Bronze Foundry Research Articles

Минералого-геохимический анализ металлических украшений погребения № 59 Кокпомъягского могильника вымской культуры перми вычегодской* XI—XIV вв.

The article is devoted to the archaeological and mineralogical analysis of metal products from burial No. 59 from the Kokpomyag burial ground of the Vym culture in Vychegda Permian, dating from the mid-12th to the first half of the 13th century. The chronological framework of the burial is determined, a description of the grave goods is given, and imported silver jewelry from the Perm Kama region and Volga Bulgaria is found. Using analytical SEM, 13 artifacts of copper, bronze, brass and silver composition, the phase and chemical composition of the objects have been studied in detail. The results of the research indicate that Perm foundry workers from Vychegda possessed not only the technology of bronze foundry production, but also silver jewelry making.

Ассортимент изделий из цветного металла раннего железного века поселения Исетское 3 в Нижнем Приисетье

Metal production in the Trans-Ural region in the Early Iron Age is known mainly from materials from the Itkul and Sargat cultures. The article introduces into scientific circulation the largest collection of objects (80 items) made of non-ferrous metal of the Baitovo culture of this period from the settlement of Isetskoye 3, located in the Lower Iset river area. The purpose of the study is to morphometrically characterize and determine the complex typology, as well as to conduct a comparative analysis with synchronous materials. The studied series of items includes weapons (arrowheads), labor tools (knives, a celt, an awl), elements of horse harness (a fragment of a bit), toilet items, jewelry (a mirror, rings, plaques), etc., as well as slags, ingots, and waste bronze foundry production. Preliminary conclusions on production technology were obtained, indicating that stone and clay molds were used for casting. The authors experimentally tested the hypothesis, which was not confirmed, on the possibility of using wooden knife models in the manufacture of clay casting molds. Signs of forging and abrasive casting processing were recorded on several metal objects. Based on their typology and the identified analogies, it was concluded that the complex is characteristic of the Scythian-Siberian cultures and can be dated back to the 7th – 6th/3rd centuries BC, which testifies to the contacts and connections of the Baitovo population with both the western (Itkul) and the eastern metallurgical centers. The presence of slag, a significant amount of bronze casting waste, and mold fragments confirms its local nature, which, however, does not exclude the import of some metal products from other territories.

The 2015–2019 excavation of the bronze foundry site at the Huanbei Shang City in Anyang, Henan

Abstract The Anyang Team of Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences conducted five excavations of a bronze foundry site at the Huanbei Shang City from 2015 to 2019. A variety of archaeological features were discovered, ranging from the foundation built from calcareous nodules and rammed earth, bronze melting and casting area, refuse area, sacrificial pit, ash pit, well, and cache pit. Many artifacts related to metallurgy were also unearthed, including clay molds, models, cores, bellow nozzles, slag, furnace fragments, charcoal, bone gravers, and whetstones. The discovery of this bronze foundry site is of great value for the study of the Huanbei Shang City layout, the operation, and management of bronze casting, technological transmission, and other questions. Bronze casting technology at Huanbei Shang City was still in its early stages of development, but it laid a solid foundation for the later flourishing of the bronze civilization at Yinxu.

DYNAMICS OF THE BRONZE FOUNDRY PRODUCTION IN THE OB-IRTYSH FOREST-STEPPE IN THE BRONZE AGE

The paper traces through several consecutive periods of the development of bronze foundry production in the Ob-Irtysh interfluve during the Bronze Age. At the first stage, copper-bronze products appeared in the area as imports. The local foundry emerged no earlier than the beginning of the III millennium BC on the sites of the Odino and Krotovo cultures. At that time, the technological base was being formed, including thermal facilities and developed foundry equipment (crucibles, ladles, molds, and nozzles). This process is largely synchronized with the emergence and development of Seima-Turbino technologies in the Ob-Irtysh forest-steppe. A sharp change in this line of development was taking place since the beginning of the II millennium BC as a result of increasing expansion of the Andronovo (Fyodorovo) population. Their arrival led to the modification of part of the production process associated with the metal melting (hearths and crucibles). At the same time, it should be noted that all molding processes have retained the features of local foundry production developed by the Krotovo people. The production technology developed as a result of this synthesis formed the basis for the foundry of the Irmen culture in the Late Bronze Age. A sharp change in a number of production techniques occurred only at the end of that period and is associated with the penetration of the Ural-Kazakhstan production traditions into western regions of the Baraba forest-steppe.

