Vol. 70 No. 3 (2018): Special Issue - Iron in Archaeology: Bloomery Smelters and Blacksmiths in Europe and Beyond
Research Article

Early medieval iron bloomery centre at Zamárdi (Hungary): Complex archaeometrical examinations of the slags

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  • Béla Török,
  • Zsolt Gallina,
  • Árpád Kovács,
  • Ferenc Kristály
Béla Török
Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Miskolc, H-3515 Miskolc-Egyetemváros
Zsolt Gallina
Ásatárs Kft., Futár u. 12, H-6000 Kecskemét
Árpád Kovács
Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Miskolc, H-3515 Miskolc-Egyetemváros
Ferenc Kristály
Faculty of Earth Science and Engineering, University of Miskolc, H-3515 Miskolc-Egyetemváros
DOI: https://doi.org/10.35686/AR.2018.21

Published 01-10-2018

Keywords

  • Avars,
  • iron smelting,
  • bloomery,
  • slag,
  • archaeometry

How to Cite

Török, B., Gallina, Z., Kovács, Árpád, & Kristály, F. (2018). Early medieval iron bloomery centre at Zamárdi (Hungary): Complex archaeometrical examinations of the slags. Archeologické Rozhledy, 70(3), 404–420. https://doi.org/10.35686/AR.2018.21
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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Abstract

Archaeological excavations at Zamárdi (Hungary) revealed one of the largest early medieval iron smelting centres in Central Europe with about a hundred ore-roasting pits, twenty bloomery furnaces, reheating furnaces and a forge. In addition, a related Avar settlement dating from the 7th to 9th centuries was also unearthed, with remains of carriage roads, about twenty houses with stone furnaces and a number of open-air furnaces. The bloomery remains fit into the series of furnaces of the 7th and 8th centuries found
previously on other sites in former Pannonia. As a part of a complex research project, more than a hundred slag samples from Zamárdi were examined by XRF, ICP, XRD and SEM-EDS. Different slag types and their metallurgical roles were identified. We concluded that the nature of archaeometallurgical sites can be confidently determined by the typological examination of several kinds of slag.

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