Osmium isotope analysis as an innovative tool for provenancing ancient iron: A systematic approach

Brauns, Michael; Yahalom-Mack, Naama; Stepanov, Ivan; Sauder, Lee; Keen, Jake; Eliyahu-Behar, Adi

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0229623

Cited by 30 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Indeed, recent smelting experiments conducted in a bloomery shaft furnace, using some of these ores (samples Negev 1, Negev 3, Negev 6 mixed with Negev 7) were extremely successful, proving the feasibility for use of these specific ores for ancient iron production [49].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the Quality of Iron Ores for Bloomery Smelting: Laboratory Experiments

2019

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There is fragmentary knowledge of iron ore sources exploited in the past for many regions including the Southern Levant. This missing information has the potential to shed light on political, economic, craft-production, and trading patterns of past societies. This paper presents the results of smelting experiments performed in graphite crucibles and a muffle furnace, using 14 iron ore samples from the Southern Levant, in an attempt to determine their suitability for smelting using ancient techniques. A range of analytical techniques, including optical and electron microscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, and portable X-ray fluorescence were used to comparatively investigate the mineralogy and composition of the precursor iron ores and their smelting products: Iron bloom and slag. Several parameters attesting to the ability of a given ore to be successfully reduced and consolidated into a solid metal mass were quantified. The generated results highlight the significance of a 'correct balance' between iron oxides and other major elements in the smelting system in order to form fluid slag and a well-consolidated bloom. These data contribute to the understanding of factors, potentially influencing choices of iron ore exploitation by past human societies in the Southern Levant.The assaying (i.e., small-scale experimentation to determine quality of an ore) has always been an important component of ancient technology, as it represented an easy and resource-efficient technique to predict and coordinate subsequent large-scale processing and smelting [17]. For past societies, this was an advantage, given that properties of materials could be grasped only empirically and use of metallic resources was often associated with high resource and labor costs (e.g., extraction, transportation, and processing of the ore and fuel, cf. iron production in Africa [18]). The assay furnaces described by Agricolla [19] are a historical example of methods traditionally used for cupellation of small amounts of costly argentiferous ores to predict the outcome of large-scale cupellation performed in larger furnaces set to a greater consumption of raw materials.Determining the iron content and the quality of iron ores, prior to large-scale bloomery smelting, thus, is highly advantageous. Significantly, despite the common occurrence of iron ores in nature, knowledge about the types of deposits exploited in the past often remains limited and poorly understood. In fact, for some regions of the Ancient Near East, for example, south-eastern Arabia and Cyprus, there is still a lack of evidence about indigenous iron ore exploitation, although certain types of iron-rich rocks (e.g., gossans) exist in these regions [20][21][22][23]. Whereas in other regions, such as the southern Levant, evidence of past ore exploitation is only known so far from the Mugharet el-Wardeh deposit in the Ajloun, Jordan [5,24], although this is certainly not the only ore deposit in the region.In this paper, we present the results of a ser...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the Quality of Iron Ores for Bloomery Smelting: Laboratory Experiments

2019

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“…More promising is the use of Os isotopes (Brauns et al, 2013(Brauns et al, , 2020Dillmann et al, 2017;Liss et al, 2020). Os is a highly siderophile element that preferentially migrates into the metal phase during ore smelting with a strong enrichment from ore to metal and depletion into the slag which may provide information about metallurgical practices (Brauns et al, 2020). Moreover, the Os isotopic composition stays unchanged along the metallurgical processes of iron production, and shows significant variations from one deposit to another (Brauns et al., 2013(Brauns et al., , 2020.…”

Section: Elemental and Isotopic Methods For Ancient Iron Tracingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Os is a highly siderophile element that preferentially migrates into the metal phase during ore smelting with a strong enrichment from ore to metal and depletion into the slag which may provide information about metallurgical practices (Brauns et al, 2020). Moreover, the Os isotopic composition stays unchanged along the metallurgical processes of iron production, and shows significant variations from one deposit to another (Brauns et al., 2013(Brauns et al., , 2020. For these reasons, Os isotopes are a good candidate as tracer of ancient iron, although the process involves complex techniques for sample extraction and isotopic measurements.…”

Section: Elemental and Isotopic Methods For Ancient Iron Tracingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Several authors investigated the potential use of Pb, Sr or Os radiogenic isotopes as tracing tools for ancient iron, with various levels of success (Brauns et al, 2013(Brauns et al, , 2020Degryse et al, 2007;Dillmann et al, 2017;Liss et al, 2020;Schwab et al, 2006). Pb isotopes were found to be of limited interest because of their heterogeneity in iron ores due to low Pb and high U concentrations (Brauns et al, 2013;Schwab et al, 2006).…”

Section: Elemental and Isotopic Methods For Ancient Iron Tracingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Investigating the provenance of iron bars from Les Saintes‐Maries‐de‐la‐Mer Roman shipwrecks (south‐east France) with iron isotopes

et al. 2021

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Fe isotopes were used to determine the origin of iron bars from Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer Roman shipwrecks, which was a major archaeological finding at the end of the 20th century in France. Their Fe isotope composition was measured by multi collectorinductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (MC-ICP-MS) after chemical Fe purification. The results allowed us to suggest provenances that were compared with those based on trace element analyses of slag inclusions. For most of the bars, we validate the provenance hypotheses previously proposed. Two bar groups originate from the Montagne Noire metallurgical district (south-west France), whereas a third group comes from another source, not clearly identified so far. In this context of Roman iron production, we argue for a non-spatially segmented production, where bars were manufactured close to smelting sites. Combined trace element and Fe isotope analyses on the same objects provide crucial information about the nature of their ore source. The elemental heterogeneity, positive Eu anomaly and Fe isotopic homogeneity of several bars were inherited from gossan-type ores, whereas the negative Eu anomaly and variable Fe isotopes signature of others most likely correspond to sedimentary iron ores. This study demonstrates that combined trace element and Fe isotopes analyses in a well-defined archaeological context is a promising approach for provenance studies of iron metals of archaeological interest.

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“…Internal (2 SD) precision for unknowns was <0.2 %. Final 187 Os/ 188 Os ratios were corrected for blank (0.1-0.05 pg Os, 187 Os/ 188 Os blank of 0.108), assuming an Os yield of 85 % (Brauns et al, 2020). Blank contribution for samples with low Os concentrations are less than 0.5%.…”

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confidence: 99%

Supplemental Material: Extreme fractionation of selenium isotopes and possible deep biospheric origin of platinum nuggets from Minas Gerais, Brazil

Cabral¹,

al.²

2021

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Osmium isotope analysis as an innovative tool for provenancing ancient iron: A systematic approach

Cited by 30 publications

References 39 publications

Assessing the Quality of Iron Ores for Bloomery Smelting: Laboratory Experiments

Assessing the Quality of Iron Ores for Bloomery Smelting: Laboratory Experiments

Investigating the provenance of iron bars from Les Saintes‐Maries‐de‐la‐Mer Roman shipwrecks (south‐east France) with iron isotopes

Supplemental Material: Extreme fractionation of selenium isotopes and possible deep biospheric origin of platinum nuggets from Minas Gerais, Brazil

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