Особенности погребений женщин-литейщиц на нижневычегодском Чежтыягском могильнике

The materials of excavations of a separate group of burials of founder women in the Low-Vychegda Chezhtyyag burial ground dating back to the XIII century are introduced into scientific discourse. Based on the typological and chemical analysis of grave goods, the author identified the characteristic features of the burials. Grave goods include items of bronze foundry production, metal ingots and a scrap for making adornments, casting tools, many women’s adornments, numerous findings in the inter-grave space and a great number of artefacts that have been fired. There are no items related to the sphere of men’s production activities or weapons items. Next to the burials of women-foundry workers, there are small burials of teenage girls, apprentices of adult women. The rich implements of burials, many beads, a tamga trace on one of the vessels indicate a high social status of the buried founder women, endowing them with magical properties.

Материалы по бронзолитейному производству эпохи палеометалла в долине реки Кия и новые данные элементного состава бронз из могильника Шестаково I

In the Mariinsk forest-steppe and on its western periphery in the valley of the Kiya River archaeological communities of the Upper Ob, Middle Yenisei, northern taiga and southern steppe interacted in ancient times. This historical and cultural region is commonly referred to as “contact”, “transit” or “marginal”. To study the influence of such specifics on bronze foundry, the author reviewed materials on bronze foundry production in the valley of the Kiya River and also studied bronzes from the Shestakovo I burial ground, the most western burial ground of the Tagar culture, to reveal whether the regional specificity affected the development of the Tagar metallurgy. The analysis of the sources on bronze foundry showed that bronze objects on the Bronze Age sites are rare - a fragment of a knife, a celt from the settlement Archekas III, copper splash and slag from the settlement Ustye-Kozhukha I, objects of an unclear fate from the settlements Novoaleksandrovka and Archekas II. To the east of the valley of the Kiya River, up to the Uryup River, the complex of relevant materials is wider and is represented by traces of metal production from the settlements Dvornikovo and Tambar III. The picture of the “metal content” of the sites of the Kiya River valley in the Early Iron Age is different. More than 600 bronze objects from the burials of the Tagar and Tashtyk cultures are dated to this time. Single traces of bronze casting are known from the settlements -slag, stone tools, a clay core for casting socketed products from the fortified settlement Shestakovo I and the settlement Shestakovo II. To the east of the valley of the Kiya River, things (thousands of objects) from burial grounds also predominate. Bronze objects from settlements come, for example, from Tretyakovo I, Utinka I. Thus, in the structure of data on bronze foundry in the northeast of Kemerovo Oblast, the sources are distributed unevenly both chronologically and geographically. This is the reason for the reconstruction of local non-ferrous metallurgy based on data on bronze objects and on the elemental composition of their alloys. Metal from the burials of the Tagar culture of the Kiya valley, the Shestakovo I burial ground, was studied for the first time (excavations by A.I. Martynov, 1968). The elemental composition of 39 shafthole pickaxes, adzes and knives from Kurgan 4 was studied. The chemical-metallurgical groups of “pure” copper, arsenic, tin and tin-lead bronzes were distinguished. Copper items and arsenic-bronze shafthole pickaxe come only from Grave 1. This is explained by its later relative dating. The alloying of copper with tin, fixed in the metal of Graves 2, 3 and 4, is traditional for the Saragashen Stage of the Tagar culture (5th-4th centuries BC). The metal of Grave 1 makes it possible to “catch” the emergence of a trend towards the manufacture of implements from arsenic bronze and copper, characteristic of the Lepeshkino Stage (3th-2th centuries BC) and later of the Tesinsky burial complexes (end of the 2nd century BC - 2nd century AD). Thus, this section of the Kiya River's basin saw the same process as the rest of the steppe and forest-steppe areas of the Tagar tribes, namely, a decrease in the proportion of bronzes alloyed with tin in the 3rd-2nd centuries BC.

ПРИЗНАКИ МЕТАЛЛООБРАБОТКИ ЭПОХИ ПОЗДНЕЙ БРОНЗЫ В СЕВЕРНОЙ КУЛУНДЕ

The article is devoted to the characteristics of metal objects associated with the bronze foundry production on the territory of the Karasuk district of the North Caucasus Federal District. The purpose of the publication is to interpret these fndings in the framework of metalworking at the Begazy-Dandybay settlements of Melkovsky canal-1,-2. Analogies of stone lapels for smoothing heated metal and a specialized metal hammer on these monuments, identifed among the subject complex of the Kent settlement in Kazakhstan, allow us to consider the Melkovsky canal-1,-2 as one of the points of home metalworking production on the territory of northern Kulunda.

