Medieval Pb (Cu-Ag) Smelting in the Colline Metallifere District (Tuscany, Italy): Slag Heterogeneity as a Tracer of Ore Provenance and Technological Process

Chiarantini, Laura and Benvenuti, Marco and Bianchi, Giovanna and Dallai, Luisa and 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.

Tipologia del documento:	Articolo in rivista
Informazioni aggiuntive:	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/).
Parole chiave:	Slags, archaeometry, archaeology, medieval, lead, zinc, silver, smelting, Tuscany
Soggetto:	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
Depositato da:	dr Vincenzo De Luise
Depositato il:	08 Ago 2026 06:55
Ultima modifica:	08 Ago 2026 06:59
URI:	https://www.rmoa.unina.it/id/eprint/7591

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