Iron-smelting Furnaces Research Articles

The first in Russia long 377-year tree-ring chronology based on charcoals from ancient Altai iron-smelting furnaces (mountains of Southern Siberia)

Charcoal is a common material for radiocarbon dating and is underestimated as an object of dendrochronological analysis – a method that allows dating natural and historical-archaeological events with an accuracy of up to a year. The new approach to charcoal sample preparation developed by the authors removes previously existing restrictions on the use of this fragile material in dendrochronological studies and allows it to be used as an effective source of information in paleoecology, paleoclimatology, paleogeography and archaeology. Applying this approach, a 377-year tree-ring chronology was constructed using archaeological coals from ancient iron-smelting furnaces in the Chuya-Kurai ferrous metallurgy province of the Russian Altai. This is the first tree-ring chronology of charcoal in Russia and the longest in the world dendrochronological practice. Its further analysis will provide new information about the nature and archaeological events of the high mountain region located in the center of Eurasia.

The First 377-Year Tree-Ring Chronology in Russia Based on Charcoals from Ancient Altai Iron-Smelting Furnaces (Mountains of Southern Siberia)

The First 377-Year Tree-Ring Chronology in Russia Based on Charcoals from Ancient Altai Iron-Smelting Furnaces (Mountains of Southern Siberia)

The Ongoing Sungai Jaong Archaeological Project (2018‑2024), Sarawak, Malaysia: Preliminary Results

More than fifty years after the last excavations undertaken in the coastal area of the Sarawak River Delta, new archaeological excavations in the region started in 2019, through a cooperation between the École française dʼExtrême-Orient and the Sarawak Museum Department. This article offers the preliminary results of researches conducted at the Sungai Jaong site, in the Santubong area, until late 2023. Despite a very limited excavated surface area, the conduct of metallurgical activities in ancient times has been recognised and attested without any doubt for the first time in the Sarawak River Delta. Several remains of iron smelting furnaces, dated between mid-11th and late 12th-13th century CE, have been uncovered. They could represent the first iron smelting furnaces, dated to early second millennium CE, reported so far on the whole island of Borneo. Other finds include notably more than seven tons of iron slag, some 3,200 fragments of tuyeres, 6,600 earthenware sherds, almost 2,500 stoneware shards, and several grooved stones. Various analyses of these finds are underway, including a compositional analysis of iron slag samples. Archaeological research at Sungai Jaong also includes a geomorphological study to shed light on the interactions between the ancient occupation of the site and the environment over the longue durée.

Nine types of iron smelting furnaces in southern Siberia in the first millennium AD: A review of archaeological and chronological data

This article systematizes all currently known archaeological data and radiocarbon dates related to iron-smelting furnaces from Southern Siberia. On the basis of 159 excavated and well-preserved furnaces, nine construction types can be identified. The analysis of a series of radiocarbon dates made it possible to revise previous models about emergence and development of iron metallurgy in Southern Siberia and neighboring regions. We conclude that iron metallurgy developed in the region not in the Scythian time, as has long been assumed, but in the subsequent Xiongnu period of the 2nd century BCE – 2nd century CE. During the 3rd–6th centuries CE, metallurgy flourished, which is expressed in the different types and numerous smelting furnaces that coexisting in the same region. This article raises for the first time the problem we have called the ancient Türkic metallurgy paradox. This inexplicable phenomenon describes the sudden and almost complete disappearance of iron metallurgy in Southern Siberia in the 7th century CE.

Potentiality of Charcoal as a Dendrochronological and Paleoclimatic Archive: Case Study of Archaeological Charcoal from Southeastern Altai, Russia

Archaeological charcoal from ancient nomad iron-smelting furnaces collected in the highland southeastern Russian Altai has great potential as a material for tree ring analysis. Dendrochronological dating was applied to 355 viable samples (>80% of the 448 collected ones), prepared using a new protocol. Individual tree ring series of 155 (~43%) samples were used to construct nine floating chronologies from 76 to 290 rings long. The archaeological and radiocarbon data on charcoal that fueled the hearths of the Kosh-Agach type bracket the floating tree ring chronologies between the second and tenth centuries AD. The results demonstrate that long tree ring “steppe” chronologies can be obtained for intermontane basins in the arid zone of Southern Siberia, using the analysis of charcoal samples. A strong climate signal imprinted in the annual growth of trees allowed for crossdating samples with relatively few rings. The revealed common climate signal for larches from different locations indicates similar paleoclimate conditions of their growth despite the strong modern southeastward aridization trend in the region, which was not so pronounced ca. 1.5 ka ago. The further matching of these chronologies to the calendar timeline will provide reference for the precise comparison of climatic conditions in the floors of intermontane basins and in the flanking mountains.