The 2016–2017 excavation of the bronze foundry zone at the Guanzhuang site, Xingyang, Henan

Abstract The School of History, Zhengzhou University et al. excavated two bronze foundry zones in the northern part of the larger city at the Guanzhuang site in the summer of 2016 and the autumn of 2017. Archaeological features related to bronze casting were revealed, such as ash pits, wells, and sacrificial pits. A large number of casting artifacts were also retrieved, including clay molds, models, cores, furnace fragments, tuyeres, bronze knives, and whetstones. Judging from the characteristics of the clay molds and co-existing pottery artifacts, the bronze foundries dates to the early- and mid-Spring and Autumn period. A great variety of unearthed artifacts from the Guanzhuang bronze foundries, as well as the material repertoire for casting large bronze ritual vessels and coins, testify that the owner of the workshop could have enjoyed a high social status and possessed great wealth. This is of great importance for the understanding of the nature and function of the Guanzhuang site during the early- and mid-Spring and Autumn period.

Memorial sculpture in the Protestant Cemetery at Rome. New discoveries and an inventory of identified works

The funerary sculpture in the Protestant Cemetery in Rome, the heart of Catholicism, has been little studied. A new inventory of monuments lists over 130 works for which the sculptor, architect or bronze foundry, either Italian or non-Italian, has been identified. Many new identifications, often based on previously unrecorded inscriptions, have brought to light the work of well-documented foreign sculptors who had settled in Rome either temporarily or permanently. Several elaborate monuments were evidently commissions from wealthy relatives or friends of the deceased, but a greater number were contributed by artistic family members or by other fellow artists. In these frequent cases, a desire to commemorate a relative or personal friend, rather than financial gain, would have been the primary motivation.

The Western Zhou Yaoheyuan site in Pengyang County, Ningxia

Abstract The Ningxia Hui Autonomous Regional Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and Pengyang County Commission for Preservation of Ancient Monuments conducted archaeological investigations, probing surveys, and excavations of the Yaoheyuan site from 2017 to 2020. They identified various features, including city walls, moats, a high-ranking burial, a cemetery of small-sized tombs, palatial foundations, a bronze foundry zone, as well as roads and a network of water channels. Retrieved artifacts include objects made of pottery, jade and stone, bone and antler, ivory, mussel, proto-porcelain, and inscribed oracle bone. The Yaoheyuan site, dating from the early through the late Western Zhou, is the capital city of the Huo state of the Western Zhou. This excavation provides invaluable new data for understanding Western Zhou political structure and the relationship between the Zhou royal house and the western frontier. It also sheds new light on the chronological framework and the trajectory of social complexity in the eastern Gansu region.

Gajnullina Lyajlya Ajdarovna – Senior lecturer at the Department of Altaic Studies and Sinology

This article deals with the study of the cultural influence of Chinese civilization on the cultural developments in the Korean Peninsula in antiquity. Chinese civilization, which originated long before the cultures of neighbouring countries, considerably influenced the formation of the political and social systems and also culture, life, beliefs and everyday life in the countries adjacent to China. Although this topic has received attention several times, however, the specific research interest of the authors is to focus on the influence of Chinese culture on the bronze foundry production of Ancient Korea. In particular, this is the production of funeral bronze mirrors, which were originally used by both the Chinese and ancient Koreans for religious and cult purposes. The authors have traced the direct influence of the Chinese bronze casting technique on the development of bronze casting art in the ancient Korean proto-states. This indicates an obvious cultural influence of the neighbouring civilization. The authors used items from the museums of the Republic of Korea, Russia and Japan.

