Previous post: Introduction to Slag Analysis: What is it and why bother? Whilst writing this series I realised that without understanding how iron is made in a furnace, all this talk about slag is a bit confusing. The following is an attempt to state the process clearly and concisely. As with many aspects of the… Continue reading Introduction to slag analysis: How iron is made in a bloomery furnace
As part of this summer's efforts to get out of the lab, away from uni and learn new things (my version of going on excavation) I have just returned from an extremely intensive and exhausting three days learning the basic smithing techniques required to make a sword in an Iron Age style. That's right people… Continue reading Smithing course!
I'm currently trying to write the handbook blurb for my lecture on archaeometallurgy for the Expermental Archaeology unit this term, and I stumbled across the lovely little snippet of an educational video. I just love the tone of excitement and certainty!
I can't remember if I've posted about this before or not, however in case I haven't I wanted to mention it here. David A. Scott, who is chairing one of the sessions at the HMS Research in Progress meeting I am helping to organise, has made his seminal book Metallography and Microstructure of Ancient and… Continue reading David A. Scott’s Metallography and Microstructure of Ancient Metals
Well, I say Huttenberg, but to be honest I think I visited the village once! The trip to Austria went really well. Not only did I have an absolutely fantastic time in a beautiful country eating fantastic food and drinking suprisingly nice beer (I am not a beer drinker normally!) but the site... the material… Continue reading Success in Huttenberg
Today I sampled some bloom pieces that make up part of a small set of debris sent to me by Brigitte Cech, an independant archaeological researcher working on the Ferrum Noricum sites. Brigitte was pretty sure this was likely to be a Roman site, so she had a look using a metal detector and a… Continue reading Sampling Blooms from Austria
Life has been realtively quiet at Finds and Features over the Easter break, not least because my university has been completely closed for around a week (even the libraries!). Twitter is prooving increddibly useful at the moment. Not only did I note the 'colateral murder' video turning up in my Twitter stream before it hit… Continue reading Journal TOC Project, and updates
Well it looks like I've wrapped up the first draft of my iron smelting chemistry and processes piece and sent it off to my supervisors. It's not the literature review they hoped for, but I figure this way I won't have to explain anything when I talk about why this paper is ground-breaking or that… Continue reading Iron ore reduction in a bloomery furnace – part 3
I've been doing some reading in an attempt to wrap up my piece on iron smelting chemistry and processes, and I was thinking about why iron is such an interesting subject to study. I think it probably comes down to the juxtaposition between incredible utility and practicality of the metal, and the sheer difficulty and… Continue reading Why do I study iron?
This weekend, 27th-28th March 2010, I've been helping out at the Early Iron in Europe workshop, taking minutes. This has been extremely exciting, as the aim of the workshop is to bring together everyone involved in iron archaeometallurgy in Europe, with representatives present from more than fourteen countries. Perhaps the most valuable part of the… Continue reading Early Iron in Europe – ESF funded workshop
Ruth Fillery-Travis 