Origin and Evolution of the Earliest Iron-Smelting Technologies in the Khakass-Minusinsk Basin

The Khakass-Minusinsk Basin is archaeologically one of the best studied regions of Russia. Bronze artifacts from the pre-Scythian and Scythian epoch from that area are famous worldwide. However, iron production appears rather late there. From 2009 to 2018, a joint Russian-Japanese expedition excavated several sites documenting the earliest iron manufacture in the Khakass-Minusinsk Basin. On the basis of these excavations and experiments, metallurgical technology was reconstructed. The results suggest an evolutionary model of metal production in the Khakass-Minusinsk Basin during the Xiongnu-Sarmatian period. Three types of iron-smelting furnaces are described, structurally differing in terms of air-blasting and slag removal. The conclusion is made that the initial iron production technology had been borrowed, and later evolved in situ.

The innovation of iron and the Xiongnu – a case study from Central Mongolia

This article presents the oldest iron smelting furnaces of the Xiongnu Empire period in central Mongolia and argues that a significant smelting center existed at the site of Baga Nariĭn Am. Five iron smelting furnaces and four smelting installations were excavated, with a total 26 furnaces further identified through SQUID magnetometry. In combination with a review of data on iron production in contemporary Mongolia, the Transbaikal region, Tuva, the Minusinsk Basin and the Altai, we argue that this new data alters existing narratives of the adoption of iron in eastern Eurasia. While iron smelting as such was adopted from the Minusinsk Basin, where the oldest iron smelting furnaces in eastern Eurasia are currently found, we suggest that the driving force behind the massive boom in iron metallurgy from the second century BCE onward was the Xiongnu Empire. During the course of the Xiongnu Empire, the development of more efficient iron technology is evident, with the steppe empire also inventing a new furnace type. These findings are significant for understanding the dynamics of iron industries in the eastern Eurasian Steppe and paves the way for necessary work on metallurgical installations in the Minusinsk Basin and Tuva.

The ‘old wood’ effect and problems of dating iron smelting sites

The paper is aimed at the analysis of the ‘old wood’ effect in radiocarbon chronology of iron smelting com-plexes of South Siberia. The production sites are here set outside the settlements, and radiocarbon dating re-mains the only means of their chronological attribution. With the example of Kuyahtanar metallurgical site in the Mountain Altai, we show that the range of a series of radiocarbon dates obtained for the same iron-smelting fur-naces can span a thousand years. It has been established that such a chronological range can be explained by the use of wood from long-lived tree species for charcoal production and the resulting significant apparent age due to the ‘old wood’ effect. The essence of the effect consists in that as a tree grows, its inner annual rings die out and stop exchanging carbon with the environment, while the tree is still alive. Therefore, the pith of a long-lived tree is much older than its outer rings, and radiocarbon analysis determines not the age of the archaeologi-cal object, or time when the tree was cut, but the date of the death of that part of the tree which was sampled for the dating. Methodological recommendations have been drawn up capable of minimizing the impact of the ‘old wood’ effect in the dating of iron metallurgy sites. During the sampling, it is recommended to collect fragments of char-coal from the tree outer rings. In a case, where this is not possible, it is necessary to obtain a series of at least three dates for one site. In such a series, the latest of the three dates will be the closest to the age of the archaeological object. It is also necessary to determine the tree species used for burning the charcoal for smelting. After the tree species is identified, it becomes possible to infer its average and maximum life expectancy in the specific natural and climatic conditions, and, consequently, possible average and maximum impact of the ‘old wood’ effect. Since in the case of dating metallurgical sites the impact of the ‘old wood’ effect is virtually unavoidable, it is suggested that, in the future, the chronology of the complexes radiocarbon dated with a single sample of charcoal is revisited.

