>>a wind blown (bole) hearth
>>apparently of Roman occupation date was excavated in mid Wales.
>>
>Yes I was considering if they used boles. A reference in Hooson's
>Mining Dictionary of the 18th century mentions there being a great
>number of boles on the Stiperstones Hills which are above the Roman lead
>mining area. I think I need to get out and start searching for remains.
>
Adrian,
The answer to this, and your query on whether to process was two stage, is
that the detailed archaeological analyses have yet to be carried out.
Current investigation of early smelting sites is producing some conflicting
evidence, certainly contrary to the earlier received views. Not all
boles/bales were on prominent upland sites and not all upland sites were
boles/bales.
I would recommend a field walking exercise in the west Shropshire ore field
to identify the early smelting sites, then you might be able to start making
sense of their age, type and distribution.
Peter
________________________________________________________
Dr Peter Claughton,
Blaenpant Morfil, nr. Rosebush, Clynderwen, Pembrokshire, Wales SA66 7RE.
Tel. 01437 532578: Fax. 01437 532921: Mobile 07831 427599
University of Exeter - SHiPSS
(Centre for South Western Historical Studies)
Co-owner - mining-history e-mail discussion list
See http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/files/mining-history/ for details
Mining History Pages - http://www.exeter.ac.uk/~pfclaugh/mhinf/
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