‘The adventitious production of iron in the smelting of copper’ revisited: metallographic evidence against a tempting model
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Published
Jan 1, 2022
Abstract
The concentrations and distributions of copper in corroded iron artefacts are critical for interpreting the origin of the iron metal. Microanalysis and copper element distribution maps of twelve iron artefacts from the Egyptian New Kingdom (14th-12th century BC) Temple at Timna/Wadi Mene ‘iyeh near Elat-Aqaba show gradients indicating contamination by copper from the burial environment. While metallic iron can be a by-product from copper smelting, it seems unlikely it was collected and forged into iron objects. These twelve iron artefacts are the products from iron smelting, not by-products from copper smelting.
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References
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Craddock P T 1993, ‘Book review of The Ancient Metallurgy of Copper’, Journal of Archaeological Science 20, 589-93.
Craddock P T 1995, Early Metal Mining and Production (Edinburgh).
Cronyn J 1990, The Elements of Archaeological Conservation (London).
Gale N H, Bachmann H-G, Rothenberg B, Stos-Gale Z A and Tylecote R F 1990, ‘The Adventitious Production of Iron in the Smelting of Copper’ in B Rothenberg (ed), The Ancient Metallurgy of Copper (London), 182-91.
Ingraham M, Johnson T, Riham B and Shatla I 1981, ‘Preliminary Report on a Reconnaissance Survey of the Northwestern Province: (with a brief note on the Northern Province)’, Atlal: The Journal of Saudi Arabian Archaeology 5, 59-84.
Knox R 1963, ‘Detection of iron carbide structure in the oxide remains of ancient steel’, Archaeometry 6, 43-5.
Lorig C H and Adams R R 1948, Copper as an Alloying Element in Steel and Cast Iron (New York).
Moorey P R S 1994, Ancient Mesopotamian Materials and Industries (Oxford).
Notis M R, Pigott V C, McGovern P E, Liu K H and Swann C P 1986, ‘The archaeometallurgy of the Iron IA Steel’, in P E McGovern (ed), The Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages of Central Transjordan: The Baq’ah Valley Project, 1977-1981 (Philadelphia), 272-8.
Pigott V C, McGovern P E and Notis M R 1982, ‘The earliest steel from Transjordan’, MASCA Journal (Archaeometallurgy Supplement) 2(2), 35-9.
Roman I 1990, ‘Copper Ingots’, in B Rothenberg (ed), The Ancient Metallurgy of Copper (London), 182-91.
Rose A W, Hawkes H E and Webb J S 1979, Geochemistry in Mineral Exploration, 2nd edn (London).
Rothenberg B 1972, Timna (London).
Rothenberg B 1988, The Egyptian Mining Temple at Timna (London).
Rothenberg B 1990, The Ancient Metallurgy of Copper (London).
Scott B 1989, ‘The retrieval of technological information from corrosion products on early wrought iron artefacts’, in R Janaway and B Scott (eds), Evidence Preserved in Corrosion Products: New Fields in Artifact Studies. UKIC Occasional Papers 8, 8-14.
Snodgrass A M 1980, ‘Iron and Early Metallurgy in the Mediterranean’, in T A Wertime and J D Muhly (eds), The Coming of the Age of Iron (New Haven), 335-74.
Snodgrass A M 1982, ‘Cyprus and the Beginnings of Iron Technology in the Eastern Mediterranean’, in J D Muhly, R Maddin and V Karageorghis (eds), Early Metallurgy in Cyprus (Nicosia), 285-94.
Turgoose S 1982, ‘Post-excavation changes in iron antiquities’, Studies in Conservation 27, 97-101.
Turgoose S 1985, ‘Corrosion of archaeological iron during burial and treatment’, Studies in Conservation 30, 13-18.
Tylecote R F and Boydell P J 1978, ‘Experiments on copper smelting, based on early furnaces found at Timna’, in B Rothenberg (ed), Chalcolithic Copper Smelting: Excavations and Experiments, IAMS Monograph 1 (London), 27-49.
Tylecote R F 1988, ‘Metallurgical notes on selected metal objects’, in B Rothenberg (ed), The Egyptian Mining Temple at Timna (London), 186-90.
Waldbaum J 1978, From Bronze to Iron: The Transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age in the Eastern Mediterranean, Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology 54 (Göteborg).
Waldbaum J 1980, ‘The First Archaeological Appearance of Iron and the Transition to the Iron Age’, in T A Wertime and J D Muhly (eds), The Coming of the Age of Iron (New Haven), 69-98.
Waldbaum J 1999, ‘The coming of iron in the Eastern Mediterranean’, in V Pigott (ed), The Archaeometallurgy of the Asian Old World. MASCA Research Papers in Science and Archaeology 16 (Philadelphia), 27-57.
How to Cite
‘The adventitious production of iron in the smelting of copper’ revisited: metallographic evidence against a tempting model. (2022). Historical Metallurgy, 34(2), 59-66. https://www.hmsjournal.org/index.php/home/article/view/285
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How to Cite
‘The adventitious production of iron in the smelting of copper’ revisited: metallographic evidence against a tempting model. (2022). Historical Metallurgy, 34(2), 59-66. https://www.hmsjournal.org/index.php/home/article/view/285