The goal of archaeometallurgy is to establish connections between archaeological remains and metallurgical processes from the past. It is often necessary to combine knowledge from related fields to gain a better understanding of an archaeological site, metallurgical processes, and thus the historical period.
In my diploma work we analysed samples from eight archaeological remains of slags and one iron ore. The aim was to determine their origin and explain possible anomalies in the results. We used X-ray fluorescence (XRF) to determine the chemical composition. The next step was to prepare the samples for X-ray powder diffraction (XRD). The crystal structures present in our samples were determined
from diffractograms using the X'Pert HighScore Plus programme.
Based on the analysis results, we divided the samples into four groups. The Bobovec iron ore has a fairly homogeneous composition and consists mainly of hematite. Higher than expected manganese content was found in the puddling slags, indicating the use of pig iron with higher manganese content or the addition of spiegeliron to the charge. Melilite was found in the blast furnace slag samples, which is consistent with the scientific literature on blast furnace slags. Using a quaternary phase diagram, we estimated the chemical composition of a blast furnace slag. Based on its composition, a slag was identified as a secondary product from the production of blooms. It contained an unexpectedly high amount of aluminium. From this, we concluded that the ore consisted of bauxite or alumina as well as iron oxide.
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