Cast iron pot from Deerfield, MA, USA: A PIXE study

Abstract

A cast iron pot now in the possession of the Winterthur Museum of Delaware was unearthed in a field in Deerfield, MA, between 1950 and 1955. On the basis of its style, apparent cast iron construction and the location of the find, this pot was attributed to the Hammersmith cold blast furnace at the Saugus Iron Works (≈1647–1669). Recently, Bartol was asked and accepted the task of aiding the Winterthur personnel in the effort of establishing the origin of this pot. With little to go on, a study of cast iron objects from early America and England of a similar time period was undertaken, along with the fragments obtained from the site of the original furnace in Saugus, MA. The end results of this study are somewhat inconclusive because of the large scatter in the data and the relatively small sample size of the different objects. However, the Saugus fragments and the pot have measurably higher levels of phosphorous and arsenic, which is suggestive of a Saugus origin.