Thilo
> how about some of that sulphur being picked up from mineral coal in the
> smithy?
I wondered about this, but haven't been able to locate any
documentation or published description of what such reaction
would look like.
The iron fragment richest in the inclusions is about 3 x 1.5mm in
the plane of the polished section and bears numerous inclusions of
rounded outline up to about 80 microns across, but more typically
about 30 microns, and foming 1-2% of the material (estimated not
point-counted). The inclusions bear a fine structure with a scale of
much less than a micron (with phases not determinable therefore
on the BSEM).
Although the piece is very small, the structure is more
homogeneous than I would have intuitively expected through
reaction with the coal. On the other hand some of the smithing
slags from the site were certainly produced in a coal-fired hearth.
The S (only determined by XRF therefore likely to be too low) at
1800ppm and the Mo at around 30ppm in this slag are sufficently
elevated to make coal firing a possibility with this particular
specimen.
I'd like to find some comparative data, as I mentioned in my first
message, otherwise I'm going to have to try to persuade the
blacksmith to use some nasty high S coal in his forge and find out
what happens...
Tim
Dr Tim Young
Email: [log in to unmask]
Web: http://www.geoarch.demon.co.uk/
Phone: 02920 747480
Fax: 08700 547366
Mobile: 0802 413704
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