Increasing the Effectiveness of the Bloomery Smelting Process by using a mobile Furnace Shaft.
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ก.พ. 2025
- Florian Kobbe (2), Christian Helmreich (1,2,3), Jan Hinrichs (1) & Martin Sauerwein (1)
1 Department of Geography, University of Hildesheim (Germany)
2 Department of Chemistry, University of Hildesheim (Germany)
3 Archaeological Open-Air Museum NAKUBI Grafhorn (Germany)
...Archaeological Experiments on the possible Reuse of clay Shafts during the early Roman Period in Northern Central Europe
In the year 2017, 32 findings of bloomery furnaces and 10 pit houses were discovered on an archaeological site in Sehnde (Region Hanover, Lower Saxony, Germany). The findings and finds have been examined as part of an interdisciplinary research project of experimental archaeology and archaeometallurgy. The age of selected charcoal samples could be dated to the early Roman Period using the radiocarbon method. The noticeable and frequent arrangement of three furnace findings in lines, is probably the result of a method to increase effectiveness in bloomery smelting using a reusable mobile shaft. A comparison of these findings from the site of Sehnde with other sites in northern Central Europe showing similar slag pit patterns, implies social and cultural links. Archaeological experiments on a reconstructed clay shaft stabilized by incorporated branches showed that the shaft material is wearing from below during the smelting process. While the basal shaft area crumbles during its move away from the slag pit, the upper area is still intact and can be reused for a subsequent smelting process in an adjacent spot. The shaft gets lower after each smelting process and the number of its reutilizations is limited to two or three runs. However, when considering the total process time, smelting in a reusable mobile shaft means a measurable increase in effectiveness in contrast to building completely new shafts each time. The arrangement of the experimental findings is strikingly similar to the archaeological ones.
#EXARC #ExperimentalArchaeology #EAC12
