Dear Dave, it seems to me that there are some papers of N. Ryndina
concerning use of graphite crucibles in East Europe for metal production.
The only reference I have is 31st International symposium on Archaeometry,
Budapest, 1998. Good luck Irina.
----- Original Message -----
From: Dave Killick <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: June 20, 2001 00:59
Subject: Graphite crucibles in metallurgy
> Friends - can anyone help with the following inquiry?
>
> I am studying samples from a large amount of lead-smelting debris
> excavated by Kathleen Deagan at the site of the first Spanish settlement
> in the New World, the town of La Isobela, on the north coast of the
> present Dominican Republic, founded in 1494 and abandoned in 1497. Among
> the material recovered are several sherds and one near-complete example
> of thin-walled, flat-based crucibles. The near-complete example is a
> triangular-walled flat-based crucible, an exact match for that
> illustrated in De Re Metallica in 1556 (p. 229 of the Hoover and Hoover
> edition) but only 2.8 cm tall
>
> In polished section, however, the two sherds studied are both heavily
> tempered with graphite, apparently from a graphitic gneiss or graphitic
> quartzite. Neither De Re Metallica nor the Pirotechnia (1540) mention
> the use of graphite in making crucibles. The former says to make
> crucibles out of a "fatty clay" mixed with the "dust of old broken
> crucibles, or of burnt and worn bricks" (p.230) - in contrast to cupels,
> which are made from bone ash. The Pirotechnia (p. 391 of the Smith and
> Gnudi edition) says to mix "a clay of a good nature, that is, resistant
> to the force of the fire by its own natural virtue" with talc, ash from
> burnt ram' horn and iron scale (!!)
>
> So here's the question: can anyone tell me anything about the use of
> graphite crucibles in Europe prior to Columbus' voyages? (I am presuming
> that the crucibles were brought from Europe and not made in Hispaniola
> (present Dominican Republic)).
>
> Thanks in advance
> Dave Killick
>
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