A late medieval or early modern light gun barrel from the Castle Museum in Malbork—typology, technology of manufacture and identification of the smelting process

Żabiński, Grzegorz; Biborski, Mateusz; Miśta‐Jakubowska, Ewelina

doi:10.1007/s12520-018-0653-3

Cited by 6 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…In the case of the aforementioned late medieval or early modern period gun barrel, there was a nearly perfect match between smeltingderived slag inclusions selected with the use of it and those isolated with the PCA-AHC approach. However, as said above, the metal in that artefact in all probability did not undergo many manufacturing stages, as slag inclusions were plenty (several hundreds or more) and in many cases many times larger than those in the discussed couter (Żabiński et al 2019(Żabiński et al , 2013(Żabiński et al -2020(Żabiński et al , Figs. 7-13, 2023.…”

Section: Attempt At Identification Of the Iron Smelting Processmentioning

confidence: 87%

An Armour from a finery?—a late medieval couter from Ogrodzieniec Castle in the Kraków-Częstochowa Jura

Imiołczyk¹,

Żabiński

Goryczka

et al. 2020

Archaeol Anthropol Sci

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The paper deals with a couter of a late fourteenth to early fifteenth century date which was found in Ogrodzieniec Castle, Zawiercie District, Poland (now in the collection of the Upper Silesian Museum in Bytom, MG 7755). The find survived in a vestigial condition, but it was still possible to propose some typological analogies to it. Metallographic examinations demonstrated that the artefact had been manufactured from almost carbon-free iron with a high content of phosphorus. An analysis of slag inclusions in the find suggests that the couter may have been made from refined blast furnace iron. It may thus be an early example of the application of indirect process iron in the manufacture of plate armour.

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Section: Attempt At Identification Of the Iron Smelting Processmentioning

confidence: 87%

An Armour from a finery?—a late medieval couter from Ogrodzieniec Castle in the Kraków-Częstochowa Jura

Imiołczyk¹,

Żabiński

Goryczka

et al. 2020

Archaeol Anthropol Sci

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“…Barrels of early firearms in Europe were made either of iron and steel, or of copper and its alloys ([1], p. 11-19; [2], p. 105-106, 214-238; [10,11]; [46], p. [33][34]. Strzyż says that in the case of smaller copper alloy cannon barrels the lost-wax or cire-perdue technique may have been applied.…”

Section: Technology Of Early Copper Alloy Firearmsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[5,6]), certain kinds of firearms [7,8], technology of firearms in a given country [9], or individual artefacts (e.g. [10,11]). Sometimes results of technological examinations are integrated within regional studies on early gunpowder weapons (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A copper alloy light cannon from Grodno: an example of early firearms from Eastern Europe

et al. 2021

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The paper discusses a recent find of a copper alloy light cannon discovered at the Old Castle in Grodno, Belarus. The research aim was to analyse the artefact in all its possible aspects, including archaeological and historical contexts, possible analogies, and the gun’s technology of manufacture. This latter was done against a broad comparative background of what is known on manufacturing technologies of late medieval and modern period copper alloy firearms. First, the archaeological and historical contexts of the discovery are dealt with. Then, the morphology and typochronology of the cannon are discussed and relevant analogies are proposed. Next, the technology of manufacture of the cannon is studied on the basis of metallographic examinations and EDS analyses of the metal’s elemental composition. It was found out that the artefact had been made of leaded copper. The cannon can be dated with reasonable certainty to the late 14th c., as implied both by the find context, the morphology and the chemical composition of the artefact. Its deposition can be related to fights over the Old Castle in Grodno in this period, waged by Teutonic, Polish and Lithuanian forces. It can tentatively be proposed that the cannon was manufactured in a Teutonic Order’s workshop, but further research is necessary to verify this supposition.

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“…In this case, it was a late medieval or early modern barrel of a hand-held gun (possibly a hackbut) that was later converted into a light cannon. In this case the metallurgical analyses and the statistical processing of data were much simpler, as the metal was not strongly processed and slag inclusions were abundant (Żabiński et al 2019(Żabiński et al : 2013(Żabiński et al -2017. In this case, all available identification methods demonstrated that the metal of the barrel had been obtained in the direct (bloomery) smelting process (Żabiński et al 2019(Żabiński et al : 2019(Żabiński et al , Fig.…”

Section: Recent Advances In Slag Examinations and Their Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

New Methods, New Opportunities. Recent Advances in Archaeological Science and their Application in Arms and Armour Studies

Żabiński

2021

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The jubilee of Professor Andrzej Nadolski and Professor Marian Głosek is an excellent opportunity for discussing some most recent methods of technological analyses in archaeology and their applications in arms and armour studies. New opportunities are offered by Computed Tomography (CT) and by Neutron Imaging (NI). The latter is insensitive to material density; therefore details that are not detectable by X-ray or CT can be seen in NI images. A considerable progress has also been made in the field of radiocarbon dating. Yet another field are analyses of the chemical composition of smelting slag and slag inclusions in ferrous artefacts. Such analyses can be used for identification of smelting processes, as well as for provenance studies. These take a number of variables into consideration (major and trace elements, as well as isotopic ratios). What seems to be especially promising in provenance studies are isotopes of osmium (Os).

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A late medieval or early modern light gun barrel from the Castle Museum in Malbork—typology, technology of manufacture and identification of the smelting process

Cited by 6 publications

References 13 publications

An Armour from a finery?—a late medieval couter from Ogrodzieniec Castle in the Kraków-Częstochowa Jura

An Armour from a finery?—a late medieval couter from Ogrodzieniec Castle in the Kraków-Częstochowa Jura

A copper alloy light cannon from Grodno: an example of early firearms from Eastern Europe

New Methods, New Opportunities. Recent Advances in Archaeological Science and their Application in Arms and Armour Studies

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