyses of the billet from XP17 and the bar from XP16. Line traces for P, As, Co and Ni, across the XP16 bar show the segregation of the P and the surface enrichment of As and Ni.

- by Peter and Susan Crew
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- Experimental Archaeology, Archaeometry, Archaeometallurgy, Paleometallurgy

This PPT was presented at the 2009 'World of Iron' conference. It is a comparative study of bloomery iron made from different ores, refined to bars and forged to knives, looking at the metallography and the slag inclusions. This conference presentation has a wider range of images than could be used in the 2013 published version. The second file has a descriptive text.

- by Peter and Susan Crew
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- Experimental Archaeology, Archaeometallurgy, Paleometallurgy, Ironworking

Description of the metallurgical remains of the site of Le Landeron, Neuchâtel, Switzerland. Medieval smithing workshop and slags. Extract from : Hofmann Rognon, P. : Le Landeron-Les Carougets, vestiges protohistorique, villa romaine,... more

Description of the metallurgical remains of the site of Le Landeron, Neuchâtel, Switzerland. Medieval smithing workshop and slags.
Extract from : Hofmann Rognon, P. : Le Landeron-Les Carougets, vestiges protohistorique, villa romaine, tombes et habitat médiévaux.

- by Serneels Vincent
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- Archaeometallurgy, Iron Smithing, Ancient Iron Metallurgy

Danebury is one of the more extensively excavated hillforts in Britain and the nearly 500 iron objects found are one of the largest assemblages from a single Iron Age site in Britain. Both currency bars and pieces of bulk iron, in the form of billets, were imported to the site. Fragments of cut currency bars show that they were being worked at Danebury. The possible sources of the different types of iron, and the objects made from them, are discussed in detail.

Iron smelting site survey near Toumodi and Khorogo (Ivory Coast) - 1st report

- by Serneels Vincent and +1
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- Archaeometallurgy, African Archaeology, Ancient Iron Metallurgy

In order to determine the trace element chemical signature from the ore to the slag inclusion of the ferrous artefacts in the Pays de Bray (France), 143 samples were analysed by INAA, ICP-MS and LA-ICP-MS. Results show that, for geochemical reasons, some elements must be avoided to determine the chemical signature. Nevertheless, a main part of elements initially present in the ore allows to determine the chemical signature of the Pays de Bray. This signature is significantly different from the one of other regions and can be use for further studies about the commercialisation of Pays de bray ferrous artefacts in the neighbouring regions.

- by Le Carlier Cécile
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- Analytical Chemistry, Ancient Iron Metallurgy

This paper endeavour is to determine the importance of ferrous metals production in the overall activity of the craft complex of Teliţa, on Valea Morilor, during the fourth century AD. The compilation of this catalogue of discoveries integrates a number of 211 wrought iron objects, produced almost entirely within the establishment. Of these, more than half are inventory of tools, instruments and utensils for activities the craftsmen were prevalently developing, as evidenced by their surface traces of occasionally long use. All archaeological information we have leads to the idea that iron processing activities were conducted here. In the forge, reheated metal was forged to the required shape and strength. Objects discovered also highlight the phenomenon of long storage in the rural environment of craft traditions and traditional instruments, employed at Lower Danube during the first four centuries of Roman rule.

- by Victor Henrich Baumann
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- Archaeology, Metallurgy, Roman Archaeology, Ancient Iron Metallurgy
- by Giorgos M. Sanidas
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- Ancient History, Archaeology, Classical Archaeology, Roman History

Description of the smithing slags from the excavation of the large roman villa of Biberist, Solothurn, Switzerland. With chemical analyses and discussion of the quantification. the remains of the smithing workshop are described in the... more

- by Serneels Vincent
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- Archaeoemtallurgy, Iron Smithing, Ancient Iron Metallurgy

Sebbene l'archeologia subacquea mantenga presso il grande pubblíco un'aura di mistero e di diversità, i dibattiti teorici che hanno caratferizzato l'ultimo trentennio sono serviti, in definitiva, anche a sgomberare il campo dalle sovrastrutture dí caîattere psicologico che tendevano a vedere nell'attività di ricerca subacquea un terreno quasi privo di regole ed aperto alle improwisazioni e ali'awentura.

