This study examines the alloy of the inlay decoration found on iron objects from the medieval Carpathian Basin (7th–11th centuries) and draws conclusions from the findings regarding the lessons learned from the use of materials and the characteristics of contemporary technology. Regarding the material of the inlay, the focus of the examinations is on brass and its zinc content, primarily from the dual perspective that the colour of the decoration should resemble gold as closely as possible, while at the same time remain malleable enough to be shaped cold according to the pattern. Most of the objects examined were stirrups, but the inlaid-work of an iron folding chair and double-edged swords is also presented. Another aim of the study is to present methodological lessons regarding a series of examinations in which fundamentally only a non-destructive method (handheld X-ray fluorescence spectrometer) was used for determining chemical composition — which is essentially very usable but of somewhat limited effectiveness — and, in some special cases, microstructural analysis was performed on prepared samples using an optical microscope and a scanning electron microscope equipped with an energy dispersive spectroscope. The results of the analyses showed that although the compositional ratio of the brass in individual objects and object types varied slightly, it was essentially within the range that allowed for a gold-like luster and remained malleable even when cold. The steps and conditions of the contemporary process could be outlined; at the same time, no traces of surface dezincification were found.

The team of the Institute of Archaeological Sciences of the Eötvös Loránd University has been investigating the Early Iron Age hillfort at Dédestapolcsány-Verebce-bérc (Northeast Hungary) since 2020. The settlement was destroyed by siege in the late 7th century BC, as evidenced by hundreds of early Scythian bronze arrowheads and burnt buildings. Based on the recovered metal and pottery findings the settlement dated to the Early Iron Age in the Carpathian Basin (end of the 7th century – beginning of the 6th century BC). The quantity of the Early and Middle Iron Age iron and bronze artefacts and pieces of iron raw material on the site is exceptionally high. More than 30 depots were unearthed which include pieces of iron raw material. In the whole territory, the number of these finds is more than 600. The average weight of the pieces was 1.54 kg. A few selected objects were sampled and subjected to archaeometric analysis (OM and SEM-EDS). The main aim of the examinations carried out by the experts of the Archaeometallurgical Research Group of the University of Miskolc (ARGUM) was the material characterisation of the samples to figure out what kind of processing has been applied and reveal how the iron raw materials can be connected in any way to the other iron objects found at the site. Based on the results, it can be concluded that the iron pieces are compacted with a slightly heterogeneous structure. Each one is a part of a single bloom, not several pieces of different blooms assembled together. Numerous pores and cavities were observed in the microstructure of the samples. Their basic character is similar, although, they differ from each other, mainly in terms of carbon content and degree of forming. These pieces are not typical semi-finished products; they can be identified somewhere halfway between primary bloom and compacted bar.

Keszthely-Fenékpusztán egy egykori pannoniai késő római kori erődítmény lelőhelyén öt nagyméretű ékelt vasbucát találtak. Rendkívüli paramétereik miatt ezek a leletek az ókori európai vaskohászat archeometallurgiájának egyik legérdekesebb darabjai. Előállításuk folyamata megtalálásuk óta technológiai rejtély. Két vasbucán komplex archeometriai vizsgálatot végeztünk, hogy választ kapjunk néhány alapvető kérdésre a mikroszerkezetet és a kémiai összetételt illetően, illetve, hogy mit lehet megtudni a kohósítás technológiai körülményeiről, valamint a vasbucák további felhasználhatóságával kapcsolatosan. Vízsugaras vágással egy 10 mm vastagságú szeletet vágtak le az egyik bucából. A szeletből kialakított tíz 4x4 cm-es darabot optikai mikroszkóppal és energiadiszperzív spektrométerrel ellátott pásztázó elektronmikroszkóppal vizsgáltunk. A minták C-tartalmát optikai emissziós spektométer segítségével detektáltuk. Az eredmények alapján arra lehetett következtetni, hogy a kohósítás után nem volt utólagos alakítás. A vizsgált bucában nagyszámú gázpórus volt megfigyelhető és rendkívül magas volt a C-tartalma. A bucaszelet szerkezete heterogén volt, csak két mintában találtunk ferrit-perlites kiterjedt területet relatíve alacsonyabb karbon tartalommal. Meglepően kevés salakzárvány volt megfigyelhető, amelyek az olvasztásból származtak. A szerkezet alapján a vasbucát körülbelül 1200°C hőmérsékleten, hosszú olvasztási idő alatt állították elő. Elképzelhető, hogy kisebb vasbucákat vagy korábbi kohósítások után a salaktalanító kalapálás során letört kisebb salakos bucadarabokat visszaadagoltak a kemencébe és újra egybeolvasztották őket. Három kovácsolási kísérletet végeztünk a vasbuca szeletből hevített darabok kovácsolásával, hogy megvizsgáljuk az anyag viselkedését a kalapálás során. A legkisebb karbon tartalmú minta is csak közepesen volt kovácsolható, a többi minta viszont nem, vagy csak nehezen.

