Peter,
First your last question. As Chris already said: most unlikely that this material is related to any metallurgical proces. What you mention correlates to the material found among the stuff used to consolidate the riverbed near the bridge at Maastricht. Near Cuijk however I would have expected more robust material since the riverbed there is less stable than at Maastricht (this surely might not have been known to the Romans). I vaguely remember there is even a report (I only have oral information) on the material found at Maastricht, ask Titus Panhuijsen or Wim Dijkman (archaeological service Maastricht).
Yes, Ineke Joosten is one of them, mainly into the analytical part.
Macroscopic identification (iron related): Patrice de Rijk currently working with the ADC
And me (the fool said) for identification as well as archaeological setting. [log in to unmask]
As my collegue Evelyne Godfrey already told you, you most probably not are dealing with metallurgical material. Material I've seen from the bridge as well as surface finds in the surroundings suggest that some smithing took place but also that there might have been some brickmaking. The latter is difficult to connect to the Roman period since there were no accompanying, dated, finds (this seems to be an indication for a later date).
cheers,
Matthijs
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