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Dear all, Diving amateur archeologist found some Roman slag in the river Maas near Cuijk. I was asked to find out what metal preparation process produced the slag. I used XRF as well as XRD and found that all slag mainly consisted of silica (~50wt%), alumina (~25wt%) ironoxide (~10wt%)and a few wt% of magnesium, calcium and potassium and some minor substances. This result almost led me to the conclusion that it is iron slag. The book of Tylecote (page 56), however, showed that the ironoxide content of Roman period slag is typically between 40 and 70 (I presume weight%), much higher than my 10wt%. The types of element is, however, an exact match. So, I am not so sure anymore if I have got slag and if I have not, what do I have ? Can anybody shed some light on this 'mystery' ? Best regards, Peter Seinen, Underwater archeology "Mergor in Mosam", Cuijk