The Age of the Grave of Vörs-Papkert 167 Based on the Examination of the Sword from the Burial.The paper is concerned with a detailed contextual and archaeometrical presentation of a double-edged sword found in the Hungarian Vörs cemetery.The cemetery has been central in Hungarian research due its continuity of burials from the Avar Age throughout to the time of the Early Hungarian Principality in the 9 th and 10 th c.Excavators of the site usually noted a continuous population associated with the cemetery.The presence of a double-edged sword is intriguing at the site.The paper will provide exact measurements of the weapon, information about its formal features, and the findings of archaeometric analyses.After the examination, the results will be contrasted to comparable examples which suggest that both the burial and the sword date to the 9 th c.

The paper is concerned with a detailed contextual and archaeometrical presentation of a double-edged sword found in the Hungarian Vors cemetery. The cemetery has been central in Hungarian research due its continuity of burials from the Avar Age throughout to the time of the Early Hungarian Principality in the 9th and 10th c. Excavators of the site usually noted a continuous population associated with the cemetery. The presence of a double-edged sword is intriguing at the site. The paper will provide exact measurements of the weapon, information about its formal features, and the findings of archaeometric analyses. After the examination, the results will be contrasted to comparable examples which suggest that both the burial and the sword date to the 9th c.

2017-ben kiemelkedő lelettel gazdagodott a honfoglalás kori régészeti hagyaték. Jászberény határából egy aranyozott ezüstből készült 10. századi süvegcsúcs került be a Jász Múzeum gyűjteményébe, feltehetően Jászberény-Alsómuszály, homokbánya lelőhelyről. 2018-ban a hitelesítő ásatás mellett kutatócsoport jött létre a süvegcsúcs archeometriai vizsgálatára, illetve a beregszászi lelettel való részletes összehasonlításra, melyben a Miskolci Egyetem munkatársai is részt vettek. A két süvegcsúcs XRF-vizsgálata hasonló ötvözetet, illetve aranyozási technológiát mutatott ki. A jászberényi lelet belső részeit feltáró endoszkópos vizsgálat, illetve a két félgömbből álló felső kupakos rész peremének megfigyelése egy fehér színű anyag maradványait mutatta ki. A lelet készítéstechnikai elemzése során merült fel, hogy a két félgömb összefogásához nem mechanikai rögzítést, hanem valamilyen ragasztót alkalmazott az egykori mester. A megfigyelést az archeometriai vizsgálatok (SEMEDS és FTIR) részben igazolták, ragasztó jelenléte kimutatható volt, és bár feltételezzük, hogy fenyőgyanta alapú, azonban a pontos minőségét, eredetét nem sikerült megállapítani. Ezzel első ízben nyert igazolást az az ötvöstechnikai feltételezés, hogy a 10. században természetes eredetű ragasztókat is használtak.