Kniha byla vydána v Praze v roce 1984 / The book was published in Prague in 1984.

- by Digital library Bohemia and +1
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- History, Archaeology, Medieval History, Early Modern History

This paper discusses the results of new technological examinations of a spatha blade from a bog sacrificial place in Lake Nidajno, Czaszkowo (Zatzkowen), Mrągowo District, Prussia, PL. The site can be dated to the turn of the Late Roman Period and the Migration Period and its origin may have been related to interactions between Germanic, Balt and Black Sea and North-Eastern Mediterranean cultures, and perhaps to migrations of the Galindians to Southern Europe and back. The archaeometallurgical examinations demonstrated that the blade had been manufactured using a complex pattern-welding technology. As a result, a weapon which possessed both high combat values and unique aesthetic traits was produced. The blade itself may be of Roman provenance.

in Fiches J.-L., Plana Mallart R. et Revilla Calvo V. (dir.) (2013) – Paysages ruraux et territoires dans les cités de l’Occident romain. Gallia et Hispania. Paisajes rurales y territorios en las ciudades del Occidente romano. Gallia e Hispania, actes du colloque international AGER IX, Barcelone, 25-27 mars 2010, « Mondes anciens », Montpellier, PULM, 2012, p. 353-364.

- by Florian Sarreste
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- Ancient Iron Metallurgy

It is commonly known that the only known prehistoric iron production from industrial size is located in Siegerland, which is situated in the southern part of Northrine-Westfalia region in Germany. Starting in the 1930th there were more than 300 iron smelting furnaces located inside the small beck tales and found areas till today. Based on results of new prospection campaigns in the last years this number will most likely increase significantly. The complete evaluation of these new sites is still pending.
The main part of this paper concentrates on the analysis of one of these iron smelting places of the latèneperiod, which was the first excavation with modern techniques after a break of 50 years. The site is located on a south hillside in Siegen-Niederschelden “Wartestraße” in the western part of the Siegerland 263m height above null. The side contains an ensamble of four iron smelting, one roasting bed, places that were used for mechanical ore preparation, a couple of pits and post holes as well as middle age charcoal kiln. Because of the limited time only two iron smelting furnaces could be excavated. Both were building in the hill side and had a pear-shaped profile. The dimension from the bottom to the furnace top were 1.2 m, the inner diameter was 1 m at the base and 1.2 m in couple height.
It was possible to verify two periods of use in which the first could be determined by 14C-Datas and archeological finds (ceramic and a plastic style bronze belt hook) between the end of LT B and LT C (3th BC), and the second period based only on 14C-Datas during the middle age (11th – 13th AD). The post holes suggest that the furnaces were roofed together with the working area of the smelters. Analyses of the ores showed that only hematite was used which was prepared in a mechanical and thermic procession before the smelting process. It could be proven that the first reduction from hematite to magnetite has been happened and ore gravel was found under anvil stones, which shows that the roasting ore was reduced to small pieces already before the smelting process conducted. Big fluctuations in the ore of the FeO-, SiO2- and MnO-concentration in opposite to the equal concentration inside of the slag shows the fact that the ore gravel was mixed during the preparation. Most likely that was done in order to achieve a constant quality of the charge. Analyses prove that only smelting slags were found on the side and they did not show any signs of forge activities.
The result of the paleobotanical research allows to say that mostly oak, beech, hazel, maple and birch were used for the charcoal production. The charcoal kiln shows that in opposite to the latèneperiod the beech lost its importance during the middle age and was replaced by oak and birch.
The high availability and easy access to the resources were one of the major factors for the settlement of Siegerland during the latène period. In form of the iron hat were the oxides ores near by the surface simple to mine. Just as much iron the relevance of the forest as wood supplier is also of extreme importance, because the wood shortage is considered to be one of the main reasons of the iron production collapse in the Siegerland at the beginning of the common era.