ГЕНЕЗИС МЕТАЛЛУРГИИ ЖЕЛЕЗА В ЮЖНОЙ СИБИРИ: «ХУННСКАЯ» ГИПОТЕЗА

The article is devoted to the problem of the origin of iron metallurgy and the formation of the first large metallurgical center in the territory of Southern Siberia. On the basis of archaeological and radiocarbon data, it was concluded that not a single iron-smelting furnace of the Scythian time in southern Siberia is known. The oldest iron smelting sites appeared in the region in the 1st century BC — 1st century AD and were associated with the Xiongnu traditions of building oval smelting furnaces. Oval furnaces are known in the territory of Southern Siberia, Mongolia and the Baikal region and cover almost the entire area of the Xiongnu state. Taking account of the nomadic empire’s constant needs in huge volumes of iron, a hypothesis is expressed about a deliberate conquest of the iron-rich deposits of the Sayan-Altai by the Xiongnu, which explains the formation of the largest metallurgical province in Siberia and Central Asia on the northwestern periphery of the Xiongnu Empire. The article traces the further development of iron-smelting technologies in southern Siberia in the Xiongnu-Xianbei time. The archaeological materials presented in the article provide a basis for formulating a new hypothesis about the origin of unique rectangular furnaces, which were the largest iron-smelting structures in Asia. The appearance of this type of iron-smelting furnaces in Gorny Altai in the 3rd–5th centuries AD was the result of the consistent development of the Xiongnu traditions of oval furnaces with underground channels, which penetrated into Southern Siberia at the turn of the era.

Nine Types of Iron Smelting Furnaces in Southern Siberia in the First Millennium Ad: A Review of Archaeological and Chronological Data

Nine Types of Iron Smelting Furnaces in Southern Siberia in the First Millennium Ad: A Review of Archaeological and Chronological Data

Некоторые вопросы классификации якутских сыродутных горнов

Некоторые вопросы классификации якутских сыродутных горнов

Особенности планировки жилой и производственной зон на городище Ушбастобе (Южный Казахстан)

This article deals with the planning structure of the site of ancient settlement of Ushbastobe in southern Kazakhstan, dated to the 2nd–5th centuries AD. The settlement is located on the tall cape of the Ugam river bank and con- sists of a citadel and a residential area (rabad). Natural slopes of the river terrace and a steep ravine made the settlement impregnable from the two sides; the other two were bounded by moats. In addition to the residential part, a production area has been revealed between the two southeastern moats where an iron-smelting furnace has been studied. The results of this study allow the authors to maintain that the fortified settlement not only controlled a passage to the fertile river valley but was also an important center for the primary smelting of bloom iron in the region.

ПРЯМОУГОЛЬНЫЕ ЖЕЛЕЗОПЛАВИЛЬНЫЕ ПЕЧИ ГОРНОГО АЛТАЯ: ПРОБЛЕМА ГЕНЕЗИСА И ХРОНОЛОГИИ

The article raises the questions related to the appearance of unique rectangular box-shape furnaces in the Altai mountains. These furnaces were the largest iron-smelting construction in Siberia and Central Asia. Archaeological field work carried out in 2018-2020 coupled with the series of radiocarbon dates made it possible to establish that furnaces of this type appeared in the Southeastern Altai not in the era of the Turkic Khaganates, as it was previously thought, but in a previous time within the 3rd-5th centuries AD. The article discusses the design and productivity of the box-shape furnaces. It is hypothesized that the similar in shape Xiongnu pottery kilns type could have been a prototype of large rectangular structures of the box-shape linear furnaces. Radiocarbon analyzes have proven the synchronicity of the Xiongnu pottery kilns and the rectangular furnaces. The sudden disappearance of the box-shape furnaces in the Altai Mountains in the 7th-8th centuries AD and the same sudden appearance of the similar furnaces in Japan in the same period is explained by the possible migration of smelters in the era of the Second East Turkic Khaganate. Keywords: archaeometallurgy, iron-smelting furnaces, Gorny Altai, Xiongnu-Xianbei time

Two Types of Iron Smelting Furnaces in Ancient Mongolia

We excavated the Iron smelting furnaces, belonging to the Xiongnu Age (209BCE-155CE), in Mongolia. These furnaces can be divided into three types by structures. By the stratigraphic research and the radioactive carbon dating of charcoal, the transition from Type 3 to Type1 occurred from late BC1c. to around the beginning of AD1c.

