Metallurgical Slag and its Importance in the Reconstruction Process of Metallurgical Technologies
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52340/gmg2023.01.013Keywords:
Colchis, Ancient Iron Metallurgy, Archaeological slagAbstract
When studying the issues of ancient iron metallurgy, real evidence presented on the monument and its surroundings is of great interest: smelting furnaces, ores, slag, bloom and etc. It is worth noting that the process of iron production in cold blast furnaces was influenced by many factors, first of all, the type of ore, the quality of fuel, the characteristics of clay, the design of the furnace, the method of supplying air, the temperature and the method of removing slag and bloom from the furnace. Because the possible combinations of these factors are very large, slags and other remnants of ancient metallurgical production are characterized by a very large variety. Therefore, the optimal approach that can be recommended when studying monuments of ancient metallurgy is accurate description, analysis of materials and, if possible, their relationship/correlation with various stages of iron production.
Metallurgical slags, whose scientific potential is very high, are considered one of the most valuable and sometimes the only source for the reconstruction of ancient metalworking technologies. In the foreign scientific environment, complex programs of slag research have been developed, a number of special works and articles in this direction have been published, in which types of slag are presented, each of which is connected with a certain production cycle (metallurgical or blacksmithing), the general importance of individual fixation and geostatistical analysis of slag, as well as geochemical analysis, which allows to estimate the quality of the iron obtained, to identify ancient metallurgical deposits, etc. d. Unfortunately, in Georgian scientific literature there is no special monograph or article devoted to the study of slags, although in some works devoted to the study of Georgian metallurgy, the questions of studying slags are considered. Thus, in this article, we tried to demonstrate the importance of slag research in the process of reconstruction of metallurgical production of iron. Based on the experience of foreign scientists and some of our own observations, we consider it appropriate to present the basic scientific knowledge “encrypted” in archaeological slags and the informative potential and importance of this industrial waste.
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