An archaic blast furnace and a forge with a water-powered trip-hammer were excavated at the site of Valle delle Forme. The archaeology of this site was discussed in a first paper published in Historical Metallurgy 53(1) (Cucini et al. 2019). The forge of Valle delle Forme is the first site of this kind in the Italian Alps to be studied from an archaeological and archaeometallurgical standpoint. The focus of this paper is the study of the metallurgical waste from the site and the paper’s aim is to provide a deeper understanding of the Bergamasque method for the making of cast iron and the decarburisation process. These finds were the subject of a PhD thesis (discussed in the academic year 2015–2016) by Dr. Irene Uda at Pavia University and were studied at the CEA (Saclay, France).
This article presents a summary of XRF/PIXE analyses of the elemental chemical composition of three clock mechanisms and four calculating machines from the 17th century. These objects are both luxurious and functional, and therefore subject to two constraints: aesthetic (appearance and colour of the brass) and mechanical (resistance to stress and friction). The analyses, which focused on the main constitutive elements of brass (Cu, Zn, Sn, Pb, Ni), enabled to identify several types of brass of different qualities that respond fairly well to the mechanical and wear constraints to which the mechanisms are subjected. The choice of materials seems to have been guided mainly by these constraints and by economic considerations. In addition, the study highlights the existence of a Parisian foundry that was probably the source of all the brasses studied, and shows that the use of high-zinc brass (>33% Zn) was already common for this type of object by the mid-seventeenth century.
Corrigendum to: Thilo Rehren, Sam Nixon, Bokbot, Y., Brunella Santarelli, Biyang Wang, & Desai, M. (2026). Multiple metallurgies in Medieval Tamdult, a mining, smelting and caravan town in southern Morocco. Historical Metallurgy, 56(1), 3-19. https://doi.org/10.54841/hm.686 The corrigendum is also included on the last page of the article.
The historic town of Masouleh in Gilan Province, northern Iran, represents a distinctive cultural landscape shaped by the interaction between human settlement and rich natural resources, especially iron ore. This study investigates the geological, archaeological, and historical evidence for iron mining and metallurgy in the Masouleh region and evaluates their role in the town’s socioeconomic development. New fieldwork and laboratory analyses have identified over thirty metallurgical sites within the Masouleh valley and its highland surroundings, yielding slag, tuyères, and fragments of furnace walls that attest to a long tradition of iron smelting. XRF analyses of slag and ores indicate the use of high-grade hematite and magnetite ores, reduced in both bloomery and charcoal-fueled blast furnaces. Comparison with ethnographic and historical records from Qarādāgh and Mazandaran provides insights into the operation of multi-chamber smelting installations at sites such as Kohne Masouleh and Siyapesia. From the Safavid to Qajar periods (16th to early 20th centuries CE), iron extraction, smelting, and blacksmithing underpinned the economy of Masouleh, supplying iron products to regional markets and the royal arsenal. These findings demonstrate that iron metallurgy was central to the technological and economic identity of Masouleh and highlight the need for further interdisciplinary studies combining geology, archaeo- metallurgy, and landscape archaeology to reconstruct the region’s industrial past.
The early Islamic settlement of Tamdult in southern Morocco is at the centre of an archaeological mining-metallurgical landscape with strong evidence for the production and working of lead, silver, copper and brass. Here, we provide an overview of the various metallurgies identified, and discuss their likely common origin from a sulfidic complex lead-zinc-copper ore mineralisation, leading to two distinct primary products: silver pellets and brass ingots. The presence of ancient mining traces, multiple locales of copper and lead smelting, fragments of litharge, numerous coin moulds with silver traces, and various types of ore, slag, crucibles and moulds linked to brass making, constitutes the most comprehensive inter-connected set of chaînes opératoires for copper, brass, lead and silver production in northwestern Africa. The initial results presented here allow key aspects of the raw material procurement and processing to be reconstructed, and to identify remaining gaps in our understanding and documentation of early medieval metal production on the western fringes of the Sahara.
