Lead Metallurgy

This paper is about the trade of copper originating from the Harz Mountains or, more specifically, from Goslar, and concentrates on the period between the 12 th and 14 th centuries. The Harz Mountains
can be regarded as the largest and most important copper source of medieval Central Europe until the rise of copper production in Falun in the 14 th century, and mining historians have shown that the trade of metallic products from the Harz was well established by the 12 th century. The recent study of Huneberg has provided a model for the production capacity of a typical 12 th century woodland smelting site producing copper and lead in one of medieval Europe's foremost mining areas.
Historians have documented the extent of metal production and trade in Goslar, an important source for raw materials that could be transported up the Rhine to market towns like Cologne and to the Meuse valley, important centres for the production of copper alloy goods. Combining our understanding of the histories of trade and mining allows an approximation to be made of the production volume of the Harz per year for the medieval period. These estimations tally quite well with
the demand for copper known to us from written sources, such as the copper roof of the cathedral of Goslar from 1050 or the copper order for the Bamberg cathedral's roof by Bishop Otto in 1128.

Résumé/Abstract Excavations in 2002 at Cwmystwyth, in Central Wales, found an ancient lead smelting site. There are remains of the medieval and the Roman periods. This paper describes in brief the excavation of the medieval lead bole (Timberlake 2002a) but also provides an archaeological reconstruction of this and details of an experimental lead smelt carried out at the site in 2003 (by ST). The analytical study (by LA) is of the medieval metallurgical debris excavated in 2002, mostly slag, but also ore and lead. The aim was to ...

Résumé/Abstract Excavations in 2002 at Cwmystwyth, in Central Wales, found an ancient lead smelting site. There are remains of the medieval and the Roman periods. This paper describes in brief the excavation of the medieval lead bole (Timberlake 2002a) but also provides an archaeological reconstruction of this and details of an experimental lead smelt carried out at the site in 2003 (by ST). The analytical study (by LA) is of the medieval metallurgical debris excavated in 2002, mostly slag, but also ore and lead. The aim was to ...

A wide-ranging study based on compositional and isotopic analyses of minerals and manufactured objects from the north-eastern Iberian Peninsula and their respective archaeological and cultural contexts demonstrates significant lead mineral exploitation in the El Priorat area (Tarragona province) linked to Phoenician trade (seventh–sixth centuries BC). This exploitation continued, despite losing intensity, until the Romanization of the territory. Our project also aims to determine the nature and origin of the lead and silver supply in the northern Iberian territory surrounding the Phocaean enclave of Emporion, especially with regard to the demands of the colonial mint. The behaviour pattern of the circulation of lead, silver and copper in Catalonia in the period studied indicates a plurality of contemporary supply sources, although, at least from the fifth century BC onward, minerals and metals from the south-eastern Iberian Peninsula take on considerable importance.

Résumé/Abstract Excavations in 2002 at Cwmystwyth, in Central Wales, found an ancient lead smelting site. There are remains of the medieval and the Roman periods. This paper describes in brief the excavation of the medieval lead bole (Timberlake 2002a) but also provides an archaeological reconstruction of this and details of an experimental lead smelt carried out at the site in 2003 (by ST). The analytical study (by LA) is of the medieval metallurgical debris excavated in 2002, mostly slag, but also ore and lead. The aim was to ...

This study provides the earliest unambiguous evidence for the extraction of lead in Northern Europe. Previous studies of early metal extraction have focused on copper ores in Ireland, with an increasing number of mines identified in western Britain, particularly in mid‐ and north‐Wales, in recent years. The evidence presented here focuses on the extraction of lead in the north‐west of England, extending our understanding of metal extraction beyond copper ores. Radiocarbon dating of sample sites to c.1800 cal.BC places anthropogenic activity in the British Early Bronze Age, challenging assumptions that lead was first utilised in the Middle Bronze Age period in Britain. Excavation of two Early Bronze Age burials, of contemporaneous date, found Collared Urn cremations with associated crystals of galena, placed as apparent grave offerings, inviting the possibility that they are the graves of putative mine workers.
KEYWORDS
EARLY BRONZE AGE, LEAD, MINING, MINERAL EXTRACTION, MAGNETIC MEASUREMENT, SATURATION ISOTHERMAL
REMANENT MAGNETISATION ASSAY, HEAVY METAL (LEAD) ASSAY, PREHISTORIC METALLURGY, COLLARED URN BURIAL,
UPLAND, PEAT, LANCASHIRE, ARCHAEOLOGY, ARCHAEOLOGICAL METHOD, EUROPEAN BRONZE AGE, BRITISH BRONZE AGE

The paper describes the results of a survey of a 19th century lead mining landscape in Andalusia, Spain. The site consists of mines, processing areas, calcination kilns, smithing areas and other remains. The website with the interactive results is visible at http://www.timespaces.eu/Spain/Bedar.html

This study provides the first evidence for the extraction of lead in the later early medieval period in Lancashire, in the North West of England. Archaeological evidence for human activity in the region during the later medieval period is modest, although the material culture that is known supports the historic accounts of settlement by people of Scandinavian origin, which is reinforced by studies of place names and local dialect. Investigation of two upland sites in the western Pennines, on Anglezarke and Rivington moors, indicates that lead was being extracted in the period c.680-1000 cal.AD, most likely from known veins at Lead Mines Clough. The emergence of extractive activity coincides with contact with the Norse who are known from both historic and archaeological evidence to have been present in Lancashire during the later early medieval period.

KEYWORDS
EARLY MEDIEVAL, LEAD, MINING, MINERAL EXTRACTION, MAGNETIC MEASUREMENT, SATURATION ISOTHERMAL REMANENT MAGNETISATION ASSAY, HEAVY METAL (LEAD) ASSAY, METALLURGY, UPLAND, PEAT, LANCASHIRE, ARCHAEOLOGY, ARCHAEOLOGICAL METHOD, NORSE ARCHAEOLOGY

Two sets of archaeological lead objects from different sites were analysed by ICP-OES for several minor and trace elements in a) the metal and b) the patina. For the first time, detailed analyses of well provenanced and coherent groups of, respectively, LBA Egyptian and 1st century AD Germanic lead objects are given, and interpreted for their metallurgical significance. Besides this, characteristic systematic differences in the composition of metal and patina were found for the two sets for various trace elements, including silver, copper, tin, antimony and arsenic, paralleled by a different mineralogy of the respective patinas.