This case study presents the results and conclusions of chemical and metallographic analyses carried out on metal finds (gilded silver mounts, jewelry made of silver- and copper-based alloys, and iron horse fittings) found in nine graves excavated at the 10th century site of the Terjék-tanya at Kiskunfélegyháza (Hungary). The examinations were performed with portable handheld X-ray fluorescence spectrometer (ED-XRF), optical microscopy (OM) and scanning electron microscopy equipped with an energy dispersive spectroscope (SEM-EDS). Beside the determination of the chemical composition of the non-ferrous artefacts and the inclusions of the iron samples, the aim of the study was to detect traces and characteristics of different manufacturing methods such as fire gilding, forging, etc.

The International Union of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Sciences (UISPP), an organisation with over 90 years of history, includes all the fields and disciplines that contribute to the development of prehistory and protohistory. To achieve their goals, the UISPP organises periodically a world congress on prehistoric and protohistoric sciences. Based on proposals received, the general assembly decides on the creation of scientific commissions, following the advice of the executive committee of the UISPP. The main objective of these commissions is to promote and coordinate international research in a specific or specialised domain of the prehistoric and protohistoric sciences between each world congress. Based on the success and interest shown in a session of the 17th UISPP Congress, the need has arisen to create a new scientific commission in the field of archaeometry. This brief text describes the creation of this commission and its scientific activities to date. The commission aims at discussing and transmitting the archaeometric approaches to technologies in Prehistory and Protohistory concerning lithic technology, metallurgy, ceramics and glass making; gathering and organising the results, conclusions and circumstances of archaeometric case studies of artifacts; paying particular attention to production, procurement and characterisation of raw materials, and fabrication technologies; and discussing relevant interdisciplinary investigation methods and techniques.

Hammerscale is a common by-product of the forging process of iron and it may appear in a large amount in the ancient smithy workshops as well. Its recycling (i.e. re-smelting) in early bloomery furnaces might have been an economical and reasonable process, although it is not known whether it works or not, and also there is no archaeological evidence for this technique. In our recent investigation, flaky hammerscale was smelted using the copy of the 8-10th century embedded furnaces of the Avars and the conquering Hungarians. The resulting bloom was processed to a billet and its chemical composition was further examined. Hammerscale proved to be an excellent raw material for the early bloomery iron smelting technology: good iron yield could be achieved due to the high reaction surface and iron content. Moreover, the extracted bloomery iron had low carbon content and had a very low amount of undesirable impurities, e.g. P, As. Cu, S. etc.

Among the Early Medieval double-edged swords, excavated in the Carpathian Basin, there are a few which probably have Byzantine origin. The most unique piece of this small but significant group of weapons was unearthed at Kunágota, Southern Hungary. The sword, which has a special sword-guard made of bronze, has been examined by the experts of the Archaeometallurgical Research Group of the University of Miskolc with optical microscopy, SEM-EDS, ED-XRF, and microhardness tests. The primary aim was to study the microstructure of the blade and guard. There was also an important objective of the investigations to explore the possible manufacturing technology. Due to the metallographic examination, it was possible to reconstruct the manufacturing process of the Kunágota-sword. Three samples were taken from the sword for metallographic examination, two of them (K1A and K1B) were collected from the sword-guard and one (K2) from the blade. To summarise the results, it can be established that the basic material of the Kunágota-sword guard is a heterogeneous copper-alloy with high lead content. In the core area of the blade sample a very fine pearlitic structure can be seen. Towards the edge of the blade, a martensitic microstructure can be observed which probably proves a kind of heat treatment of the sword. With the aid of archaeometric investigations, our knowledge related to Byzantine swords can be deepened. Further interesting results can be gained by comparing with the characteristics of other Byzantine swords found of the Carpathian Basin.

