Refractory Ceramics from an Iron Age Bronze Melting Workshop at Khirbet Edh-Dharih, Jordan
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National Institute of Standards and Technology, Metallurgy Division, Mailstop 223/B1164, Gaithersburg, M.D. 20899, USA Andreas Hauptmann, Institut fir Archaometallurgie, DMT, Postfach 10 27 49, D-44782 Bochum, Germany Pamela B. Vandiver, Smithsonian Institution, MSC Conservation Analytical Laboratory, Washington, D.C. 20560, USA
ABSTRACT An excavation at Khirbet edh-Dharih implemented by the Institut Franqais D'Archa~ologie du Proche-Ori~nt brought forth a few archaeometallurgical remains such as lumps of bronze, slags, and refractory ceramic fragments. Khirbet edh-Dharih is located in Jordan, near the Feinan area at Wadi Arabah. The Feinan area is well known as a major supplier of copper in the Near East's history from the Chalcolithic to the Roman period. The remains from Khirbet edh-Dharih were dated from the Iron Age II, and they are pointing to a workshop for further treatment of copper from Feinan. Khirbet edh-Dharih is the first bronze melting site excavated in the Feinan copper district. INTRODUCTION The remains of Khirbet edh-Dharih are products of a bronze melting process, in which a leaded tin-bronze has been either produced or melted. [An upcoming publication about the metal technology at Khirbet edh-Dharih and its interrelation to the Feinan area is currently in preparation.] The metal lumps contain up to 21 wt% lead and up to 6 wt% tin and show a microstructure of copper grains or copper-tin solid solution. Tin contents occur mostly as stannic oxide (Sn0 2, here an oxidation product during melting). Eutectic cuprous oxide (Cu 20) can also be observed in the metallic microstructure. These oxide phases suggest that these metal lumps do not represent the produced alloys, but the waste materials of the production. The lead contents of the produced alloys play a decisive part in the properties of the metal. An addition of lead to a tin bronze increases the fluidity of the molten metal and therefore facilitats the casting of alloys in complex molds [e.g. 1, 2]. The slags are mostly glassy with nearly unassimilated a-quartz grains and prills of metal which are disseminated throughout the glassy matrix. Oxide and silicate phases occur only in accessorical amounts. These observations and high silica and alumina contents versus low iron and manganese contents indicate that these slags are so-called crucible or melting slags. The refractory ceramic fragments have a very peculiar structure, which raises questions about their purpose and properties. The present article is focussed on this issue. The variety of the fragment shapes are shown in Fig. 1.
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Mat. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. Vol. 462 01997 Materials Research Society
Refractory Ceramics from Khirbet edh-Dharih Refractory Ceramics from Khirbet edh-Dharih
Variety of Fragment Shapes
m hd
slag
whlayer
re lye
Fig. 1 Variety of refractory ceramicfragments from Khirbel edh-IDharih, Jordan.
THE REFRACTORY CERAMIC FRAGMENTS Most of the refractory ceramic fragments from Khirbet edh-Dharih have a peculiar layered and blocky structure. Fig. 2 shows a photo
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