NEW DATA ON IRON-SMELTING SITES IN THE KUEKTANAR AND TURGUN VALLEYS, SOUTHEASTERN ALTAI

This paper presents the fi ndings relating to iron-smelting furnaces in the Kuektanar and Turgun valleys, which were part of the Chuya–Kurai metallurgical province in the Russian Altai, and are undergoing rapid erosion. On the Chuya, downstream of the Kuektanar mouth, hitherto unknown and completely eroded remains of furnaces were discovered. Radiocarbon dating of charcoal fragments from bloomeries at Kuektanar-1 and 2 and Turgun-1, using scintillation and AMS techniques, suggests the use of trees that grew in 5th–10th centuries AD as a fuel for metallurgical production. Dates of charcoal relating to the same iron-smelting event differ by over 300 years, probably because various parts of adult larches (Larix sibirica Ledeb.) were used. Samples of uncharred bark in bloomery 2 at Kuektanar-1 suggest that the last smelting occurred in AD 655–765. The totality of radiocarbon dates makes it possible to conclude that the bloomeries functioned during the Old Turkic period. The proximity of iron ore sources and the abundance of forest vegetation account for the wide use of iron-smelting by the nomads in the region. The erosion of the river bank where the furnaces are located allowed us to assess the erosion rate since their construction—ca 0.5 cm per year.

Vanishing iron-smelting furnaces of the South Eastern Altai, Russia – Evidences for highly developed metallurgical production of ancient nomads

Abstracts Results of multidisciplinary investigations of ferrous metallurgy archaeological sites within four locations in the South Eastern Altai, Russia are presented. Radiocarbon dating applying both conventional and AMS techniques evidences for constructing and operating of iron-smelting furnaces during the Turk period: the second half of the 5th-11th centuries AD. Trees (Larix Sibirica) more than 100 years old were utilized for charcoal production. Generally, larches, growth in 2nd-10th centuries AD, were used in metallurgical process in the Kuektanar-1, Kuektanar-2, and Turgun-1 sites belonging to the Chuya-Kurai metallurgical zone. The time of the last iron production for the bloomery iron-smelting furnace in the Kuektanar-1 site was reliably established falling between AD 655 and 765. Mineral composition of slag from the Kuektanar-1 site indicates that two types of the ore - quartz-hematite and siderite, could be utilized for iron production. The high Ca, K and Al content in some slag droplets evidence for possible presence of calcite in the initial ore, or flux additives. A small amount of fluxes could come from the clay lining of the bloomery hearth. Generally, high concentration of furnaces near the Kuektanar mouth and in the Turgun valley was determined by wide spreading of forest vegetation in an area and close location of ore occurrences. Intensive timber consumption by nomadic societies together with the progressive aridity intensification led to total deforestation of the eastern part of the Chuya depression.

Wood exploitation in a major pre-colonial West African iron production centre (Bassar, Togo)

