Preliminary communication

Bog iron ore – experimental testing of the impact of ore roasting on the smelting process and the end product

Tena Karavidović ; Institute of Archaeology, Zagreb, Croatia

Abstract

Earlier research of the sites in the Podravina region where iron production activities took place (Hlebine – Velike Hlebine and Dedanovice, Virje – Sušine, and Volarski Breg) indicated that bog iron ore of local origin was the basic raw material for iron production in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. On the basis of mineralogical analyses of ore samples (XRD), differences in the method of preparing ore for smelting were identified between sites from different periods and spatial distribution. The experiment presented in this paper was designed to test one variant of the conceptual reconstruction of smelting furnaces and different methods of ore preparation in order to compare the impact of this variable on the smelting process and the end product. The smelting furnace was reconstructed on the basis of data from archaeological research and the analysis of finds; it belongs to the type of free-standing shaft furnaces with a door where slag is tapped during the procedure. Two smelting experiments were carried out in the reconstructed furnace, using the ore with and without the pyrometallurgical preparation, roasting.

Keywords

iron production; iron bloom; bog iron ore; ore roasting; smelting furnace; experimental archaeology

Hrčak ID:

248448

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/248448

Publication date:

22.12.2020.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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