Chiarantini, Laura, Benvenuti, Marco, Bianchi, Giovanna, Dallai, Luisa, Volpi, Vanessa and Manca, Rosarosa (2021) Medieval Pb (Cu-Ag) Smelting in the Colline Metallifere District (Tuscany, Italy): Slag Heterogeneity as a Tracer of Ore Provenance and Technological Process. Minerals, 11. 97-. ISSN 2075-163X
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Abstract
Archaeological investigations of the Colline Metallifere district (Southern Tuscany, Italy) have highlighted several Medieval sites located close to the main Cu-Pb-Fe (Ag) ore occurrences. This study is focused on the investigation of late-medieval slags from Cugnano and Montieri sites using both geochemical and mineralogical methods to understand slag heterogeneities as result of ore differences and technological processes. Matte-rich slags present in both sites (with abundant matte ± speiss and frequent relict phases) represent waste products related to primary sulphide ore smelting to obtain a raw lead bullion. The distribution of slags between the Ca-rich or Fe-rich dominant composition, and the consequent mineralogy, are tracers of the different ore–gangue association that occurred in the two sites. Silver is present only in very small matte-rich slags and ores enclosed within the mortar of the Montieri site; wastes derived from silver-rich mineral charges were probably crushed for the recovery of silver. Matte-poor slags found at Montieri represent a second smelting; raw lead bullion obtained from matte slags (both Fe- and Ca-rich) was probably re-smelted, adding silica and Al2O3-phase-rich fluxes, under more oxidizing conditions to reduce metal impurities. This second step was probably employed for Zn-rich lead ores; this process helped to segregate zinc within slags and improve the quality of the metal.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | In the Special Issue "Mineralogy, Trace Elements and Isotopic Tracers in Archaeometallurgy)" - This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Slags, archaeometry, archaeology, medieval, lead, zinc, silver, smelting, Tuscany |
| Subjects: | D History General and Old World > D History (General) > D111 Medieval History D History General and Old World > DG Italy Q Science > QD Chemistry Q Science > QE Geology |
| Depositing User: | dr Vincenzo De Luise |
| Date Deposited: | 08 Aug 2026 06:55 |
| Last Modified: | 08 Aug 2026 06:59 |
| URI: | https://www.rmoa.unina.it/id/eprint/7591 |
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