Abstract
The study focuses on the reconstruction of the technological process in the 16th–17th century lead smelter in Sławków based on chemical and petrographic analyzes of slags. There are three main types of material at the landfill: glassy, crystalline, and weathered. Glassy slags are made of amorphous phase in which crystals of pyroxene, willemite, olivine, wüstite, and lead oxide appear. Crystalline slags are composed of wollastonite, rankinite, melilite, anorthite, quartz, and Fe oxides. Weathered slags have a composition similar to glassy slags, but they also contain secondary phases: anglesite and cerussite. Chemical analyzes confirmed that the smelter used sulphide ores, which were roasted, and the main addition to the charge was quartz sand. The smelting process took place in a brick-built furnace, under reducing conditions, with varied oxygen fugacity ranging from WM to MH buffer. The slag characteristics show a knowledge of the workers in the field of smelting methods. The addition of SiO2 allowed for the binding of elements that could contaminate the obtained lead, and at the same time, the low melting point of the material (1150 °C) and the melt viscosity (logη = 1.34 for 1150 °C) was maintained, enabling the effective separation of liquid lead.
Highlights
Due to the ease of processing, a wide range of applications and the coexistence with silver, lead deposits have played an important role in historical times [1]
The conducted research has allowed for the reconstruction of the lead smelting process in Sławków in the 16th–17th centuries
It confirms that the furnaces existing in the smelter had a brick structure, as evidenced by the finding of their glass-covered fragments with a glass composition corresponding to the slag from the location
Summary
Due to the ease of processing, a wide range of applications and the coexistence with silver, lead deposits have played an important role in historical times [1]. An impressive metallurgical complex from the Late Chalcolithic period (5th millennium BC) was discovered in a cave in the northern Negev desert (Israel) [3]. In this complex a biconical object made of pure metallic lead was found logged onto a wooden shaft [3]. In Rome, lead acetate was widely used as a substance for improving the taste of wine [5,6], this application of lead was invented by the Egyptians and the Greeks [7]. Lead began to be used for the production of shooting balls, printing inks, and toys (lead soldiers) [5].
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