The emergence, spread and development of iron working in the Carpathian Basin is an essential and interdisciplinary research field, an important stage of which being the results of the archaeometallurgical-archaeomaterial examinations presented in this article. The excavation site of Regöly (Hungary) represents a special source from the earliest Iron culture of the Carpathian Basin, and using the results of metallographic analysis our aim is to place the examined objects in their proper context with regard to the process of iron working. One fragment found in the tumulus of Regöly during the excavation 2011–2012 has been presumed part of an iron bloom; this may be the earliest example of iron working in the Carpathian Basin (630–600 BC). From both an historical and technological point of view this raises several questions. One aim of our study is to characterise the fragments in order to figure out what kind of processing has been applied and ultimately see how the ‘iron bloom’ fragment can be connected in any way to the other iron objects found at the site. Examinations were carried out by optical microscopy (OM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM-EDS) on both the iron objects and the bloom fragment. Metallographic analysis revealed a very specific microstructure, indicating that the bloom fragment is not a direct product that came directly from the bloomery furnace; it could be a secondary or even tertiary product (prefabricated) instead. However, regarding the bloom fragment, there is evidence of a forging method. During the tests, slag inclusions were also examined. The results from Regöly were also compared with other finds from a Celtic workshop-type site (Bükkábrány, 320–200 BC). Although a direct connection between the examined iron objects and the iron bloom fragment (as possible raw material) cannot be confirmed, the iron artefacts and fragments of Regöly might easily have been made from some basic material as represented by the fragment of an iron bloom or bar. Even though the find from Regöly does not definitively provide the earliest evidence for iron smelting technology in the Carpathian Basin area, it does give evidence for some form of iron forging from a semi-finished product.

1983 és 1986 között Nagymágocs-Paptanyán a Kr. u. 4. század vége és 5. század közepe közötti időszakra keltezhető, szarmata település részletét tárták fel. A település 7 objektumából eltérő szerkezetű salakmaradványok, egy helyről pedig egy salakos felületű tégely is előkerült. A tégely és a legtöbb salak, a 73. objektumból származik. A lelőhelyen nem került elő olyan egyértelműen ipari objektum, aminek tevékenysége salakképződéssel járna együtt. A vasműves/kovácsműhelyként meghatározott 73. objektum funkciójára csupán a salakleletek utalnak. Közülük összesen 8 darabot vizsgáltunk, beleértve a tégely felületére olvadt tapadványt is. Legelőször a salakokból vett minták kémiai összetételének meghatározása történt Varian 710-ES tömegspektrométerrel (ICP-OES), majd a darabokból vett újabb mintákról ezután csiszolatokat készítettünk. Ezeket EDAX energiadiszperzív (EDS) mikroszondával felszerelt Zeiss EVO MA10 pásztázó elektronmikroszkóppal (SEM) vizsgáltuk meg. Néhány mintát Bruker D8 Advance röntgen pordiffraktométerrel (XRD) is megvizsgáltunk. A minták, amelyeket a salakokból vettünk, alapvetően két csoportba oszthatók, melyekben további alcsoportok különíthetők el. A 4., 5. és 6. salakminták morfológiai sajátosságai alapján is, vélhetően vasművességi tevékenységből származnak. Kémiai összetételükben alapvetően vasoxidok, azon belül is a nagy FeO tartalom dominál. Elektronmikroszkópos vizsgálatok alapján heterogén salakszerkezetet találtunk. Mindazonáltal a SEM vizsgálatok alkalmával prizmás poligonos szerkezetet is találtunk, amely felvetette a kérdést a salak eredetét tekintve. Többek között ezért, illetve a vizsgálatok komplexitása érdekében néhány mintát röntgen-pordiffrakciós eljárással is megvizsgáltunk. A vizsgálatok összesített konklúziójaként a 4., 5. és 6. salakminták olyan vasművességhez köthető (valószínűleg kovácsoláshoz, de elméletben nem zárható ki a metallurgiai fázis sem) darabok, amelyeknek heterogén szerkezetébe a kovácstűzhely vagy kemence falából származó maradványok is keveredhettek. Az ásványtani vizsgálattal azonosított leucit például tipikusan káliumdús, szilíciumszegény olvadékból kristályosodhat ki, de lehet akár szilárd fázisú, termikus reakció eredménye is, azaz származhat huzamosabb ideig 1100-1400 oC-on használt kovácstűzhely, vagy kemence kiégett agyagából. A többi salakminta vizsgálata nem hozott olyan eredményt, amely alapján bármelyiket egyértelműen vas vagy fémművességi tevékenységhez lehetne kötni. A 73. objektumból előkerült öntőtégely több tevékenységhez kapcsolódó munkafolyamatból is származhat. A tégely oldaláról leválasztott tapadvány morfológiai sajátossága, kémiai összetétele, mikroszerkezete leginkább üvegolvasztáshoz kapcsolódó melléktermékre utal.