PRELIMINARY INFORMATION ABOUT THE FOUNDRY OF THE RESIDENTS OF SHYRIAEVE HILLFORT

The Shyriaeve hillfort has been permanently explored for 5 years. Сonsidering the excavations of the late 1940s and 1950s, the total excavation area reaches 556 m2. The period of existence of the fortified settlement covers the late 6th—4th centuries BC. As a result of recent work, three chronological horizons have been distinguished. The spectacular material is obtained which allows us to get closer to the characteristics of different aspects of life of ancient inhabitants.
 One of the least studied cases is the degree of development of the bronze foundry. The information available today allows us to describe this craft in general terms and draw preliminary conclusions.
 Copper and (or) bronze were imported goods. Finds of the fragments of amphorae, glass beads and cowrie shells should be included in the category of other imported items. Exchange links with the neighbors have been established but the extent of their intensity remains unclear.
 The consequence of activities of local craftsmen are the findings of clay tapholes and crucibles. Other tools, including chisels, are made of iron. There is no complete certainty about its use by artisans — foundries, because such things were multifunctional.
 Other finds include the bronze or copper bars which were commodity ingots, in the primary raw material for smelting various products. Craftsmen also used colored scrap metal in the form of various plates and fragments of objects.
 Indisputable evidence of local production is its remnants in the form of splashes. The conducted analyzes with care allow to assume smelting of copper from ore directly within the settlement.
 The ways of getting copper ore (bronze) and a number of other things to the Shyriaeve hillfort have not been clarified yet. It is possible to assume that the main importer was the hillfort of Basivka — the central point of the Sula river basin. To date there is little material for a full analysis of the foundry of the residents of the Shyriaeve hillfort. Its study has just begun.

Научная деятельность С. А. Федосеевой в контексте изучения древней истории Якутии: практика, теория, организация

The article highlights the biography and professional activities of the outstanding researcher of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) – Svetlana Aleksandrovna Fedoseeva (1936–2017), the first archaeologist after A. P. Okladnikov, who together with Yu. A. Mochanov has been engaged in systematic study of the prehistory of Yakutia for more than half a century (1959–2017). The main purpose of the article is to evaluate the role and contribution of S.A. Fedoseeva to the archeology of Yakutia. This is the first attempt to collect and analyze its most important archaeological achievements. Fedoseeva´s first studies were carried out in the Upper Vilyui in Western Yakutia, because of which the consistent succession of archaeological cultures from the early Neolithic to the early Iron Age was proved and the first traces of bronze foundry were discovered. Then she and Yu. A. Mochanov in the 1960–1970 discovered several successive archaeological cultures of Yakutia from the Paleolithic to the early Iron Age, as well as developed their first periodization and chronology. In total, over all the years of work by Fedoseeva and Mochanov in Yakutia, more than 800 new sites were discovered and studied, including such reference sites as Bel´kachi I, Sumnagin I, Ust´-Timpton I, Talanda II, Ust´-Chirkuo I, Diring- Yuryakh, Mungkharyma I–II, and others. Fedoseeva made a special contribution to the study of the Ymyyakhtakh culture of the late Neolithic of Yakutia (III–II millennium BC), having carried out a detailed typology of stone, ceramic, and bone inventory. Today it is the most studied culture. Excavations of the Ymyyakhtakh burial ground Diring-Yuryakh in Central Yakutia allowed her to offer original conclusions about the existence of primitive atheism in the late Neolithic of Yakutia. In her latest writings, Fedoseeva spoke out against the modern division of the Late Neolithic of Yakutia into local variants, believing that there were no sufficient grounds for this so far. The organizational abilities of the researcher are also emphasized – since 1972, the small laboratory of archeology of the Institute of Language, Literature and Art of Yakutia, headed by her, was transformed by 2004 into an independent Center for Arctic Archeology and Human Paleoecology, now the Arctic Research Center of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). Fedoseeva did a great deal of work to include the archeological monuments of Yakutia in the republican list of cultural heritage sites, and today all of them are under state protection. For his work, S. A. Fedoseeva was awarded the high title of Honorary Citizen of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia).