Книга посвящена истории металлургического производства в Северной Евразии в эпоху бронзы. Район, охваченный данным исследованием, простирается от Дона до Алтая и до Средней Азии, хотя в качестве фона дается информация по металлургическому производству на Ближнем Востоке, в Европе и Китае. Хронологическим фоном работы является более ограниченное количество материалов энеолита и раннего железного века. Монография основана на анализе шлаков и руд, произведенных с помощью различных минералогических и химических методов.

Kniha vyšla v Moskvě roku 1981 / Книга была издана в Москве в 1981 году / The book was published in Moscow in 1981.

- by Digital library Bohemia
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- Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology, Scythian archaeology, Archeologia

Current research on a wide range of ironworking topics was summarised in 47 papers from 13 European countries, with other papers on Africa, India, Israel and Jordan. Topics include excavations, experiments, archeometallurgy, palaeoenvironmental studies, history and ethnography, with a date range from the early Iron Age through to the 18th century.

This is the publication of a PhD thesis that was successfully submitted in 1979. The works aims to be a comprehensive study of Late Assyrian metalwork (9th-7th centuries BC) mainly from the sites of Nimrud, Nineveh, Khorsabad and Ashur. It includes much previously unpublished Assyrian metalwork, mostly from the excavations of Sir Henry Layard (1845-51) and the British School of Archaeology in Iraq (1949-1963) at Nimrud. Most of this metalwork is now either in the British Museum or in the Iraq Museum in Baghdad. This study has not been updated since 1979, but it is published here in its original form in order to put a large amount of previously unpublished data into the public domain. The book has an appendix by Matthew Ponting giving the results of metallographic examination and analysis.

Nous étudions dans cet ouvrage les archers dans l'armée romaine. Nous établissons leur visage de la fin de la République romaine jusqu'à Trajan à travers les sources littéraires, épigraphiques et archéologiques. Nous examinons par la suite l'efficacité de leurs armes et tentons de montrer qu'elles peuvent refléter un véritable travail technique grâce à une étude métallographique, complétée par des analyses physico-chimiques, du mobilier de pointes de flèche découvert au Puy d'Issolud (Lot), l'antique Uxellodunum: l'objectif principal étant la caractérisation, pour ces armes, des structures métallurgiques, des distributions, des morphologies et compositions des phases et des constituants présents. Il est dès lors possible d'imaginer les différents protocoles d'élaboration et les traitements thermo-mécaniques développés par les forgerons pour leur mise en forme et d'apporter de nouveaux éléments à l'histoire des techniques de la forge en relation avec l'armée romaine et plus particulièrement avec les corps et l'armement des archers.

- by Guillaume Renoux
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- Archaeology, Roman History, Roman Army, Paleometallurgy
- by Arturo Sanchez Sanz
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- Religion, History, Ancient History, Military History

The San Martino hoard and the elban metallurgy between the Final Bronze
Age and the Early Iron Age.
This paper suggests a comparative analysis of settlement patterns and
metallurgy development from the Final Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age in the area between the Tuscan
Islands and the Colline Metallifere of Campiglia Marittima. Especially in the Elba Island, the 19th century
research has brought to light a relevant goup of bronze hoards dating to the early centuries of the first millennium
BC. For Final Bronze Age, the San Martino hoard is the only relatively reliable in its composition,
thanks to the careful reconstruction of Filippo Delpino: it was composed by axes, knives, fibulae, bracelets,
chains and various fragments of aes rude. During the same period, bronze working on the Elba Island
widely flourished, open to contacts with nearby traditions. During the Early Iron Age, we have a greater
amount of information, but the materials remain largely devoid of context. This chronological horizon
shows merely one step in a long-time development of natural resources exploitation and patterns of land
management. During the Final Bronze Age, a nucleated settlement system can be recognized on the Elba
Island, with a direct relationship between metals hoarding and minerals availability. By the Early Iron Age,
the growing of Populonia as a real “central place” fits with the first indicators of a concentrated metals production
around the future town, but it is still related to the copper minerals exploitation, as Elban hematite
was intensively worked only from the 6th century BC. However, in this period we can recognize the starting
point of the growing of Populonia as the main center of iron metallurgy in the upper and middle Tyrrhenian
area. Since the 8th century, small hematite’s amount began to circulate, especially toward Pithecusa.
The contact with the Euboean world (during a still flourishing moment for bronze working) could have
been crucial to transfer technological innovations in iron working and, therefore, to start the exploitation
of Elban hematite. We can see during this period, the result of long-time contacts among Etruria, Sardinia
and Corsica, which helped create a trading system: this initially didn’t include both Greeks and Phoenicians.
The collapse of this model, probably connected to internal Sardinian socio-economic developments,
attracted new peoples in the routes to the mining district.

