Abstract
Geophysical prospection has been applied in the Hüttenberg area (Carinthia, Austria), where important parts of the Roman iron production in the province of Noricum between the first century bc and the fourth century ad are located. A combination of geomagnetic, geoelectric and electromagnetic measurements at different scales yielded information about the extent of the industrial complex and the location of yet undiscovered subsurface monuments in the surrounding area of the Semlach-Eisner archaeological site. The vertical and lateral extension of a slag deposit from the smelting activities could be determined by means of geomagnetic mapping and multi-electrode geoelectric profiles. For the prediction of the continuation of walls in the subsurface outside the excavated area, the total horizontal derivative of the magnetic anomaly as well as geoelectric measurements were most suitable, whereas electromagnetic measurements were not successful owing to the high conductivity of widely spread pieces of slag. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Highlights
The project is focused on Ferrum Noricum, the famous Noric steel, mentioned in numerous Latin and Greek sources from the end of the first century BC, when Noricum became a Roman province
Since the late nineteenth century Roman iron smelting furnaces have been uncovered in the surrounding area and it has been suspected that the main production of Noric steel was located in this area (Figure 1)
The archaeological features uncovered so far show that the site comprises an industrial centre for iron production, together with the necessary infrastructure, and dates at least from the end of the first century BC to the middle of the fourth century AD
Summary
The project is focused on Ferrum Noricum, the famous Noric steel, mentioned in numerous Latin and Greek sources from the end of the first century BC, when Noricum became a Roman province. Since the late nineteenth century Roman iron smelting furnaces have been uncovered in the surrounding area and it has been suspected that the main production of Noric steel was located in this area (Figure 1). The archaeological features uncovered so far show that the site comprises an industrial centre for iron production, together with the necessary infrastructure, and dates at least from the end of the first century BC to the middle of the fourth century AD. In the course of the centuries the spatial organization of the site has changed a couple of times (Cech, 2008)
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