Horn Processing in Western Temenos of Olbia Pontica

On the territory of Olbia, three areas reserved for the worship of the gods were studied at different times, and the traces of craft activity were found in each of them: in the Eastern and Western temenoses – bronze foundries, and in the Southern temenos the bronze foundry some time later was replaced by ceramics workshop. The possibility of horn processing workshop functioning on the territory of the Western temenos of Olbia in the 5th century BCE is analyzed in the paper.
 This assumption is based on the discovery of a number of processed antlers in one of the complexes (bothros № 9). The range of these artifacts is represented by wastes of horn primary splitting, blanks, and semi-finished produced items. In addition, fragmented remains of the bone processing process (primarily processed horn) were found in other objects and layers of the Western temenos.
 Of course, the most convincing argument in favor of the horn being processed in the Temenos area would be the founding of an object there that could be convincingly interpreted as a workshop. However, it cannot be localized; one can only assume that it should have been, like other industries, at the side. The relatively small amount of processed horn and bone does not allow us to say that the craft activity that took place in the temenos could not be a specialized bone-cutting craft, but it could not be a household production for self-consumption either. Most likely, its production volume was dictated by the needs of the sanctuary, rather than a wide range of consumers: so there could not be a large specialized bone-cutting workshop.
 In addition, we cannot exclude that the horn was processed by a multi-skilled craftsman who also worked with other materials (for example, wood), or was focused on the production of specific produced items, rather than on certain raw materials. Such opinions are also caused by the predominance of semi-finished onlay plates at different stages of the production process. Specialized bone processing workshops have not been found yet, not only in the temenos but also in other parts of Olbia. We know about only a few objects (Tyritake, Myrmekion, Chersonesus) in the Northern Black Sea region, which can be convincingly associated with bone processing craft, but not specialized in it.
 Based on the available sources, we can conclude that the bone processing activity in the poleis of the Northern Black Sea region in general, and Olbia in particular, did not have the characteristics of a specialized craft. It is possible that the craftsmen were specialized not in raw materials, but in types of produced items. This is evidenced by the finding of complex works of art, not all of which could be imported as goods from other places.

Radiocarbon-dating an early minting site: the emergence of standardised coinage in China

The origins of metal coinage and the monetisation of ancient economies have long been a research focus in both archaeology and economic history. Recent excavations of an Eastern Zhou period (c. 770–220 BC) bronze foundry at Guanzhuang in Henan Province, China, have yielded clay moulds for casting spade coins. The technical characteristics of the moulds demonstrate that the site functioned as a mint for producing standardised coins. Systematic AMS radiocarbon-dating indicates that well-organised minting developedc. 640–550 BC, making Guanzhuang the world's oldest-known, securely dated minting site. This discovery provides important new data for exploring the origin of monetisation in ancient China.

FERDINAND BARBEDIENNE’S BRONZE FOUNDRY PRODUCTS AND URAL MEAL CASTING ART. ON THE ATRIBUTION OF URAL CAST-IRON ARTWORKS

The study discusses the attribution of several Ural cast-iron artworks. The authors of the model range of metal castings from Kasli and Kusa factories are still the least researched in Russian art history and, thus, the study appears to be very timely. The article considers connections between the model range of the Urals plants and the famous French bronze foundry of Ferdinand Barbedienne. Castings available on the antiques market and in Russian museum collections are analyzed comparatively. New names of authors of Ural metal casting models are introduced into scholarship.

Study on the casting cores to identify the manufacturing place of Chinese bronze vessels excavated in the Qiaojiayuan tombs from Spring and Autumn period

To date, few large-scale bronze foundry sites of the Bronze Age have been found in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River in Southern China, but highly developed bronze cultures have occurred here. For instance, in Qiaojiayuan, Yunxian County, northwestern Hubei Province, on the border of Southern and Northern China, a high-level tomb cluster of Spring and Autumn period (8th–5th c. BC) has been unearthed. The location of the site is identical with the Ancient Jun 麇 State recorded in the historical documents. Thus, figuring out where these bronzes were made can shed light on the status of the Jun State and its potential links to other great powers. X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) were conducted to characterize the major elements, trace elements, and rare earth elements in the casting core residues of the Qiaojiayuan bronze ritual vessels. They are largely different from the loess in the Yellow River Basin, but very similar to the laterite in southern China. Moreover, from the chemical characteristics, the samples from Qiaojiayuan are well resembled with those from Panlongcheng and Zuozhong, but differ from the casting core residues or clay molds manufactured in Northern China, and they are not consistent with the local soil geochemical characteristics. It can be further speculated that the Qiaojiayuan bronzes were first cast and finished in the Chu State before being transported to the area of Jun.