- by Matteo Milletti
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- Archaeology, Classical Archaeology, Metallurgy, Bronze Age Europe (Archaeology)

After a brief survey of the medieval bloomeries in Snowdonia, the late 16th century blast furnace, at Dol y Clochydd, is described in some detail, with the historical evidence, a site description and details of the 1984 season of excavation.
A note is appended to the paper, with more recent references to both the bloomeries and Dol y Clochydd.

This is the publication of the Conference organized by Javier Franco in the Mining Museum of the Basque Country (2014) , where the texts of the best specialists in archaeometallurgy iron and archaeological experimentation north of the... more

Questo contributo nasce dall'analisi condotta sull'interazione tra modelli insediativi e sviluppo della metallurgia dall'età del Bronzo Finale al primo Ferro nell'area compresa tra l'arcipelago toscano e le colline del Campigliese, ricca di giaci-SUMMARY -The San Martino hoard and the elban metallurgy between the Final Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age. This paper suggests a comparative analysis of settlement patterns and metallurgy development from the Final Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age in the area between the Tuscan Islands and the Colline Metallifere of Campiglia Marittima. Especially in the Elba Island, the 19 th century research has brought to light a relevant goup of bronze hoards dating to the early centuries of the first millennium BC. For Final Bronze Age, the San Martino hoard is the only relatively reliable in its composition, thanks to the careful reconstruction of Filippo Delpino: it was composed by axes, knives, fibulae, bracelets, chains and various fragments of aes rude. During the same period, bronze working on the Elba Island widely flourished, open to contacts with nearby traditions. During the Early Iron Age, we have a greater amount of information, but the materials remain largely devoid of context. This chronological horizon shows merely one step in a long-time development of natural resources exploitation and patterns of land management. During the Final Bronze Age, a nucleated settlement system can be recognized on the Elba Island, with a direct relationship between metals hoarding and minerals availability. By the Early Iron Age, the growing of Populonia as a real "central place" fits with the first indicators of a concentrated metals production around the future town, but it is still related to the copper minerals exploitation, as Elban hematite was intensively worked only from the 6 th century BC. However, in this period we can recognize the starting point of the growing of Populonia as the main center of iron metallurgy in the upper and middle Tyrrhenian area. Since the 8 th century, small hematite's amount began to circulate, especially toward Pithecusa. The contact with the Euboean world (during a still flourishing moment for bronze working) could have been crucial to transfer technological innovations in iron working and, therefore, to start the exploitation of Elban hematite. We can see during this period, the result of long-time contacts among Etruria, Sardinia and Corsica, which helped create a trading system: this initially didn't include both Greeks and Phoenicians. The collapse of this model, probably connected to internal Sardinian socio-economic developments, attracted new peoples in the routes to the mining district.

- by Valeria Acconcia
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- Ancient Iron Metallurgy, Populonia etrusco-romana

Smithing slag assemblage from a late La Tène farm on the Swiss plateau at Courgevaux FR. The assemblage is interpreted as a single event of smithing, probbaly at the beginning of the occupation of the site. Extract from : Anderson T,... more

- by Serneels Vincent and +1
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- Archaemetallurgy, Iron Smithing, Ancient Iron Metallurgy
- by Florian Sarreste
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- Ancient Iron Metallurgy

A description and a critical appraisal of twenty-five years of ironworking experiments are presented. Initially the experiments were designed to answer specific questions raised by excavations at prehistoric sites in Snowdonia, where bog-ores with both high and low phosphorus were smelted in small diameter furnaces. Later excavations at a medieval site, where Mn-rich bog-ores were smelted on a large scale, raised new questions which were also examined. Other experiments used sideritic ironstones and hard-rock ores, from the east Midlands, Cumbria and Dean. A project at a reconstructed 18th century water powered bloomery in the Basque country is also described. Particular topics examined include the nature of the furnaces, the bellows and blowing rates; the ore, charcoal and clay types, quality and treatment; and the operating conditions, the products and the losses of material through the refining process. Models deriving from the experimental data and their application to the archaeological sites are presented. A number of general questions are highlighted and suggestions made for further work in experimental ironworking.

