A bit more on gromps
As Chris mentioned I did not invent the term gromps, I did indeed borrow
it from Elizabet Nosek - I had assumed that it was in common usage or would
have specifically attributed it to her.
I also agree strongly with the point he brought up urging more careful
excavation of iron producing sites. Our present excavation at Low Birker
in Cumbria may help to reinforce this. In the past two seasons we have dug
and hand sorted approximately 7 tons of smelting slags from a large,
several hundred ton, slag heap. We have found about a dozen gromps. We
are also working on one of the furnace locations associated with the heap.
Here with very limited excavation, c. 0.5 cubic meter moved, we have also
found about a dozen gromps. As the years go one, and the scale of the
excavation continues to expand if this trend continues it would strongly
suggest that gromps were indeed being recycled and that a few,
unfortunately, were dropped.
Carl Blair
Director SMELT/Low Birker
MTU
Houghton MI 49931
USA
906 487-1889
906 487-2468 (fax)
[log in to unmask]
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|