I agree with Peter - techiques for Roman lead smelting, other than where
silver was involved, does not appear to have been fully decided. The
small hearths appear to be too small for quantity production and a blast
furnace approach seems the more probable. This would almost certainly
require some sort of pre-roasting and therefore the bale/bole remains may
be either roasting heaps or smelting operations. Given the period of
occupation, it is always possible that different methods were used for lead
smelting in Britain.
Traditionally pigs have always been made as large as one or two persons
could handle - supposedly for security. I have never worked out how the
Derbyshire bolers handled 2 ton blocks!
I would be interested in any efforts to recreate the smelting process and I
have some bits of kit which might help. If you are thinking of doing
this there is a specific bit in the IPPC Regs which exempts re-enactment of
ancient smelting processes from having an emissions authorisation. The
health and environmental damage issues need to be considered of course.
Regards - Richard
Richard Smith
3M UK Bracknell, B2-3N,
Environment, Safety and Security [log in to unmask]
Tel: 01344-858154 (Trim. 8-230-2154)
Fax: 01344-858367 (Trim. 8-230-2367)
Adrian Pearce
<adrian.pearce@BLUEYO To: [log in to unmask]
NDER.CO.UK> cc:
Sent by: Subject: First in 2000 years!
mining-history
<mining-history@JISCM
AIL.AC.UK>
19/11/2003 19:17
Please respond to
"The mining-history
list."
Hi Gang
At the weekend, several members of Shropshire Mines Trust cast a 190lb
lead pig which is an exact replica of Roman ones dug up in Shropshire.
The wording refers to Emperor Hadrian Augustus (no relation!). I have
placed photos of the operation onto the website below.
http://pig01.012webpages.com/pig.htm
It is quite heavy and took two of us struggling to move it around. Were
pigs of lead that were carried by packhorses this heavy or a lighter
version? I thought they had a wooden saddle with one either side. If
they were this weight they were really strong beasts!
I would be interested in any references to how Romans carried out
smelting as we may try to recreate the process at a future date as
well. If any group or museum is interested in a full size replica of a
Roman pig of lead then let me know and I will put you in touch with
Barry Ellis. We now have the technology!
Adrian Pearce
--
Visit the following sites for references to all kinds of mining subjects
British Mining Database <http://www.ap.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/bmd/bmd.htm>
Shropshire Mines Trust <http://www.ap.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/smt/smt.htm>
Snailbeach Mine <http://www.ap.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/sbeach/sbeach.htm>
Tankerville Mine <http://www.ap.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/tank/tank.htm>
Friends of Bersham Colliery <http://www.ap.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/bct/bct.htm
>
Caves & Mines of Cyprus <http://a4.012webpages.com/cyprus/cyprus.htm>
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