On Thu, 2 Dec 1999, Michael Weinert wrote:
> You are saying that individual craftspersons or shops own work may be
> highly variable and the amount of weathering a given artifact has
> undergone will cloud the view?
It's not only the corrosion or soil conditions that can affect the nature
of iron implements at a secondary level but also their chemical and
mineralogical composition can vary considerably and that you don't see
from the outside.
These variations may reflect different ore sources, forging techniques or
other production parameters. These, in turn, may be interesting to feed
into your GIS framework. Particularly with edge tools corrosion is a
problem as much valuable information regarding the steeling, welding or
hardening of the tool may be lost.
>From a theoretical archaeological point of view, finally, things boil down
to the question "What is a Roman smith?". In a Roman provincial context,
many would have been in fact Romanised natives and we know that pre-Roman
metallurgical traditions continued throughout the the Roman period.
> Mosts of what I have seen is fragmentary but will be cataloged as well.
Good idea. Doesn't mean you have to publish the whole lot (but leave a
note for the poor guys after you!) but you never know what's coming up
later.
> There is slag of various contents (unidentifiable by myself), a 'forge'
> feature, a crucible was found (contents preserved), and today I was
> informed an ingot was discovered last season (I am told it is stamped).
Gosh, sounds like heaven! Perhaps you would like to tell us more about the
site you are working at. And let me know if you need any help with the
slag in particular.
Irene
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Wer die Vergangenheit nicht kennt, kann die Zukunft nicht gestalten.
(Goethe)
Irene E Schrufer-Kolb
School of Archaeological Studies Tel.: +44-(0)1280-823102
University of Leicester FAX: +44-(0)116-252-5005
University Road e-mail: [log in to unmask]
Leicester LE1 7RH http://www.le.ac.uk/ar/ies1/
United Kingdom
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