Numerous slag samples and a piece of iron bloom with slag from excavations of Celtic settlements (La Tene C and D) at Ordacsehi, Szilvasvarad and Jaszbereny (Hungary) were examined. The main objectives of the investigations were to study the material and structural properties of the slag specimens, the definition of the metallurgical functions of the different pieces of slag. Analytical techniques are wet chemical analysis (ICP-OES complemented with carbon determination, moreover using titration for separating the Fe(2+)and Fe3+), textural-chemical investigations with SEM-EDS microanalysis and mineralogical analysis with XRD. Chemical investigations can be supplemented by ED-XRF. Most of the examined slags can be originated from the purification hammering process, where in an oxidizing atmosphere intended to separate the slag from the iron after reheating the bloom, or the forging of the iron tool. Some of the slag samples with fine dendrites remind metallurgical slag, although there have not been found traces of bloomery at the excavation sites. The examined slaggy bloom-fragment interlocks to the beginning of the technological line of forging as the first (by)product after the smelting formed in the bloomery furnace. Most of the examined slag samples are by-products of smithy workshop working in buildings.

UISPP’s long history started in 1865 with the International Congress of Prehistoric Anthropology and Archeology (CIAAP) before its foundation in 1931 in Bern. In 1955, UISPP became a member of the ...

This paper communicates new results on fire aided limnosilicte mining in a Hungarian paleolithic site. The beneficial effect of temperature on material fragmentation and chipping was proved by laboratory experiments, with samples fired at 260 degrees C and 360 degrees C. Mineralogical transformations which lead to fragmentation are triggered by heating and were characterized by analytical methods in detail. The raw material is nanocrystalline quartz dominant silicolite with amorphous silica, moganite and traces of goethite and tridymite, identical to length-fast chalcedony. X-ray diffraction revealed the recrystallization of amorphous silica into quartz, accompanied by H2O loss measured by thermogravimetry. Using attenuated total reflectance Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy, both H2O and OH content, their loss by heating and recrystallization was evidenced. Scanning electron microscopy on chipped surfaces revealed the disappearance of the fibrous texture, promoting the knappability of the material. The main factors influencing fire-aided mining and/or processing were identified as H2O pressure, amorphous silica crystallization as a result of H2O and OH removal from the silanol groups and change in quartz crystallite morphology.

The SiO2 varieties of low temperature other than quartz play an important role in the composition of many archeological tools, products, byproducts, and raw materials. We have encountered several SiO2 species, ranging from Paleolithic stone tools to glass production, from ores, smelting slags, and finds of burnt clay belonging to ancient metalworking technologies. They are amorphous or nanocrystalline varieties and also SiO2 rich glassy materials and all of them hide a clue on the type of raw materials, the processing, and technological methods, or even the usage of the tools they are connected with. We present several case studies on various prehistoric finds (e.g. Paleolithic stone tools, glass production slag, Iron Age slag, or even early medieval iron ore and clay tuyere) to show the optimal synergetic application of mineralogy (X-ray powder diffraction), geochemistry and chemistry (electron beam microanalysis), and microscopy (petrography, metallography with SEM) in unfolding choices and actions of people of many centuries ago. Emphasis is on the modes of SiO2 occurrence, as a technological marker for the different products, and not as a unifying element for various random artifacts.