Local iron production played a major role in the pre-colonial West African economy and certain metallurgical centres operated on an industrial magnitude. One of them is the Bassar area in central Togo where the onset of iron metallurgy is considered to date back to the 3rd-4th century BC, even though only from the 14th century AD onwards the area experienced distinct production intensification. High-level iron production lasted as late as the early 20th century.Bassar iron metallurgy was often considered to have caused massive deforestation and vegetation degradation, mainly due to wood exploitation for charcoal production, specifically to fuel iron smelting furnaces. The study presented here is the first to test this assumption using anthracological methods, supplemented by ethnohistorical interviews and archaeometallurgical investigations.The focus of our investigations is on two sites, Tchogma and Tatré. The charcoal assemblages at both sites and during all production periods are dominated by trees and shrubs with dense wood. According to our ethnohistorical interviews, hard wood species were considered particularly suitable for iron smelting, including several species with a strong capacity to re-sprout after coppicing.The taxon composition of the charcoal assemblages from metallurgical waste heaps generally corresponds to the oral traditions. In addition to the taxa mentioned by the interviewees, useful fruit trees such as the shea butter tree (Vitellaria paradoxa) were regularly used as fuel for ironworking. This demonstrates the exploitation of agroforestry parklands, which is providing evidence that arable land was already occupying a vast land surface of the Bassar area.The results of our study seem inconsistent with the previous idea of massive vegetation degradation due to the impact of wood exploitation for iron metallurgy in Bassar. Three main factors contradict previous general deforestation assumptions: 1. The anthracological results indicate the use of taxa with the ability to re-sprout, which probably allowed for fast woodland regeneration; 2. We consider the area to possess a higher biomass reproduction capacity in comparison to areas further north investigated in our previous studies; 3. The development of local craft specialisation scattered the impact of wood use on the Bassar landscape, thereby, preventing complete local deforestation.Our re-evaluation of Bassar slag amounts indicates fuel consumption was higher than previously thought. The over-exploitation of certain preferred taxa, particularly species with a restricted capacity to re-sprout, and local vegetation changes around the smelting sites is likely, although such modifications are not unequivocally reflected in the charcoal data.

Cast iron-smelting furnace materials in imperial China: Macro-observation and microscopic study

Field investigation was carried out to study ancient cast iron smelting furnaces at 15 sites from Imperial China. Petrographic analyses were performed on furnace materials to study the development of metallurgical ceramics used on these furnaces. The results show that furnace materials developed from simple clay material to a composite structure made of stone and clay. During the period from the 4th C. BCE to the 3rd C. CE, rammed clay or stacked clay bricks were used to build the furnaces; from the 7th to the 13th C. CE, furnaces were predominantly made with a durable outer wall constructed from stone, while the refractory material that lined the inner surface of the stone wall was composed of clay, sand and gravel-sized rock fragments. In addition, this paper discusses some aspects of governmental organization, furnace and smelting technology, economics which might influence this development, and examines the relationship between ceramic technology and metallurgy in Imperial China.

Archaeological evidence for modes of air supply into iron smelting furnaces in the African Great Lakes region

ABSTRACTOne of the themes that have attracted archaeologists’ attention is the mechanism by which iron smelting furnaces were supplied with air. Earlier studies on this theme were largely undertaken using expensive laboratory and experimental methods. Unfortunately, insufficient attention was paid to ethnographic and archaeological data while reconstructing air supply modes. This paper presents and discusses archaeological field evidence for determining modes of air supply into smelting furnaces. The archaeological evidence was gathered through survey and through ethnographic and excavation methods. The paper argues that beyond the almost unheard of survival of bellows in the archaeological record and laboratory and experimental methods, it is possible to establish the modes of air supply employed in iron smelting furnaces using flared and non-flared tuyère proximal ends, frequent evidence for multiple tuyères being fused together, furnace size and height and tuyère-mould slags. It is therefore vital for archaeologists to search for clues about furnace air supply while doing fieldwork in order to identify techniques of precolonial metal production and thus explain the reasons for such technological choices.

Of myths and metallurgy: Archaeological and ethnological approaches to upland iron production in 9th century CE northwest Laos

Our recent discovery and excavation of a series of iron smelting furnaces, dated to the eighth and ninth century CE, near upland Rmet villages in northwest Laos, potentially sheds new light on the role of regional upland groups during the immediate pre-Tai period. The oral tradition associated with these furnaces emphasises the role of an ancient population of metallurgists who left the area under pressure from the Rmet. These stories could refer to the actual arrival and departure (immigration and emigration) of a population of metallurgists in that area sometime during the second half of the first millennium CE or they can support the scenario of a dissimilation process. The latter would explain the existence of a Rmet subculture that the locals regard as ‘Chueang Lavae’ villages, a differentiation that Karl G. Izikowitz had labelled ‘Upper Lamet’ in the 1930s. Our finds show that archaeology and ethnology can both contribute to a much-needed reformulation of upland Lao history.