-----Original Message-----
From: Kenneth Ames <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Wednesday, April 28, 1999 5:29 PM
Subject: Analysis of copper and iron artifacts.
>
>Over the past several years, I have excavated a site in the western USA
>that spans a period from c. AD 1440 to 1830, that is from before through
>the
>early contact period. It contains a large assemblage
>of copper and iron artifacts from pre-contact and contact period contexts.
>I am preparing a grant proposal to cover some aspects of the
>continuing analysis of
>materials recovered from the site, including the metal. We have had some
>done, gratis, by a variety of researchers, for a variety of reasons. But,
>I am new to archaeometallurgy, and am looking for labs that do
>metallurgical analyses for archaeologists. If people want to reply off
>list with recommendations and suggestions, I would very much appreciate
>it.
>
>With the copper, we are interested in whether it is native copper, or not
>(the four pieces we've had done are not native copper), and how it was
>worked. With the iron,
>we are interested in a variety of things, including how it was made,
>carbon and nickel content. THe one piece of iron we've had analyzed is
>non-metereoitic, with a very low carbon content. It dates (based on 6 14C
>dates) to AD 1440.
>
>Thank You,
>
>Ken Ames
>***************************************************************************
*
>Kenneth M. Ames
>Department of Anthropology
>Portland State University,
>Portland, Or. 97207
>503-725-3318
>[log in to unmask]
>***************************************************************************
*
>
Many list members, I believe, would be quite interested in learning more
about your site and especially
about your iron piece with the 1440 AD dating.
The carbon dating of iron artifacts is dealt with in great detail in a book
published many years ago, but which remains an excellent resource today. It
is "The Carbon-14 Dating of Iron: by Nicholas van der Merwe; University of
Chicago Press, 1969." This book points out that an important consideration
in
evaluating carbon dates of wrought iron artifacts (such as yours seems to
be) is that from ancient times, metal workers used green wood to produce
their charcoal for smelting. This practice began with the smelting of copper
ores and continued with later the smelting of iron ores.
What this boils down to is that quite likely green wood was used to produce
the charcoal used to smelt the iron ore of your artifact.
Please consult van der Merwe's book for further details!
William D. Conner
908 S. Roys Avenue, Columbus, Ohio 43204
Phone: 614-276-5219; e-mail: <[log in to unmask]>
web site: America's Mysterious Furnaces
<www.iwaynet.net/~wdc>
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