A Glimpse into Raw Material Management in the Early Iron Age: Bronze Ingots from a Production Settlement in Wicina (Western Poland) in Archaeometallurgical Research

Assessing the level of metallurgical and foundry technology in prehistoric times requires the examination of raw material finds, including elongated ingots, which served as semi-finished products ready for further processing. It is rare to find such raw material directly at production settlements, but Wicina in western Poland is an exception. During the Hallstatt period (800-450 BC), this area, situated along the middle Oder River, benefited from its favorable location in the heart of the Central European Urnfield cultures and developed networks for raw material exchange and bronze foundry production. Numerous remnants of casting activities, such as clay casting molds, casting systems, and raw materials, have been discovered at the Wicina settlement. This article aims to provide an archaeometallurgical interpretation of raw material management and utilization by prehistoric communities during the Early Iron Age. To achieve this, a collection of 31 ingots from the defensive settlement in Wicina, along with two contemporary deposits from Bieszków and Kumiałtowice, both found within a 20 km radius of the stronghold, were studied. Investigations were conducted using a range of methods, including optical microscopy(OM), scanning electron microscopy (SE M), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SE M-EDS), X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (ED-XRF), powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), AAS and ICP-OES spectrometer. The significance of ingots is examined in the context of increasing social complexity and the rising popularity of bronze products, which necessitated diversified production and a demand for raw materials with different properties and, consequently, different chemical compositions.

РЕЗУЛЬТАТИ ПЕТРОГРАФІЧНОГО ДОСЛІДЖЕННЯ ЗНАХІДКИ КАМ'ЯНИХ ЛИВАРНИХ ФОРМ ДОБИ БРОНЗИ

The present article is devoted to the mineralogical and petrographic research of raw materials of the collection of casting molds of the Bronze Age, found by the expedition of Dnipropetrovsk National Historical Museum named after D.I. Yavornytskyi during the excavations of the archaeological monument of Tokivske-1, located near the village Tokivske of Apostolove Rayon, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. The finding of casting molds is of great importance, since it can be the evidence of bronze foundry production existence in the territory of the monument, which until now was regarded only as a megalithic place of worship. Provenance determination of the raw materials of casting molds can help to identify the role of Tokivske-1 in the system of metalworking cells of the Sabatynivska culture time (XVI–XIII centuries BC) and to establish its links with the ancient centers of mining of stone raw materials. According to previous petrographic studies, it is known that stone molds were made mainly of talc-chlorite-tremolite schists, since this material was easily processed and could withstand more castings than clay molds. Because of this, stone casting molds were highly valued, as well as bronze wares and ingots, and were transported over long distances. The purpose of the study was to establish links between the archaeological monument of Tokivske-1 and known mining and metallurgical centers of the Bronze Age, on the basis of mineralogical and petrographic research of raw materials of casting molds. As a result of the study of samples in thin sections and by X-ray diffraction analysis, it was established that the stone molds were mainly made of tremolite-chlorite-anthophyllite meta-ultrabazites. The determination of the origin of the rocks from which the casting molds were made was carried out by comparing their mineralogical and petrographic features with the features of similar rocks that form natural outcrops, as described in geological survey reports and literary data, and as observed by us in rock samples from natural outcrops in the Middle Dnipro and the Azov Sea areas. It was ascertained that the rocks from which all the casting molds of the collection were made do not form natural outcrops in the Middle Dnipro area and are not characteristic of the Kryvyi Rih area, which is considered to be the main center of raw materials extraction for the stone foundry forms of the Late Bronze Age on the territory of Ukraine. It was established that such rocks are more characteristic of the Western Azov Sea area, but one can not exclude another source of raw materials of the mold collection, in particular the Southern Urals, where bronze metallurgy was significantly developed and similar stone matrices were used. The obtained results suggest revision of established ideas on sources of supply of stone raw materials during the late Bronze Age.

Analysis of Heavy Metals in Smoke Deposits in the Limewash of the Royal Artillery Factory of Seville (17th Century): Contributions to the Location of the Furnaces

The Royal Artillery Factory of Seville in Spain originated from pre‐existing private bronze foundries dating from the 16th century. The paper analyses the stratigraphy of wall cladding in the areas traditionally known as the ‘Old Foundry’ and the ‘New Foundry’, through its characterization by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy with energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectrometry (SEM‐EDX), micro‐X‐ray fluorescence (μ‐XRF) and micro‐X‐ray diffraction (μ‐XRD), in order to analyse the metal deposits that have accumulated since the 17th century. The data obtained allowed the verification of the available historiographical information and the location of the original bronze smelting furnaces. The analysis of patinas deposited on the overlapping layers of lime also confirmed that neither the raw materials nor the composition of the alloys used presented any substantial changes.