The discovery of the Sungai Batu complex by the Centre for Global Archaeological Research, Universiti Sains Malaysia in 2007 is of great significant in understanding the early civilisations in Malaysia. The complex was found during a scientific palaeoenvironmental reconstruction sutdy. A total pf 97 mounds were mapped and identified in 3km2 area that has great archaeological potential. To date, excavations at 16 mounds revealed ritual monuments, a riverside jetty built in the 2nd century CE, and iron smelting sites that were used from the 1st century CE. The discovery of the iron smelting industry in this complex showed that the Sungai Batu civilisation had an economic base. These new findings give a more holistoc and complete picture of the Bujang Valley civilisation and should lead to a significant re-evaluation of the evidence that has been accumulated since the 1840s. Based on the early research results, the Bujang Valley civilisation was thought to date as early as the end of the 4th century CE and to be primarily a Hindu-Buddhist site (Coedes, 1968). These new finds with chronometric dating (radiocarbon and OSL) allow us to re-write not onl the history of Malaysian civilisation but also that of the region. To date, the important discovery of a 110 CE monument meant Sungai Batu provides the earliest evidence of a monument (with chronometric dates) in Southeast Asia.

- by Jeffrey Abdullah
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- Ancient History, Economic History, Landscape Ecology, Palaeogeography

This volume focuses on bronze and other metal finds from several ancient sites of Asia Minor and other regions in the Mediterranean. It consists of four main parts and 45 papers in total which deal with various genres of ancient bronze material. The papers include analysis of pre-Greek, Greek, Roman, and Byzantine bronzes from Anatolia, as well as studies of bronzes from Georgia, Greece, Iran, Italy, Serbia, and Slovenia. Key sites are covered, such as Allianoi, Arycanda and Olba, Roman and Early Byzantine cities in western and southern part of Turkey. The volume also contains a common bibliography for researchers interested in Asia Minor and neighbouring regions. Readers will discover numerous unpublished materials as well as new insights into the bronze archaeology of Anatolia and more broadly across the rest of the ancient eastern Mediterranean.

- by Ergun LAFLI and +7
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- Archaeology, Classical Archaeology, Near Eastern Archaeology, Classics
- by Joëlle Graber-Pesonen
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- Ancient Iron Metallurgy
- by Giorgos M. Sanidas and +1
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- Environmental Archaeology, Greek Archaeology, Aegean Archaeology, European Prehistory (Archaeology)

This experiment, blown at a fast rate with a high charcoal consumption, unexpectedly produced a block of cast iron, but it the normal position of a bloom. The experiment is described in detail, with analyses of the Mn-rich bog ores used, of the slags and of the cast iron, with a series of macro and microphotographs. The discussion examines the role of manganese and whether or not it might have been reduced to the metal.

- by Peter and Susan Crew and +3
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- Experimental Archaeology, Metallurgy, Archaeometry, Archaeometallurgy

The article examines the evidence for metal-working in the iron i and iron iiA, as well as in the iron iiB in the land of israel. The comparative analysis of material from northern valley sites and the Beersheba valley reveals a discrepancy in the progress of technological development: by the early iron iiA, the iron industry in the south was already relatively well developed, while in the north it remained largely ignored and smiths continued to work in bronze. A striking case is the disparity in the metal-working of the contemporaneous early iron iiA Beersheba valley sites of Tel Masos ii on the one hand and Arad Xii and Beersheba vii on the other. All three sites belonged to the same settlement entity and were located in equal proximity to the Feinan copper production centre. But while Tel Masos ii shows extensive evidence of copper-working, which fits its involvement in the Arabah copper trade, Arad Xii and Beersheba vii feature marks of an iron-dominated metal industry.